You would do well to educate yourself.
All of those Republicans had jobs to lose.
Romney has nothing to lose.
I’m not trying to be obtuse, make you look silly, or make myself look smart.
Just the facts.
Fair enough, but how would have those republicans have acted differently if they had no job to lose? Are you saying they took it easy on him in some way?
Boxing analogy: It’s the 10th round of a 12 round fight. You’re the corner man of a fighter who has been beating the crap out of the other guy for nine rounds. You know he is ahead on all the judges cards. What is the prudent advice you give him? Play defense. Move around the ring to avoid being hit. Don’t worry about losing the next couple of rounds, just don’t get knocked out.
And if you’re the in the corner of the guy who is behind? You have to knock this guy out! Be aggressive! Go after him! Find an opening and attack!
That was what the first debate was as far as I was concerned: One fighter, ahead by every account, playing defense; another fighter, desperate because he can only win with a knockout, throwing punches wildly.
To continue the analogy, this strategy is bad for Obama since the first nine rounds might not matter to undecided voters. They didn’t pay much attention to the fight before - they just flipped on their TV - and are not going to base their votes - which are still not for five more weeks - on those previous rounds.
Unfortunately for Romney,“polls consistently show far fewer undecided voters than four years ago,” so this could be a winning strategy for Obama. Stay out of harm’s way and above the fray and don’t make any big mistakes.
All that said, I expect that Obama will be more aggressive in future debates simply because he is as competitive as he is pragmatic. I also think the polls won’t move enough in Romney’s direction to make a huge difference in Obama’s confidence, but just enough where he will decide that he can throw a few punches without risking getting knocked out.
Regardless, I think we can all agree that Jim Lehrer sucked.
Obama voters seem to be punch drunk.
Not really. We’re just aware of something you apparently are not:
I would like to know if anyone who was going to vote for Obama (not an undecided) actually changed their votes based on last night. I don’t think it’s enough to be statistically meaningful especially in swing states.
I love it when liberals sulk 
No reason to, before last night, we thought we had one center left candidate, turns out we have two. Turns out the real Mitt Romney doesn’t believe any of that stuff that the other Mitt Romney was saying. Which is something of a relief, though a bit of a surprise.
I asked you a question upthread.
When Romney claimed his tax cuts for the wealthy would be offset by closing loopholes, I was surprised Obama didn’t ask how that will allow job creators to hire more employees. Romney has been talking all along about stimulating job growth with tax cuts, yet now they are offset with unspecified closed loopholes. Romney is clearly counting on voters who can’t connect the dot.
I didn’t get to watch the entire debate last night, but I’ll get to it later today. Still, I’ve been reading some of the responses here and online and I have to say that they’re probably a bit overblown. I agree with the boxing analogy above; the bottom line is that the strongest debate showing in the world isn’t going to help Romney in Ohio, and if he loses there.then he loses the election.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Romney sure is trotting out his liberal ideals.
“Just the facts”, eh?
OK, so you hate Obama, and/or those who may have voted for him. Right out of the gate, we can safely discount anything you ever say on this subject, because you are clearly here only to post anti-Obama advertising,
[aside]
…May I say I wish to live to see the day the phrase “Alpha Male” falls back into zoologists’ exclusive domain
[/aside]
Let’s be honest- Obama phoned it in last night. He had a very lackluster performance. He he was a produce picker, he would have been fired for leaving low-hanging fruit on the vine. He looked like a kid being hauled into the principal’s office. He failed to dispute Romney’s $700 billion Medicare lie. He failed to mention the 47%. He fucking nodded his head when Romney went through his points. He did as bad as Bush did in the first Kerry debate.
That being said, there simply aren’t enough undecided voters for this to make a difference. Romney still cannot carry Ohio, and he cannot win the election.
I was just going to say almost exactly the same thing.
For those of us who were expecting and hoping for a solid, commanding performance from Obama to solidify his recent gains … this was a fail. Obama looked unprepared, right from his opening statement. I mean, come on, there’s NO excuse for not having your opening statement memorized and ready to go. He fumbled and stumbled from “Sweetie” on.
I thought he did do considerably better as the debate went on. I am also frustrated by his failure to call Romney out on his fabrications, his constant harping on the $716 billion lie, and his completely-out-of-left-field new stances (no cuts on taxes for the rich? That’s new).
Romney did a nice job. As mentioned upthread, it’s easy to look confident and aggressive when you apparently don’t really believe in anything you say. :rolleyes:
I have never thought Romney as President would be a disaster, in a vacuum. (Of course, Romney being President in a vacuum may be the best place for him to govern .. ba da bing!) Given a Democratic congress, I don’t think he’d be W-level terrible. What concerns me, though, is a Romney presidency, in this climate, gives the nutjobs in the House free reign to go all crazy nutballs on this country. And his judicial choices, given the promises he’s made to the Tea Party, would be a disaster for the nation for years to come.
All that said, debates rarely change things all that much. Obama needs to hold Ohio, which he should, and things will work out all right.
Anyone manage to make it through with a drinking game?
I realized after downing my first beer in 8 minutes that I couldn’t understand what these guys were talking about. So I conceded defeat to my wife.
Will there be three or four Mitt Romneys on the ticket in November?
Nah. Romney went into a phone booth as Clark Kent and emerged as… a different Clark Kent. Romney only had to prepare for debate against Obama’s four years of office, but Obama had to prepare for whatever version of Romney we’ve got *this *week.
One more point I think Obama fails on is allowing everyone to refer to the Affordable Health Care for America Act as Obamacare. I think he should have requested that it be called by its actual name. It’s much easier to criticize something that has a less official sounding name to it. It’s probably not a big deal, but I was kind of surprised that he went along with calling it “Obamacare.”