DEBATE 2: THE RE-DEBATENING

Posted on | by Ed

A couple of rapid reactions:

1. If the last 20 minutes were not a shitshow, they'll do until the shitshow gets here. They have got to find some way to effectively moderate these things if they are to be anything other than entertainment. That AK-47 question was an immediate and obvious shark-jumping point.

2. Romney is so stiff and robotic and prone to saying ridiculous things when he is not in a structured environment. And Obama's the one who needs a teleprompter? He manages not to tell half the country to suck it or say things like "binders full of women" when he's improvising.

3. Mittens did alright for someone whose primary strategy is to lie and hope it goes unchallenged, but he had two absolute shit-the-bed moments: the Libya question and the "How are you different than George Bush" thing.

On Libya he ended up standing there with an "Um…" look on his face after he tried to press a "what he said and when he said it" point that he was wrong about.

Bad preparation. On the Bush thing, Romney's response was not bad but Obama's rejoinder was an uppercut:

There are some areas where Gov. Romney is different than George Bush. George Bush didn't support turning Medicare into a voucher program. George Bush supported comprehensive immigration reform.
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George Bush didn't oppose contraception.

I believe Ice Cube said it best: No Vaseline, just a match and a little bit of gasoline.

4. The internet is getting to be a terrifying place with respect to its ability to create memes in near real time. The mad rush to register "bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com" must have been goddamn epic, an electronic version of the chariot race in Ben-Hur. The Facebook page had 100,000 "likes" in about five minutes after he said it.
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Also, "I have binders full of women" isn't a very good phrase to use when fighting the misconception that Mormons are polygamous. See #2.

5. Romney really hates birds. And poor people.

6. He sounds like a total moron talking about China. All the sudden he's what, Mitt Romney the Protectionist? Bitch, please.

7. I didn't realize until last night that Mitt was a small businessman.

8. Remember, it probably doesn't matter.

30 thoughts on “DEBATE 2: THE RE-DEBATENING”

  • The Mad Dreamer says:

    You know, I do wish that the debate had just had a moment like at the end of this where Lincoln comes in and lays it all out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyUx7eMscxU&feature=related

    By the power invested in me by this giant bald bird,
    The president shall not be the shiniest of two turds!
    You, I wanna like you, don't talk about change just do it!
    I fought for what was on my brain until a bullet went through it!
    And you, moneybags, you're a pancake, you're flip-floppity!
    It's a country, not a company you can play like monopoly!
    I'll properly reach across the aisle and bitch smack you as equals,
    Of the people *smack*, by the people *smack*, for the people, eagle!

  • Coises says:

    As a safety precaution, I read the transcript rather than watching. (It’s kind of like how you should never look directly at an eclipse.)

    I didn’t even notice the “binders full of women” mis-phrasing. It was obvious what he meant, and that’s what struck me—that he was describing a pathetic sort of pseudo-affirmative action: Hey, if I don’t get some women in here, I’m going to look sexist, so… go do whatever it is you do to find me some babes.

    But the one that really got me was, “Government does not create jobs. Government does not create jobs.” So I guess if you’re a public school teacher… or a police officer… or a city sanitation worker… or a soldier… or a health inspector… or a forest ranger… or a firefighter… or a public librarian… according to Mitt Romney, you’re not really working, because “Government does not create jobs.”

  • Middle Seaman says:

    The debates are anachronistic. It's like two giraffes calling each other shorty. The last intelligent president we had is Bill Clinton and before that Dick Nixon. Other than these two, it's a collection of con-men. Obama and Romney are not only con-men, they are also stupid and criminal.

    If Romney wins we are Guatemala; if Obama wins we are Spain. Take a Berlitz course inmediatamente.

  • c u n d gulag says:

    Who thought it was a good idea to have that nice black jazz musician debate that coked-up old white used-car salesman?

    My Obama lovin’ Mama ‘n me loved the Presidents performance.

    He clearly won. He was more assertive time, but at the same time, he was calm. It looked and sounded like Mitt literally was seeing how much word-salad he could spew in two minutes – and then demand more time.

    And saying he had 'binders full of womem,' sounds like something a CEO might say if confronted with why his staff is all men.
    And then, later, he tried to bully Candy Crowley. Well, that worked out well for him.

    Three great moments for the President:
    -The first, was when he talked about pensions, and Mitt, and investments in China. Mitt came at him, and I think something like 3 or 4 times asked “Have you looked at your pension?” to Obama. And Obama stood there as Mitt kept getting closer, calmly looked at Mitt, and said, “I don’t know. My pension's not as big as yours.”
    BOOM!

    -Mitt was at his smirking, reptile smilin’, glaring worst when he thought he had the kill, and went for that zinger about Libya and what the President said the next morning. He had this really nasty evil look as he glowered and smirked at the President, who had just said that he DID say that it was an act of terror that morning. And Mitt, thinking he had him right in his crosshairs, and said, “Ok, I wanted that on the record.” Candy Crowley who did a very, very, good job, schooled Mitt right then and there, saying that yes, it was indeed what the President had said, and Mitt ended up being ‘hoist by his own retardedness.’ The President said, “Say it louder, Candy,” and the audience had one of its few reactions that night. And it sure as hell wasn’t a cheer for Ol’ Mitt.

    -And then, Mitt opened up his yap at the end, and talked about caring about a 100% of the people. Obama, wound his haymaker up, and hit Mitt right on the button, with his 47% comment.
    AND DOWN GOES ROMNEY! DOWN GOES ROMNEY!! DOWN GOES ROMNEY!!!

    That nice black jazz musician left the coked-up old white used-car salesman a whimpering puddle of flop-sweat.

  • Major Kong says:

    “Government does not create jobs.”

    …..but we can't cut defense spending because that would cost jobs.

  • sluggo says:

    The binders full of women comment isn't what bothered me in that statement. It was everything that was around it that bothered me.

    Women 'choose' to work? Not anywhere around me, all the women in my life need the money. Women getting less pay, means my wife brings less money to our household.

    You need to be more flexible with women's work schedules? He sent his chief of staff home at 5pm so she could take care of her family, but he would have no problem keep a guy at work until 7 or 8??? Fuck that.

    This is the 'job creator' mentality. People are 'given' jobs by someone like Romney and we should be thankful. The truth is that the only thing that creates jobs is demand. Work needs to be done, and someone is hired to do that work.

    He talked over the moderator, and tried to bully her. I can't tell if it was because she is a woman or not, he may be like that with everyone, but I am sure that a lot of voters will see it that way.

  • Major Kong says:

    Exactly. The "job creators" aren't hiring people out of charity. They hire people because there's work to be done.

    My employer, let's call them globalairfreightcorp is currently parking jets in the desert because there's a slowdown in global trade.

    I'm sure we'd love a tax cut, but we're not going to buy more planes to park in the desert next to the other ones because someone gave us a tax cut.

    And we're not going to hire more pilots to not fly the planes sitting in the desert because we get a tax cut.

    We'll buy more planes and hire more pilots (and mechanics and loaders etc) when demand for our service exceeds current capacity.

  • Monkey Business says:

    I think the clearest sign that Obama had a commanding win last night is that Andrew Sullivan went from trying to hang himself to just autoerotically asphyxiating himself whilst masturbating furiously.

  • Halloween Jack says:

    Here's the deal with the binder, and, surprise surprise, once again Mitt's a liar liar with his magic underwear on fire. tl;dr version: Mitt claimed that he and his staff took the initiative to add women to his Massachusetts cabinet, when in fact the women's groups took the initiative to come to him. (And he still didn't nominate any women to the more important departments.)

  • Southern Beale says:

    The internet is getting to be a terrifying place with respect to its ability to create memes in near real time.

    Indeed, that Tumblr site was up and running barely before they'd moved on to the next question. And yet, that hack Mark Halperin is pretending it wasn't an authentic moment, that somehow Democratic operatives and the "MSM" are ginning it up.

    I think if you're doing damage control, pretending something didn't happen probably isn't the best strategy. But what do I know.

  • Southern Beale says:

    Also, did we all see Ann Romney's face as she walked out on stage when it was all over? She looked royally pissed off. Like she was gonna rip Mitt a new one as soon as they got to the hotel. Man, I wish someone grabbed a picture of that.

  • Jason says:

    I love that the NRA's candidate thinks that automatic weapons are illegal. They are expensive and a pain in the ass to get, but they aren't illegal.

  • sluggo says:

    @ Jason

    Just another lie from the say anything candidate. Lies roll off his tongue so freely, that he can't stop, even when it does not get him anywhere. I think the President's bad performance two weeks ago was he expected Gov. Romney to tell the truth (at least the politician version of the truth).

    I think the President did better this time, because he hire Joe Isuzu for debate prep.

  • mel in oregon says:

    dan the l: not too hard to figure what middle seaman is referring to. let's start with romney. anyone with half a brain knows this character is unfit to hold any office. he lies about everything, won't release his taxes, hides his money from the united states to avoid american taxes, runs companies into the ground, firing workers & moving jobs to china, yet crows about how he will "get tough with china". not when you're making millions on your china businesses, mitt. okay let's turn to obama. no support for teachers in chicago led by former chief of staff emanuel, with no support either from obama's sect of education, duncan. no support for govt employees in wisconsin from obama. obama supports tax cuts for corporations which is a failed strategy already tried by gw bush. obama has already approved the southern half of the keystone pipeline. wonder if barack has ever heard of global warming? obama supported cuts in medicare & ss taken from both to support the war invasions in iraq, afghanistan & pakistan. tax cuts for the wealthy, supported by obama means the wealthy didn't pay for these idiotic wars, but boy did they profit from them through their defense investments. okay so it looks like in spite of all the cheering from democrats that obama is very bad also. he only sounds like a progressive every 4 years at election time. now i have a minor bone to pick with m. s. clinton smart? oh c'mon, maybe academically, but surely very stupid in policies for the long term economic health of the united states demonstrated by his support for the repeal of glass-steagall, & enactment of the commodities futures modernization act which set the stage for the unregulated wallstreet speculation leading to the economic turmoil that will probably go on for decades. he also was a huge booster of "free trade acts" which has led to the outsourcing of millions of good american jobs. tricky dick smart? haha! nixon could have easily have escaped untouched by the watergate breakin if he had admitted his stupidity & moved on. he was extremely stubborn. remember he had a secret plan to end the viet nam war. when he left office 7 years later the war was still going on. he was also racist using "the southern stategy" to take away civil rights benefits won under brown vs board of education, mlk demonstrations & other hard won battles for equality. now i'm sure rmn was probably a whiz at crossword puzzles & other brain teasers. but an effective president, no way!

  • Rosalux says:

    Obama did OK, but I still think that the Dems have totally failed to construct a very good narrative about Romney. They've tried the Rich, Aloof guy with bank accounts in the Caymans approach, but I don't think that's a deal breaker for most people. Many people would be happy with that guy if they believe that he can fix the economy.

    The best line from last night was when Obama called Romney's economic plan "sketchy." The campaign repeated that today. This is a winning narrative. Romney is sketchy, a used-car salesman, slick, untrustworthy, selling you a bill of goods. This narrative meshes beautifully with the narrative about Romney being a serial flip-flopper, shape-shifter with no core. My two cents – they need to push this hard.

  • Both Sides Do It says:

    I'm with Rosalux how goddamn hard is it to create a campaign commercial with footage of romney contradicting himself

    "My plan calls for a five trillion dollar tax cut" "There is no five trillion dollar tax cut, I didn't say that"

    "My administration will work to keep and extend pell grants" "Pell grants need to be abolished"

    "My plan will cover those with pre-existing conditions, absolutely" "My plan will allow those with pre-existing conditions to resume coverage as long as they aren't ninety days without insurance"

    Then: "I will work for the middle class" "the math adds up" "I'll create jobs"

    Big title card: How can we trust him with the country when we can't trust him to be consistent? "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message"

    That'll win the morning

  • Major Kong says:

    @Jason

    "I love that the NRA's candidate thinks that automatic weapons are illegal. They are expensive and a pain in the ass to get, but they aren't illegal."

    Very true. I once thought about getting a Class 3 license but decided I really didn't want the Feds crawling that far up my butt.

    And then there's the expense.

    Most notably, Class 3 firearms are rarely IF EVER used to commit a crime. You'd have to search far and wide to find an instance of a Class 3 firearm being misused. But "gun laws don't work" amiright?

  • Bernard says:

    did anyone see the look on Rmoney's son. some other website, i think Rising Hegemon, had this totally robotic look/a picture/ of his son, sitting next to Ann, her royal highness. the look on his face was/is so devoid of any humanity. now if i could see one of Ann, i probably would see smoke coming out of her ears.

    just shows how out of place these people/robots are in the company of us lesser humans. lol.

    It was Obama, who, out of the blue, offered to cut Social Security as a gesture of "bipartisanship" when the last Tax Cut/Debt Ransoming Session occured last August. not that makes Rmoney any less Robotic, just shows how Obama is just as evil. lol. I guess the TPTB want us 47% to vote for Obama as the more humane robot in this election.

  • JazzBumpa says:

    My favorite moment was Obama saying, "Please continue, Governor." After that exchange Willard looked like Betty White had run on stage and bitch-slapped him with a dead carp.

    And the percentage of females in responsible government positions actually decreased during his term as gov.

    That son of a bitch can't say any god damned thing without telling a lie.

    And he might actually win. Jesus H. Christ!

    WASF!
    JzB

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