US Presidential Election Debate #1

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After thinking about the debate last evening, and having seen Obama debate back in the last election against Hillary and then McCain, and knowing that he has debate skills far surpassing last evening’s performance, I have to wonder?

Is Obama playing a “rope a dope,” strategy, holding back until the last debate? The last debate is the one the voters will remember before going to vote. Perhaps it’s there that Obama will come out swinging and land a knockout punch.
If this is the case, which I don’t think it is in any way, it would be a really idiotic move on Obama’s part. The polls are technically open and voting can commence, so by intentionally coming off as tired and weak he could be signing his own death warrant. If the polls weren’t open until after the third debate then that type of strategy might work, but as long as polls are open I can’t believe he would be that . . .
 
It was IMO, only and was based upon his past oratory performances and numerous faux pas over the past 2 months.
You’re in Ireland and I suspect have limited sources or limited time or limited interest in this race so you are basing your conclusions on what other people have said about Romney.

Did you watch the Republican Convention? How much do you know about Romney? If you are using sound bites and Obama ads for your argument be aware that they are not all that credible.

The “faux pas” were OPINIONS of the MSM which is strongly pro-Obama. Further the MANY faux pas by Obama and Biden didn’t quite make the news did they? Are you aware of Obama’s “You didn’t build that” comment? How about Biden’s “Put ya back in CHAINS!!!” How about Obama/Clinton/Rice’s two week fabrication about the BenGhazi assassinations? OOPS!

Obama is great at reading a teleprompter. When he speaks extemporaneously he’s full of “uh uh uh’s” strawmen set afire (he tried it again last night) and ad hominems. He doesn’t have a good command of the facts and either filabusters or obfuscates if someone asks him a tough question.

Honestly if he’s afraid to go toe to toe with Elisabeth Hasselback why would you think he could actually debate effectively?

Lisa
 
You’re in Ireland and I suspect have limited sources or limited time or limited interest in this race so you are basing your conclusions on what other people have said about Romney.

Did you watch the Republican Convention? How much do you know about Romney? If you are using sound bites and Obama ads for your argument be aware that they are not all that credible.

The “faux pas” were OPINIONS of the MSM which is strongly pro-Obama. Further the MANY faux pas by Obama and Biden didn’t quite make the news did they? Are you aware of Obama’s “You didn’t build that” comment? How about Biden’s “Put ya back in CHAINS!!!” How about Obama/Clinton/Rice’s two week fabrication about the BenGhazi assassinations? OOPS!

Obama is great at reading a teleprompter. When he speaks extemporaneously he’s full of “uh uh uh’s” strawmen set afire (he tried it again last night) and ad hominems. He doesn’t have a good command of the facts and either filabusters or obfuscates if someone asks him a tough question.

Honestly if he’s afraid to go toe to toe with Elisabeth Hasselback why would you think he could actually debate effectively?

Lisa
As you point out it was through the media over here. Every week for the past 2 months that’s all we’ve heard in relation to - Russia, UK Olympics, 47% voter comment, etc… Yes, you are correct and I have not heard his other speeches.
 
That’s because we had already invested $100 Billion (in today’s dollars) in the Apollo program learning how to make rockets that didn’t crash, burn, or blow up. Surely you’ve seen the videos even if you’re too young to remember how far behind the Soviets we were during most of the space race…
Unfortunately, we have no former Nazi scientists to help with our “green energy” programs.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip
 
I watched the debate, off and on, broadcast by c-span. The exit from the debate was very interesting to me. Mr. Romney and his family enjoyed being there and stayed on the stage well after the Obama’s left. President Obama makes a quick exit as Mitt calmly goes to his podium and collects his debate materials. A little later a man comes out and collects the President’s debate materials.

The President was acting childish and sulked off the stage too quickly. Whats the take on that?
His body language and expression were frankly ODD. Instead of looking at Mr Romney or even the audience during Romney’s comments, he looked down, tight lipped, seeming to be annoyed or angry. He look like he was walking through mud across the stage. It was like a little boy forced to do a piano recital for grandma…didn’t want to be there, didn’t think he needed to be there, and by golly we were all going to share his owlish attitude.

This in contrast to the bounce as he leaves AF1 or as he mounts the stage for a fundraiser.

I agree the Romneys came off as a warm, loving and supportive family proud of their guy. Cute when he picked up the granddaughter and swung her around. I adore Mrs Romney, she is so classy and strong. The Obamas looked stiff and somewhat demoralized. It was a reflection of the debate performance. Obama isn’t used to losing and I expect he’ll be much better prepared next time. I think he watched too many of his own ads that tended to minimalize Romney. When you start believing your own BS it’s hard to succeed.

Lisa
 
They both skewed the facts equally, according to various factcheck reports.

However, four years ago we were on the edge of a 1929 type depression.

We’re far better off than we were four years ago.

Jim
Reagon inherited a recession from Carter. He turned the economy around to become prosperous in 2 years
 
As you point out it was through the media over here. Every week for the past 2 months that’s all we’ve heard in relation to - Russia, UK Olympics, 47% voter comment, etc… Yes, you are correct and I have not heard his other speeches.
It sounds like you were getting the "best of " Romney perceived or real mis-statements instead of a more balanced viewpoint. For example Romney’s trip in Israel and Poland were characterized by absolute support and kudos…but I bet you only heard that he seemed to diss the Brit’s Olympic Security right? The press is one sided at best.

Quite honestly the BBC and other UK outlets tend to be very Leftist and supportive of Obama. Other than Tony Blair, the Brits HATED GWB and the press reflected this opinion.

I did get a howl out of the press release about how Democrats claim Republicans want to use granny for firewood! I have to admit your sense of humor is delightful.

I like the Economist for European info although it does hang a bit to the left as well. Thanks for your honesty

Lisa
 
The same tax and spend policies you probably supported in the past. Just what non-entilements would you like to see cut (outside of the military, of course, the world is an entirely safe place!)?

NEA? PBS? Planned Parenthood? What???

I’ve yet to have seen an administration tax themselves out of a recession. And the cuts are coming somewhere, whether Obama supporters are willing to admit it or not.
Of course there will be cuts. Obama has said about a million times that he intends to pursue a balanced approach, which means cuts as well as revenue increases if we want to start balancing the budget and bring down the debt. He has already authorized $1 trillion dollars in cuts and will probably do more. He will also let the Bush tax cuts expire on income greater then $250,000 a year. That means rich people keep the lower rate on the first $250,000 dollars they earn - just like the rest of us. Seems fair to me.

Romney is proposing a plan that he says is revenue neutral. I assume that means we do not take in any more money than we spend. He is either assuming that his tax cuts will eventually result in compensatory growth or he will be eliminating some mighty popular programs and deductions.

He says his litmus test for cutting a program is whether it is worth borrowing money from China to pay for it. What does that mean? Eliminating subsidies for PBS because its not worth borrowing money from China to pay for Big Bird won’t come close to making the budget revenue neutral or bring down the debt. He’s going to have to go after bigger fish than that. Why won’t he tell us which big fish?

We already know Romney has the capacity to ignore the personal cost of what he thinks is an “effective strategy”. He can’t seem to feel human suffering on a large scale, but only understands it when expressed to him personally. So he thinks letting the housing market bottom out is a good economic strategy, because it looks good on paper. He doesn’t instinctively feel the pain of all those people whose lives and fortunes would be entirely destroyed as a result. This is not a good trait in a national leader who is also Commander-in-Chief.

Rick Perry made the mistake in the primaries of saying you had to govern with a heart and it cost him with the current GOP electorate. That worries me too. When hard choices have to be made, I would like to know the party in charge values compassion.
 
Reagon inherited a recession from Carter. He turned the economy around to become prosperous in 2 years
Bush inherited the dot.com bubble, a recession and 9/11 from Clinton. He turned it around as well. But unlike “Oblame-A” he didn’t whine and claim that it was all Clinton’s fault. In fact he launched Clinton’s post presidency shine with the joint Clinton/Bush41 initiatives. Ironically I think Bush did more to burnish Clinton’s tenure than he might have intended!

Lisa
 
After thinking about the debate last evening, and having seen Obama debate back in the last election against Hillary and then McCain, and knowing that he has debate skills far surpassing last evening’s performance, I have to wonder?

Is Obama playing a “rope a dope,” strategy, holding back until the last debate? The last debate is the one the voters will remember before going to vote. Perhaps it’s there that Obama will come out swinging and land a knockout punch.

Not saying this is the case, but last night’s performance was not Obama’s best for sure.

So Romney supporters, don’t get over confident.

Jim
2nd debate is town hall which is very different than the 1st, and 3rd is foreign policy which the polls show is prioritised lower than the economy. Early voting is going on now in more in half than states. You need to make an impact in the 1st debate. Economy is at the top of most peoples list not foreign policy
 
Of course there will be cuts. Obama has said about a million times that he intends to pursue a balanced approach, which means cuts as well as revenue increases if we want to start balancing the budget and bring down the debt.
Explain the last 4 years with $1,000,000,000,000+ ($1 Trillion +) deficits every year? :rolleyes:
 
Obama was bad because he wanted to wiat until the last debate? 😛

2nd debate is town hall which is very different than the 1st, and 3rd is foreign policy which the polls show is prioritised lower than the economy. Early voting is going on now in more in half than states. You need to make an impact in the 1st debate
Obama needed to continue his momentum to deep six Romney.

Obama no longer can count on “Hope and Change” since he actually has a Presidential record now.

Obama needed a decent showing. Instead, he got taken out back to the woodshed and schooled. Romney definately made him look like an empty suit.
 
Of course there will be cuts. Obama has said about a million times that he intends to pursue a balanced approach, which means cuts as well as revenue increases if we want to start balancing the budget and bring down the debt. He has already authorized $1 trillion dollars in cuts and will probably do more. He will also let the Bush tax cuts expire on income greater then $250,000 a year. That means rich people keep the lower rate on the first $250,000 dollars they earn - just like the rest of us. Seems fair to me…
Obama has said a lot of things. Unfortunately, his actions aren’t backed up by what he says. His “fair” tax idea has a revenue increase of a measly $48 billion over 10 years, while the 2013 budget he proposed has $7 TRILLION in spending increases (not new spending, just increases to currently funded projects) over the same 10 years.

I’m not sure a 0.07% revenue increase against proposed spending increases is any type of “balanced” approach.

WaPo checking the Obama figures:

washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/the-tale-of-two-plans/2012/10/04/cb5c209e-0e2c-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_blog.html
 
I would like to point out that not only did Kerry win his first Presidential debate against the incumbent GWB and go on to lose the election, but the same happened with Mondale in his first debate against the incumbent Reagan. An exception is Carter, who lost handily to Reagan. So first debates are not necessarily decisive with respect to predictions about the outcome of the general election. However, it may also be true that more people tuned into the first debate than will be the case with the remaining two. Further, there is what we call in social psychology, the primacy effect, which refers to the powerful influence of first impressions which anchor succeeding impressions. OTOH, there is also the recency effect, which means that the last of a series can have the most influence if a decision is to be made very shortly afterwards.
IOW…who the heck knows? 🙂
 
Format of the 2nd debate is as follows
The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization
3rd debate
The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy
Both have similar or same format to the 1st debate so how does that help Obama? Both debates Obama has to defend his record and interact with Romney
 
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