Debate Night - Romney/Obama Round II

The next Big Debate is at 9 Eastern tonight.

Obama is a lock to win the coveted "Most Improved" award.

However, all Romney has to do is be the guy he was at the last debate. Obama's task is much tougher. He will almost surely be more civil and subdued than Biden - excuse me, less rude and maniacal than Biden - which means a large segment of his base will be bitterly disappointed.

But just what advice is Obama getting - go out and be yourself? I doubt it: windy, pedantic and condescending probably won't win this.

Chris Matthews will want Obama to just shout "Bain Capital!", "47 percent!" and then "Liar!" in an endless loop. That won't sway the undecideds either.

Obama needs to be energetic and authoritative about his vision for America's future. That will be tough since he has yet to articulate on in this campaign. To be fair, I am setting aside his convention message, which amounted to assuring us he would put us on a difficult road to a distant place but he knew it would all work because it was the opposite of what Bush would have done.

Maybe Obama could study tapes of his 2008 debates? Maybe! I remember his patronizing "likeable enough" crack to Hillary, but in the course of three hundred debates I imagine a non-pedantic, non-condescending moment or two ocurred.

Obama needs to find a persona we haven't seen often in the last five years and maintain that for ninety minutes. I'll be surprised if he can manage it.

Comments

[MarkO]

Maybe he can be gone.

[hit and run]

Mark:
Maybe he can be gone.

Go Obama!

[Clarice]

Do you think Hillary will stay in Peru until after the election?

[Janet]

Obama needs to find a persona we haven't seen often in the last five years and maintain that for ninety minutes. I'll be surprised if he can manage it.

From day one I couldn't stand Obama. He is so phony & thinks he's cool. Like a shady salesman...smilin' & selling you some crappy product. My opinion of him has only gotten worse....

[Frau Zynisch]

I hear Peru in October is wonderful. Good food, good booze!

Speaking of liars:
It's hard to forget William Safire's remark that Hillary! is a congenital liar. If it's true that the preezy is now taking responsibility for Benghazi, does he mean he takes responsibility for the lying?

[Rick Ballard]

"Obama needs to find a persona we haven't seen often in the last five years and maintain that for ninety minutes."

I hope he sticks with Wile E Coyote. He's got it down pat.

Beep beep.

[sailor]

She wishes, Clarice!

gg

gg

hh

gg

[sailor]

Sorry--am having trouble posting.

[Some Guy]

If I may, I'd like to repeat what I said a day ago.

PLEASE Mitt, if that dork claims 'he inherited a mess' call him on it.

President is just a job. He begged for the job. He's proven he sucks at it. He isn't the boy prince who woke up to the news his father the king is dead and he must now save the kingdom. He didn't inherit anything, let alone a mess.

[rse]

Hi everyone. Not surprising given the last debate performance but the must get implemented vents and windows and chimney flues and everything else less than visible is getting stuffed full of bad ideas.

The systems thinking I have been writing about is officially to be the means of getting around the skepticism and controversy on Climate Change. Just Feel it I suppose.

And Melinda's comment on coincidental timing this morning. How about what is being imposed right now on Hong Kong? And fast too. Do not even ask how I found that. I read odd things while getting a brake job.

We have an election to win and a huge roll back to initiate. Did you know personal autonomy has been redefined to mean the will that exists after all this OBE/moral ed/common good/individual must defer to group consensus?

I am tired of reading that the individual does not matter. I want a President who knows just how much a difference that concept made to freedom and prosperity in the world.

We have too many toxic ideas afoot with a tragic history. Hiding behind name changes.

[Danube of Thought]

What's up with this Crowley woman continuing to insist that the agreed rules of the debate don't apply to her. I hope Mitt is the first one who gets a chance to put her in her place.

These media "stars" make me puke.

[Threadkiller]

“MRC Study: By 2-to-1 Margin, Journalists Favor Liberal Questions at Town Hall Debates”

“Tonight’s town hall-style presidential debate will ostensibly feature questions from undecided voters, but the evening’s agenda will really be decided by the moderator, as CNN’s Candy Crowley will select which of the more than roughly 80 voters in the room will actually get a chance to talk to the candidates.

Reviewing the five previous town hall debates, the journalist-moderators have tended to skew the agenda of these so-called citizen forums to the liberal side of the spectrum, but not always. In 2004, ABC’s Charles Gibson selected a balanced menu of questions, with questions from the left matching those from the right.

But Gibson is the lone exception. The other journalists who have moderated these forums —ABC’s Carole Simpson in 1992, PBS’s Jim Lehrer in 1996 and 2000, and NBC’s Tom Brokaw in 2008 —all favored liberal agenda questions as they chose which of the undecided voters would actually participate in the debate."

Examples at link:

http://www.mrc.org/media-reality-check/mrc-study-2-1-margin-journalists-favor-liberal-questions-town-hall-debates

[Janet]

I wonder if the moderator will have to remind everyone - “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

Obama & Romney will need to be careful answering questions about Benghazi.

[maryrose]

I agree with Janet and Rick B.
A leopard cannot change his spots.Arrogant, sneering and nasty come to mind. A know-it-all stance with a smartest guy in the room air. He will with his reverse Midas touch alienate the room because let's face it folks-that's how he rolls...

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

I like that some guy!

[Clarice]

Where's Soylent?

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Oh dear:

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested outside Long Island’s Hofstra University ahead of tonight’s debate.

After being denied entrance to the campus because they lacked credentials, the two candidates sat down in the street in front of the university with an American flag on their laps, the Long Island Report explains. They were led away by police officers after refusing to move.

Stein and Honkala objected to being excluded from the debate, saying they are on 85 percent of state ballots and should be part of the national discussion.

[maryrose]

DOT:
well said and yes Who died and left Crowley,boss? These people dare to call themselves journalists. Why do we know less about Benghazi and more about Obama's golf/debate prep? Journalism is dead and propaganda remains.Spin will be Bammy wins and now let's move on from Benghazi.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Where did my link go?

[NJ Jan]

I second Jane. -- I like that Some Guy!

[Humahumanukanukaapuaa]

Obama will be very relaxed tonight. He will be thinking about his retirement in Hawaii and all the pakalolo he can smoke. On Nov 6, my guess is Barry casts his vote for Romney. Presidenting is too much like work.

[Frau Zynisch]

Janet, in 2008, I was concerned about turning Bill Clinton lose in the WH, but the unknown-unknown-ness of Obama alarmed me more. I never liked "Stranger in a Strange Land" and Obama is too unlike us, all of us.

[Janet]

Here ya go -

[MarkO]

Candy Crowley is a media heavyweight.

[matt]

It's early spring in Peru now. The banana warblers are beginning to nest as the toucans mate in the forest canopy.

The coatimundis are playfully romping across the floor of the rainforest as the buzzsaws of illegal loggers hum in the far distance. Somewhere another tribe has vanished and another few hectares of rainforest, but she has accomplished her mission.

She is probably doing the Macarena about now with the Prime Minister.

The day is done and the important business of state; new stationary for the embassy; approval for two more Chevy Volts, and the suitcase of $100's for entry visas for next quarter's coke shipments has been stashed away in the embassy vault.

The Secret Service detail has rounded all of the best hookers in Lima and liquor in town and has taken over the 14th floor of the Intercontinental.

The pisco sours are flowing and there is a dark eyed beauty waiting for her back at the hotel.

She has covered more miles than any of her predecessors; had fewer responsibilities as South Asia and Iraq were never her briewf; and has less to show than any of her predecessors. But she has macarena'd and cumbia'd and jived her way around the work.

She can don another one of those stunning upholstery outfits and dazzle whomever she sees tomorrow. No need to sleep. Hey! It's almost legal in Peru.

[Janet]

Same for me, Frau. Nobody knew anything about Obama & yet they ADORED him. It was/is creepy.

[centralcal]

lol, MarkO - hope you tweeted that!

[centralcal]

Mark Knoller ‏@markknoller

After each candidate gets two minutes, Crowley authorized to "facilitate" further discussion on the issue.

--------

apparently this was o.k.'d by both campaigns.

[centralcal]

Mark Knoller ‏@markknoller

By coin toss, Mitt Romney gets the first question.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Matt,

Why does everyone say what a great SOS she has been? Are they afraid of Bill?

[narciso]

OT, I really resent Vargas Llosa endorsing Humala, last time, 'winning the future' was that.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Much as I sympathize with DOT's 8:17, I am afraid that approach will not be too appealing to the so called undecided or independents. It is also not the way MR normally operates.

The best approach is to do what most seasoned politicians do on Sunday talk shows. Appear to answer the loaded question very briefly and then launch into saying what needs to be said. If the question is too loaded, gently pointing out that the American People are not interested in questions like "when did you stop beating your wife" might well be in order.

Interestingly, flaks from both sides suggested today the artful dodger approach to Crowley if she gets too rambunctious.

[Janet]

Will Obama be using his Kenyan name - Barack Hussein Obama - or his Crow Indian name - Barack Black Eagle?

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Speaking of twitter:

Incredible: Obama surrogates on @msnbc now saying that debates are meaningless. (@lawrence, Gibbs, Maddow and Sharpton all agree). LoL.

[Dave (in MA)]

By coin toss, Mitt Romney gets the first question.

Obama wants to tax the coin.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I used to like Candy Crowley years ago. She was very fair and unbiased.
Haven't watched CNN for years so I'm only going by what others say that she decided she needed to earn some Strange New Respect.

[Janet]

or his Indonesian name - Barry Soetoro?

[Clarice]

I agree, Iggy. It's been a long time since I watched her but she was one of the better ones.

[Jack is Back]

USA may be up 3 to 1 on Guatemala but they look very susceptible on defense. If it wasn't for Howard they would be only up one goal.

OTOH, how can Obama be anything other than what he has always been? He is a small, narcissistic, arrogant, little man without any kind of spontaneous repartee that would resonate with anyone outside a brain dead libtard slug.

Plus according to MarkO, he is not that smart and is a nasty little man.

Frank Buck wins. Dead or Alive.

[maryrose]

Frau:
"And Obama is unlike us all of us" You are absolutely correct. I have said and felt that from the very beginning. Maybe because he comes from a dysfunctional family and was raised in Indonesia. Even being born in Hawaii is a first for a president. He doesn't think or act like us. He just started to tolerate this country along with his wife after Edwards helped him win the Iowa primary. Such a small thing like Edwards getting in the way when the media had the story about Rielle but sat on it to give Bammy the win in Iowa.We must learn from the past and not let this poseur win.He is counting on people being stupid again.

[Janet]

or his Hawaiian high school name - Barry Obama?

[hit and run]

Plus according to MarkO, he is not that smart and is a nasty little man.

And a liar.

[Some Guy]

or his Roundtable name -- Sir Blamesalot

[Jack is Back]

Or his Columbia University name - Unknown or Absent.

[centralcal]

I was a CNN junkie in a former life - okay pre-2001, and I think Candy was much more subtle in those days. I felt then that she leaned left, she just didn't display it as obviously as she has done in recent years.

[centralcal]

Janet - you rock! O'Bummer does have a lot of names.

[Clarice]

Oh, dear. This will especially upset Janet.http://zombietime.com/john_holdren/

[centralcal]

REMEMBER - at the first debate the MFM was thunderstruck with shock (Barry) and awe (Romney).

Tonight, their reputations are as much at stake as Obama - and any little improvement by him, will become GLORIFIED and DEIFIED.

Sorry, feeling a little GUS-ish tonight. wink.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

I swear Obama plans to bolt on stage from a trampoline. All this talk of energy is a little scary.

[Danube of Thought]

You're right, JimR--just fantasizin'.

Off to the Coronado zfloral Association dinner. I plan to come back as a chariot driver. With a lampshade on my head.

[Some Guy]

DOOM!

There. That's out of the way.

[MarkO]

Not if the Doom is impending. Never underestimate the power of doom.

[Threadkiller]

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2012/08/15/cnns-moderator-candy-crowley-political-news-pro-still-liberal-media-elit

[Sara]

The rules say that the candidates CANNOT addresss each other or interrupt. They CANNOT enter each other's space either.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

At least MR won't have to deal with Gwen Ifill or Carole Simpson.

[matt]

or his Pok-ee-stoni name Baraka Jawaka Suicide Vest Jones.

[MarkO]

Who will be first to say Obama "hit it out of the park?"

Isn't it so weird that the fix is in, yet we soldier on? It's never, if never is 50 years, been so clear as it is this year.

[Jack is Back]

BTW, at dinner tonight Mrs. JiB got into a discussion about Obama, Hillary and Benghazi.

Her theory is that since he is known as being lazy and uninterested in the job like a Clinton or Bush demonstrated, he just waved off the attack and told his staff and cabinet to deal with it. "I have to go to Vegas and raise some money. You guys handle it."

I still believe it was the political officers, directed by ValJar and AxelPlouffe who mad the decisions about the narrative and telling Clinton and Rice that was the way it was going to be. Now that it is unraveling and Clinton is in the vise grip of the middle she has decided to come clean. Yes, in a way it is victory for Clinton since she takes the credit for failure and not the guy who should take it. I think Romney if he has the right approach can make money on this tonight.

[narciso]

'Untergang' all the cool kids are saying it.

[MarkO]

I belonged to that gang.

[Janet]

Wow, Clarice. We are being led by our worst.

[Janet]

or his foreign policy name Chairman Bow.

[Sara]

Brit Hume says he feels like a cub reporter covering his first debate, I can relate, I feel like a Mom before her daughter's first dance recital.

[Clarice]

Amazing, isn't it, Janet, that there's been so little about this madman on the WH team?

[Laura White]

On the top of the wishlist: please, please, Gov. Romney, call him out on any one of the endless false choices Obama relishes, between some insanely retrograde policy no living Republican or conservative would ever endorse (e.g., death to all dogs who can't hunt) and some pie-in-the-sky nicety good liberals would like if the world had stopped when everyone was in kindergarten (pie! in the sky! for you and I!!). Then Obama points out that killing poodles is wrong and pie can't be had everyday, but yesterday and tomorrow, woo boy, pie is indeed on the menu. Sorry to be channeling a little of Carol Herman (from Libbygate days)--I am most decidedly not she. Go Romney!

[Threadkiller]

I may wait for Luntz's Dunces for the post game.

[Sara]

Snark #1 from me: She could have at least combed her hair or even popped to get it done.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Here we go: An energized Obama flies into the room on a trapeze, springs to the floor, taking a bow to the cheers of the voters.

Romney enters like a mere man. No wings - but a cheat-sheet handkerchief visible in his lapel.

In anticipation of the first question Obama dons an apron to show his empathy toward women. "Is lilly ledbetter in the audience? Love ya honey!"

[Gus]

Candy!! More like Bakery.

[Porchlight]

Slightly OT but fwiw:

Steve Meek @stevenrmeek @KatiePavlich Ed Klein just reported on Lou dobbs that there are cables that Hillary requested security to be added in Benghazi before 9/11 Retweeted by Katie Pavlich

[J.R.]

Obama's walk is so annoying.

[Sue]

Oh sweet. Obama has his cool on.

[Threadkiller]

She looks like Thulsa Doom.

[Jack is Back]

What a undistinguished fatso.

She is full of her self already.

Romney goes first. First time voter. Can I get a job when I graduate. Stop thanking everyone Mitt and get to it. Wrong answer. Stop talking about how to get into college talk about getting a job after college.

[Dave (in MA)]

Michelle Malkin's "reminder about the last plant-infested, CNN-run town hall debate" 4 years ago:

Concerned Young Undecided Person “Journey” = John Edwards supporter “Journey”

Concerned Undecided Log Cabin Republican supporter David Cercone = Obama supporter David Cercone

Concerned Undecided Mom LeeAnn Anderson = Activist for the John Edwards-endorsing United Steelworkers union LeeAnn Anderson

Concerned Undecided Gay Military Retiree Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr = Hillary/Kerry supporter and anti-”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” activist Keith H. Kerr

[PD]

Obama responds to first question, forgetting to thank everyone?

[J.R.]

Good paying jobs for all!!!!

[PD]

We need to change our tax code.

Okay, why didn't you do that in your first four years, if that's so important?

[Sara]

Better answer than BOs, JiB

[J.R.]

We've heard these talking points for the past 4 years! Ridiculous.

[henry]

Get a job in wind energy -- blow at the windmill.

[Gus]

I've got a college degree. Can I make some windmills???

[J.R.]

Green fuel means jobs for every college grad?

[PD]

"Mr. Romley"?

[Jack is Back]

Here comes the BS from Obama.

Osama is dead and GM is alive and in debt.

Jeremy. listen to me I am gong to make sure you get a job in oil and gas by converting the used frying oil at McDonald's where your degree allows you to do the Chicken sandwich to gasoline.

[Laura White]

Oh oh dear bad first answer re Romney--don't talk about getting more students into college (where many don't belong)--more federal student loans just allows colleges to up the final bill for everyone. Ah, but an answering stupidity from Obama, reverting to the green initiatives--and the "roads, bridges, schools"--oogh.

[Threadkiller]

Romney with a blue tie and Odummy with a red tie?

I don't get it.

[narciso]

Wasn't that Kang's answer on that Simpson's
Halloween episode.

[henry]

Longer range shot of O, hard to see his expressions.

[Gus]

Looks like Oooompa Looompa doesn't intend to abide by the rules.

Maybe she should take a cake and cookies break.

[hit and run]

Dave:
Michelle Malkin's "reminder about the last plant-infested, CNN-run town hall debate" 4 years ago:

I remembered today that I knew someone in the audience at the 2008 townhall debate.

He didn't get to ask a question.

[J.R.]

I can't stand romney's 12 million job proposal!

[pagar]

Probably won't do any good to remind people we have talked about John Holdren and Romney before on JOM.

[Sue]

Woohoo. GM bankruptcy.

[J.R.]

Awesome rebuttal on auto industry by Romney!

[PD]

Oooh, the aggressive Obama.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Obama takes a seat and then realizes that Romney is waiting for Crowley, and stands up.

1st question about jobs.

Romney: We have to make sure when you get out college you can get a job. He doesn't say how he will create jobs. He promises Jeremy a job.

The president says it is important to create jobs and he wants to build on the 5 million he has already built.

He wants manufacturing, and reminds Jeremy that he saved GM.

He wants everyone to get a great education.

We have to control our own energy

Tax the rich

And take the money from war.

Crowley: What can you do for long term employed.

23 million people looking for a job. Unemployment is really 10.7%. 5 point plan. Corrects president on taking GM bankrupt.

Obama: Romney is liar. He wanted to bankrupt them without letting them stay open,.

He doesn't have a 5 point plan he has a 1 poiint plan. He wants different rules for the rich.

[matt]

nasty, lying, unpleasantly aggressive, snotty.

[Gus]

Romney only likes the rich folks, like campaign bundlers.

[Patriot4Freedom]

Mitt - Good job !

Bury the myth of the "GM bankruptcy."