'I like you, Jim, but I’m going to fire you." Yeah, he did run Bain, didn’t he?
Hate to say it, but Romney is appearing better so far.
I’m going to steal this concept from Fark, but watching this is a bit like watching the first three weeks of the NFL. Lehrer is getting run over by the pros.
Obama warming up now…
ETA: Same for Romney… but a little defensive.
Romney’s upper lip is sweating bullets.
Does he really appear better than Obama, or does he only appear better than the low expectations he’s not living down to?
He appears better. More confident and prepared. Trust me, it kills me to say it, but it’s true. I expect the president to rally.
Same thing, for political purposes. He’s doing much, much better than the (unfairly) low expectations – he is well prepared and knows what he came to say.
Romney doesn’t sound bad to me, but that’s the power of lowered expectations speaking. In reality, it’s easy to sound great when you’re ‘Candidate Etch-A-Sketch’ - reinventing yourself on the fly.
By the way - did anyone else notice he essentially called his 5 boys committed liars earlier?
I agree that Romney is performing better than Obama, but it seems to be shifting.
I don’t understand why listening to them (both of them) irritates me so much, but I just turned it off. I can read the transcript faster than they can say it, and then I don’t have to hear their voices.
Anyone liveblogging this? Slow night at work on this side of the pond, but video access is disabled.
I’m surprised y’all think Romney is doing well. Obama totally has him reacting defensively. If I didn’t know any better, I would think Romney was the incumbent and Obama was the challenger.
When Romney pulls out the “You’ve had four years to do X” argument, I’d like to see Obama reminding everyone of the Republicans’ obstructionism.
Summary: A lot of numbers. Too much data. A lot of talk about taxes. Romney is pithier, more emotional. Obama is hesitating, now making his best points.
Romney continues to kick some serious butt. This is not good.
Romney: state government is brilliant, federal government is not. Uh, right.
YouTube is slow. HuffPo is working good.
Obama sounds ten times more calmer than Romney, so it is easier for me to follow what he saying.
There’s a live blog here, with live fact-checking: Presidential Debate Fact-Check and Updates - Live Coverage - Election 2012 - NYTimes.com