# Mitt, get that fucking smirk off of your face and try to show a modicum of respect. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 4, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653 "2012-10-04T01:54:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/61 "2012-10-04T19:28:03Z")
Me? Or **Starvin’**? ---
**Author:** ![Anduril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Anduril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduril)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/62 "2012-10-04T21:14:01Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > As [I said.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15555410&postcount=43) If it makes you sleep better at night. MWAHAHAHAH! ---
**Author:** ![Phatzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@Phatzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatzo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/63 "2012-10-04T21:39:22Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > You think those 47% of Americans don’t vote, or just don’t count? I think they will vote for whoever gives them the most free shit regardless of the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/64 "2012-10-04T21:43:05Z")
Life must be incredibly depressing for you, to have such a dim view of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![StrawberryDaquiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StrawberryDaquiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrawberryDaquiri)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/65 "2012-10-04T21:59:21Z")
Quote by **Lightnin** > [@](#): > > Romney’s entire job right now is to get elected. Nothing else. Obama, on the other hand, has a day job you might’ve heard about. Add in the fact that pinning Romney down on a position is like trying to nail jello to a wall, it’s not really surprising that Obama didn’t do better. This. Obama didn’t seem to be 100% into the debate. It’s like he’s too confident about the election and is focusing instead on the job. That’s great, that’s really what the nation needs, but we also need him to get re-elected so a fuck-tard like Romney isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/66 "2012-10-04T22:03:42Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Just went online to see how the debate is polling. Didn’t find much but some of Hollywood is tweeting. > > I just don’t know what to say. Romney changed stripes again tonite, spoke many untruths and like a thief stole the night. > ~Michael Moore > > Closing statements, Mitt won the coin toss. And put the coin in the Cayman Islands > ~Bill Maher > > debate frustration. I wanted Obama to TALK FASTER. and SAY MORE. > ~Rebecca Stead (not sure who she is but she’s in the mix) > > #Obama is having his lunch eaten. On to the next one. > ~Abby Huntsman > > CBS analysis says Romney stomped Obama with undecided voters > ~ABF Foundation @ABFalecbaldwin > > GOP needed some good news–Romney delivered it. Shd be clear now why he led one of the most successful private equity firms in the world. > ~Laura Ingraham > > Well that sucked. > ~Moby > > [Link](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/10/03/who-won-the-presidential-debate-what-stars-are-tweeting/) [Dennis Miller seems to be on fire…](https://twitter.com/DennisDMZ) “Obama better hope a Kicked Ass is covered under Obamacare.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/67 "2012-10-04T22:04:38Z")
> [@Phatzo](#): > > I think they will vote for whoever gives them the most free shit regardless of the consequences. Government by, for and of the people is not smarter, nor more efficient, nor inherently more certain to have favorable outcomes. It is simply more just. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/68 "2012-10-04T22:06:50Z")
Poor Dennis Miller, I genuinely feel sorry for him. 9/11 drove him insane, as it did so many of our fellow citizens. A casualty, in a sense. ---
**Author:** ![Phatzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@Phatzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatzo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/69 "2012-10-04T22:31:40Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Life must be incredibly depressing for you, to have such a dim view of humanity. I’m on top of the world, my dim view of humanity accentuates being on top of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/70 "2012-10-05T00:05:42Z")
> [@Anduril](#): > > If it makes you sleep better at night. > MWAHAHAHAH! I feel the exact same way about your candidates hope of this debate changing the outcome. ---
**Author:** ![vaultermn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/4bbf92/32.png) [@vaultermn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vaultermn)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/71 "2012-10-05T02:20:22Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > And his strategy of withholding key policy details and abandoning previous positions without a second thought paid off when he was able to deflect Obama’s substantive criticism by pretending he’d never proposed 20% cuts in rates or to repeal Dodd-Frank, etc. Just to be clear, his exact quote from the debate is: > [@](#): > > MR. LEHRER: You want to repeal Dodd-Frank? > > MR. ROMNEY: Well, I would repeal it and replace it. You – we’re not going to get rid of all regulation. You have to have regulation. And there’s some parts of Dodd-Frank that make all the sense in the world. You need transparency, you need to have leverage limits for institutes And this is from his official PDf on this website: > [@](#): > > Reform Financial Regulation > As president, Mitt Romney will also seek to repeal Dodd-Frank and replace > it with a streamlined regulatory framework…Some of the concepts in Dodd-Frank have a place. Greater transparency for > inter-bank relationships, enhanced capital requirements, and provisions to address > new forms of complex financial transactions are all necessary elements of effective > financial reform. But these concepts must be translated into law in a way that > creates a simple, predictable, and efficient regulatory system appropriate for our > dynamic economy That seems a pretty consistent position to me. A quick google search of Romney’s statements on Dodd-Frank all offer the same statements: Repeal and Replace ---
**Author:** ![A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_nice_guy_with_an_opinion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/72 "2012-10-05T05:10:26Z")
I guess Romney should have bowed to The King to appease his loyal subjects. btw - He was smirking because the debate was so easy. I kept waiting for Obama to start to talk in his 2007 Katrina dialect to pump up his base. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/73 "2012-10-05T05:18:40Z")
So, you’re the nice one, with the opinion? Sheesh, what’s the _other_ guy with the opinion like? ---
**Author:** ![Phatzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@Phatzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatzo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/74 "2012-10-05T05:21:03Z")
he’s a complete asshole ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/75 "2012-10-05T06:30:51Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Romney’s entire job right now is to get elected. Nothing else. Obama, on the other hand, has a day job you might’ve heard about. You know, presidents are supposed to be able to bone up on and effectively handle effectively serious and difficult events whose proper disposition is their responsibilty as president. I suggest Ronald Reagan’s difficult and protracted nuclear missle negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavík in 1986, when a 75-year-old Reagan flew to Iceland and undertook two days of complex and maddening hardball negotiations with Gorbachev in an effort to acheive an agreement on nuclear ballistic missles, human rights, emigration of Soviet Jews and dissidents, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He also managed to comport himself pretty well during his incumbent debate against Walter Mondale, even managing to make himself look sympathic and picked on when Mondale hammered him after Reagan tried the “There you go again” line that worked so well against Jimmy Carter and for which Mondale was waiting with a devastating retort. The problem with Obama frankly is that he’s not a leader. He’s a sideline guy. He just doesn’t have the executive experience or strength of personality to shape or drive events. He stands by the side and lets foreign leaders do what they will; he stands by the side and lets Congress do what it will; he tries and tries but by and large the economy is doing as it will, etc. etc. In the biography of Steve Jobs that came out shortly after he died, a meeting was described where Obama flew out to California to meet with Silicon Valley tech leaders to get their input on how to stimulate the economy and create jobs. The following is from Jobs’ biography: Jobs “stressed the need for more trained engineers and suggested that any foreign students who earned an engineering degree in the U.S. should be given a visa to stay in the country.” The president reportedly replied that this would have to await broader immigration reform, which he said he was unable to accomplish. “Jobs found this an annoying example of how politics can lead to paralysis,” Mr. Isaacson writes. “he president is very smart, but he kept explaining to us reasons why things can’t get done,” Jobs said. “It infuriates me.” In other words, Obama sees obstacles and becomes stymied. He lacks forcefulness and creativity and determination. So, when faced with the challenge presented by Mitt Romney last night, he folded and withdrew to the sidelines as much as possible, hoping (and even suggesting) a change of subject or the passing of time to get him through it. I think his problem was exacerbated also by the fact that he’s been indulging in appearances on programs such as _Oprah_ and _The View_, where he can sit relaxed with his legs crossed comfortably ensconsed amongst a sea of women panelists and audience members who slaver over his every word and allow him to smilingly and confidently spout his talking points while being halted only occasionally for the softball question whose reponse is never challenged or to bask in the applause of his adoring audience. So it’s little wonder he didn’t seem to have much interest in the debate, or, apparently, in preparing for it. It was like he had never experienced a real hardball debate before and thought he could just show up and spout the same platitudes that brought the house down when he was talking to Whoopi and Joy Behar and be home free. Then, as it became more and more obvious he had his hands full, the lack of leadership and moxie that is his true nature became more and more apparent. I expect in the next debates he’ll come out and try to play the hardass, but it just isn’t in him and he’ll probably overdo it and come off just as ridiculously as he did last night but for different reasons. Strangely enough I have never felt all that much dislike for Barack Obama. The last Democratic president I actually liked was JFK (who, let’s face it, would be a Republican by today’s standards), and I easily like Obama more than any Democratic president since then. If he were my neighbor or a guy I worked with I’d probably enjoy his company very much. But as president the guy is pretty much an empty suit. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/76 "2012-10-05T06:43:19Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > He just announced he will kill PBS… ) I guess there’s just no satisfying you liberals. You ask for specifics on how to cut the deficit and Romney identifies one huge money sink that he’ll reluctantly destroy (despite that he loves Big Bird and Jim Lehrer) in order to save America from borrowing more from China. Destroying PBS _will_ make a dramatic impact on the deficit. As [most Republicans know](http://www.freepress.net/blog/11/04/04/poll-public-supports-higher-funding-npr-pbs), over $178 billion per year is spent by the federal government on PBS. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/77 "2012-10-05T07:31:22Z")
So, you probably think Big Bird urging kids to share is a good thing, huh, commie! Oh, no, no socialist indoctrination here, nosiree Bob! Connect the dot, people! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/78 "2012-10-05T07:33:27Z")
If Romney had come out and said he was going to give PBS ten times more money if they promised not another pledge week, forever…I might have been tempted… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/79 "2012-10-05T11:50:18Z")
> [@vaultermn](#): > > Just to be clear, his exact quote from the debate is. He had not previously said he would replace it with parts that are already in it. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653/80 "2012-10-05T13:35:37Z")
> [@Phatzo](#): > > I think they will vote for whoever gives them the most free shit regardless of the consequences. Kinda like this, huh? > [@Romney](#): > > They’ll probably be looking at what the polls are saying. If it looks like I’m going to win, the markets will be happy. If it looks like the president’s going to win, the markets should not be terribly happy. It depends, of course, which markets you’re talking about, which types of commodities and so forth, but my own view is, if we win on November 6th there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We’ll see capital come back, and we’ll see—without actually doing anything—we’ll actually get a boost in the economy. If the president gets reelected, I don’t know what will happen. I can never predict what the markets will do. Sometimes it does the exact opposite of what I would have expected. But my own view is that if we get the—the “Taxageddon,” as they call it, January 1st, with this president, and with a Congress that can’t work together, it really is frightening, really frightening in my view. What’s your proposal? Do you think that the 47% of Americans are worth defence expenditure on? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-get-that-fucking-smirk-off-of-your-face-and-try-to-show-a-modicum-of-respect/636653.md?page=5)