Well The Daily Show should be fun tomorrow night

Verdict: Romney more assertive and clear than expected, but much of what he said was bullshit. Obama fine and picked up towards the end but too low-key and detached throughout.

msnbc is tearing into obama's lame performance

pretty much. Obama had no energy, but a lot of substance. Romney had lots of energy, but no substance.

I completely agree. Unfortunately, most people won't realize that bolded part, they will see that Romney spoke more clearly and was more assertive. To me Romney definitely won the debate. Obama's got to pick up the passion and speak more clearly in the next debate.

Yep.

And I have no idea how we went 90 minutes without one mention of the "47 percent".

I feel like there will be an avalanche on Romney in the next debate. All he has done is awaken a sleeping giant.

Obama was hesitant to cut Romney down to size. He was really asking for it, but obama held back. He cant do it next time.

Like I've said before this Obama should come out, then it's GAME OVER

Obama was definitely a bit sleepy, but still engaging, charismatic, authentic, and interesting to listen to. The media are criticizing his performance too much. "Professorial!" Oh, no!

Much of the hand-wringing over Obama's performance seems to come from diehard supporters who wanted him to destroy Romney. Romney's not so totally incompetent that I expected that to happen, and no one else should have either.

Still think this debate, especially being the first one, will be a wash.

Let's not forget John Kerry destroyed Dubya in their first debate and that didn't matter.

Yeah, but you're educated. Both are trying to win over those who aren't. It's the whole "who would you rather have a beer with" thing. That's why Romney won tonight.

The reason they are criticizing is because they don't believe you can communicate a message without getting shit cray loud.

anyone watching msnbc?

chris hayes and rudy giuliani are going at it re: whether romney wants to cut taxes or not

it is hilarious

both need to avoid tv

Having watched him do this Potemkin Kabuki for two decades, I am not sure he ever gave a fuck.

Rudy is lying and Hayes doesn't want to upset his corporate masters or is unaware of the two degrees of seperation that Rudy got his no-bid gov't contracts.

to be honest, i'm not actually sure what contracts hayes was talking about. any context?

i don't think hayes cares, anyway

Obama needs to be more assertive and less humble if he wants to win the next two debates. But he needs to do nothing if he wants to win the election.

i hate/love how poor ezra klein is now regarded as msnbc's "data guy"

if any of its regulars had a show, it should be him.

Perception is reality, a bad debate for Obama. Lucky for him he had the cushion.

Obama was really unprepared as usual. I have never thought he was a very good debator, which he showed in the 2008 Dem Primaries. He gives a great stump speech and can argue on a specific subject. However, he is too often unable to switch gears and attack an opponent's mistake. Also, he is hamstrung in trying to appeal as inoffensive as possible in a futile attempt to attract Republican leaning independents.

He should have mentioned that Obamacare was basically a Heritage Foundation plan that served as the basis for Romneycare in Massachussets, that the vast majority of Republicans supported until Obama proposed it. He definitely should have pointed out the absurdity of Romney's claim he would raise revenue by getting the unemployment rate down from 8% to 4%. The US took in approximately $2B in revenue for the 2012 budget, and spent $3.4B. Revenue would almost have to double from a 4% employement rise. We have not had a yearly GDP increase over 5% in over half a century. It is absurd.

He should have stated the obstruction of Republican Congress. He is a very selfish politician, never willing to spend an ounce of capital on anyone other than himself. Which in the end makes his job more difficult, because he has another Congress with recalcitrant Republicans never having to pay for their shenanigans. Assuming he wins, which he should, but after tonight he allowed Romney a great opportunity to make him a one termer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/us/po ... .html?_r=0

My understanding and it could be wrong, is that GP gets government contracts focusing on HSA for its clients. GP is the middleman/lobbyist selling access for companies in this lucrative field. So, RG can play word games by stating we have no gov't contracts, but we get paid by our clients for getting ones for them.

It was so irrelevant to the issues and narrative going around that I could swear it was actually filmed June last year.

Obama was never that good at debates...

Romney won easily...
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... ?hpt=hp_t2

Anyways Romney won but Obama will win in the end.


However this clearly shows how weak Obama is sometimes.

Its like I imagine he just sits in the white house and lets Congress slap him around and it appears that is what he does....

As long as Obama doesn't say anything idiotic, the election is over.

But there is no doubt in my mind he will bring it in the final debate.

I can't wait for foreign issues to be approached, then Romney will eat the dust. Particularly when Iran is brought up.