# Romney: Biggest Debate Hurdle Will Be Dishonesty **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 14, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704 "2012-09-14T16:09:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704/61 "2012-09-17T14:13:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Romney’s ability to not look smug and unlikeable has improved immeasurably. He still needs to work on that insipid half-smile that he gets when others are talking about him. It looks like he is working on a difficult bowel movement. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704/62 "2012-09-17T19:03:54Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > but a poor performance might convince some of the moneybags to get off a sinking ship, and cash is the only real advantage Romney has over Obama. Even a 10% chance of a Romney win is worth billions of dollars ($38 billion) to the largest consituency of SuperPAC billionaires, the hedge fund managers. All that bullshit about Obama taking away your guns when he wins re-election is bullshit but the talk about him reversing the tax treatment of carried interest is not. This is worth billions to a very small group of people. It costs our treasury $38 billion dollars/year to tax hedge fund manager income at capital gains rates instead of at ordinary rates. This tax savings is shared by a very very very small group of people. They can always try to kiss and make up if Obama wins but Romney is their guy. > [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Mark my words, Romney will not actually answer many of the questions asked during the debates at all. He will respond to questions with non sequiturs, deflection, and prepared, tangentially-related mini speeches that he will trot out when the moderator utters certain key phrases. > > My hope is Obama will not do this as well. How well they do this without seeming to do this is going to make a difference. If either of them pulls a Palinesque attempt to ignore the questions entirely, I think they are going to be received about as warmly as Palin was. > [@boytyperanma](#): > > They picked[Rob Portman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman) > > He’s the guy they trotted out to defend Romney’s recent politicizing of the Libyan incident. Rob Prtman isn’t a foreign policy guy, he knows soemthing about defense and security but most of their foreign policy guys are neocons. They need to kick out those guys and pull in more guys like Huntsman. > > This was a day after information on the sequence of events was known. > > I don’t understand how he’s a good stand in for Obama, but I guess it’s the best they got. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704/63 "2012-09-17T19:14:00Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Even a 10% chance of a Romney win is worth billions of dollars ($38 billion) to the largest consituency of SuperPAC billionaires, the hedge fund managers. All that bullshit about Obama taking away your guns when he wins re-election is bullshit but the talk about him reversing the tax treatment of carried interest is not. This is worth billions to a very small group of people. They may decide that Romney is a lost cause and put their money into down-ticket races–wins in the Senate and House could effectively blunt any chance that carried interest will be taxed like other income. I can see Rove quietly offering that as an option to his richest donors, who will want a bigger say in his Super PAC’s strategy before they donate for the homestretch. They know a bad investment when they see it, and if Romney doesn’t move the needle after the first debate, his outside funding will mopve to greener pastures. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704/64 "2012-09-17T21:03:24Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > They may decide that Romney is a lost cause and put their money into down-ticket races–wins in the Senate and House could effectively blunt any chance that carried interest will be taxed like other income. > > I can see Rove quietly offering that as an option to his richest donors, who will want a bigger say in his Super PAC’s strategy before they donate for the homestretch. They know a bad investment when they see it, and if Romney doesn’t move the needle after the first debate, his outside funding will mopve to greener pastures. I’m not sure that a slight majority in the senate can save carried interest. It is almost as unpopular within the Republican base as it is within the Democratic base. They would much prefer to have Romney and will continue to support him right up until the election. Maybe just keep him in the running hoping for Obama to fall on his face. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704/65 "2012-09-17T22:12:35Z")
I doubt one voter in ten in either base knows if they are for or against taxation of carried interest as ordinary income. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-biggest-debate-hurdle-will-be-dishonesty/634704.md?page=3)