Romney is focused on jobs, jobs, jobs. That is perfect!
Romney is very well prepared.
He is seizing opportunities and debating way better than John McCain did.
Obama is coming off uninformed and petty.
I really really really am trying to be objective. I don’t know how an Obama supporter can watch this debate. He is getting destroyed.
He looks foolish.
I love how Romney turned the tables on Jim Lehrer and established the precedent – Obama had the first word therefore he gets the last in that segment.
Jim Lehrer was prepared to run that debate like the McNeil Lehrer hour on PBS where the conservative gets little to say and the 4 liberals get a lot to say.
Baklava: I have found it impossible to be objective when watching debates.
Correction: I always think I’m objective. And maybe I even am. But the world seems to judge these things in line with previous preferences. I’ve noticed over the years that it’s extremely rare for people to say their guy lost.
That said, it seems that Romney’s doing… (I can’t say it; don’t want to jinx him, so I’ll shut up now).
Romney just hammered Obama on the Solyndra and the Fisker, etc and picking losers. 🙂
Neo,
Say it !
I felt foolish but I jumped up clapping.
Another time I pumped my fist in the air.
He has his attitude, poise, facts, delivery down.
And on the “money to send business overseas”!
Romney is cleaning Obama’s plough. Just look at the looks on Obama’s face. And Romney is controlling the debate…not Lehrer.
In all my debate watching history I’ve never seen anything like this.
This is awesome.
Harkens back to the Reagan days actually.
Bob Dole, Bush senior, Bush junior, John McCain, etc all were weak
Loved the “I’ve got 5 boys” so he’s familiar with somebody repeating something over and over and hoping he’ll believe it. Next time O says $5billion tax cut, I wish he’d say “There you go again!”
I’ll say it neo –
Romney is KILLING this debate.
I am astounded. He looks and sounds better than in any prior debate. I am highly impressed.
I am not bashful about letting it be known when I think Romney looks stiff and robotic, so I think you can take my opinion as one good data point on your objectivity.
That said – please don’t let this be a jinx!
Yea, I’ll admit that I am biased; however, it seems to me that Obama started this thing with his trade-mark “smirk” which now seems to have disappeared.
Is that a good thing?
I’d rather be at the mercy of an insurance CONTRACT than at the mercy of the government committee on cost effective care.
Dale, “Trillion”.
I loved that line also. That’s when I clapped.
I’ve been multitasking! CSPAN on one tab to listen to the debate, a second tab on neo-neocon, and, Shane on netflix. To me it sounds like Mitt is on cruise control and very convincing while BHO is uncomfortable in his messiah robe.
Obama just criticized CRA! Sic ‘im Mitt!
Romney: We didn’t raise taxes. You raised them by a trillion in Obamacare.
We didn’t cut Medicare.
30% are anticipating dropping off of coverage.
smack. boom. bam.
Mitt has been “forceful,” but respectful when the moderator tries to cut him off.
On the other hand, Obama just said: “I had 5 seconds before you interrupted me.”
That was a zinger that was NOT funny and hopefully will hurt Obama as it shows more of his rude nature.
“that was more than five seconds sir”
Obama is admitting there is a unelected “board” and expanding on the topic
Neo,
I am pleasantly surprised at Romney’s intelligence level.
Obama is all over the place and comes off as unfocused.
@Baklava: I’m not. I _know_ he’s intelligent, and after four years of Obama, it’s nice to hear a leader who’s actually got a clue.
Baklava: Did you ever read this article? One thing Romney is is intelligent.
We are enjoying this debate. One man looks very intelligent and prepared; the other one looks like his usual stumbling self without a teleprompter.
Neo (and I BTW) have been saying that Romney is intelligent and competent for months.
I didn’t read that Neo. Thank you. I learned a bit.
Only one man up there looks presidential.
I find it difficult to follow Obama’s train of thought.
But I glad for that.
Choom did that to him.
Dare I say it: It seems to me that Romney operates from a higher mental plain than most politicians. That’s in addition to the high IQ. He’s cut from a different cloth. Reminds me of Charles Deming, the quality thought leader and pioneer. Elevated smarts. The electorate would be doing the country a great service by putting this man in the White House.
Is Jim Lehrer a closet conservative? Could be…he grew up and was educated in Texas and is an ex-Marine.
oh. my goodness.
Obama’s one liner about repealing Obamacare the first day felt small.
Closing statement:
Romney elected to go last 🙂
Obama’s closing statement:
“and and and uh ya know uh”
Reading through hotair comments in their open thread was HILLARIOUS
I didn’t think Obama sounded as bad as others have said, he wasn’t nearly as condescending as he is capable of being for one thing, but Romney was far better than I expected. Sounded even tempered, on top of the facts, unflappable, someone you could imagine being president, which is a big thing.
Joe Trippi: I think Romney did his self a lot of good tonight.
“Obama looked sour and like he didn’t want to be there”
Megan Kelly: Obama kept looking down.
I must confess I could only watch bits and pieces of it. Too nervous (like the olden days before the Red Sox won the World Series, and I’d have to leave the room for the last few innings of important games).
Good Lord, Andy effing Sullivan tweets that “this is a rolling calamity for Obama, He’s boring, abstract, less human seeming than Romney.”
Can that be true? My. Goodness.
And now I’m watching Chris Matthews. He thinks Obama did poorly. Wow. He says angrily, “WHERE WAS OBAMA TONIGHT?…He went in there disarmed….
What was Romney doing? He was WINNING.”
Let me repeat: that was Chris Matthews.
Now at MSNBC they’re talking about how Obama hasn’t been challenged much before, and hasn’t had practice in this sort of thing (thought that was their job 🙂 ).
They are very agitated.
I thought Romney was the clear winner, No doubt libs thought the same thing of Obama. Bias aside, Romney came across as Presidential, prepared and knowledgeable. He offered a viable alternative for independents to consider. Obama’s toast.
Neo,
What is amazing about Chris’ comment is I didn’t see a different Obama. He looked like the same Obama I’ve always seen.
It was simply the amazing competence of Romney. He was like a ninja battling Lehrer and Obama with his lips and brain and did it with good grace and social intelligence as well as a command of the facts.
Geoffrey Britain: see my comment right above yours.
“Dare I say it: It seems to me that Romney operates from a higher mental plain than most politicians.”
Jenna, that’s exactly it! Romney is extremely intelligent. He has succeeded and achieved all those goals he aims for.
What he is NOT a slick, lying politician who is willing to pander, promise everything and anything to all in exchange for votes, abandon his job to a) hobnob and party with celebrities, b) appear on talk shows, c) travel nonstop to raise money for his campaign (and try to pass all those trips off as official business) d) address the numerous immediate issues facing us all: unemployment, deficit spending & entitlements, and foreign policy in a world where terrorism is a very real threat, just demonstrated in the last few weeks, yet the President refuses to acknowledge even its existence and has no problem outright lying to the American people — even when the truth was obvious.
Fact is, Romney has every reason to have a strong ego, yet his is not one which communicates, arrogance, patronizing attitude, and contempt like Obama.
Romney is not a politician. He’s a businessman who addresses the issues figures out what he needs to do and gets it done.
Obama is nothing but a pompous politician.
Let’s just hope and pray that voters get it.
Inspite of the MSM.
I’m tuning into MSNBC for the first time. 🙂
In his closing statement, when Obama asked for people to vote for him, his self-doubt as to his chances was obvious.
Obama lacked confidence because he knows his record can’t support that plea.
I chuckle as I look at Maddow.
Lawrence O’Donnell and Obama basically don’t listen and that is why they are gobsmacked about the so-called “5 Trillion dollar tax cut”
O I C.
The press is going with the Romney is lying business. They will hammer down.
MSNBC is reporting that Obama spoke for 4 more minutes than Romney.
Romney vs. Obama … it’s like matter vs. anti-matter
Great and interesting comments all.
Romney owned this night.
Let’s hope that he owns the election too!
Debate? I forgot all about that.
I finally broke down and bought speakers for my computer and I’ve been listening to music all evening.
I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. I’ve been making do with the tinny built-in speaker for years.
My favorite spin:
Martin O’Malley calling Obama’s demeanor “a certain dignified reserve.”
My observation on the night: The most impressive thing about Romney’s victory here is that it wasn’t that Obama was so bad, it was that Romney was so GOOD.
kolnai: you know he was good when the folks at MSNBC are gobsmacked.
rickl, I hope your purchase is a flood to come because Romney won.
Marco Rubio is on Fox right now
And this from a comment at Hot Air: “Greta Van Susteren on Fox News just reported Twitter post by Bill Maher: ‘Obama looked like he NEEDED a teleprompter tonight.'”
I’m like Neo, so terribly nervous during debates I can barely watch them and mostly don’t watch at all. Tonight, amazingly, I watched the whole thing.
If Obama is as narcissistic as we think, he has to be furious by now. I think it’ll be a while before he can settle down and start asking how he can do better — if he ever does.
It is only the first debate. The campaign is a long way from over. Romney supporters should not get overconfident.
Having said all that,
WOOOOO – HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neo, Rubio just mentioned that!
Look at Sarah’s smile !
“thought that was their job”
Zing! That was a killer observation.
I’m not on Twitter but somebody ought to tweet that far and wide.
You just can’t substitute bullshite for competence and the 10 to 1 rule manifested: 10 liberals are required to subdue
I’m watching one of those Frank Luntz focus groups of Independents on Fox. Fascinating.
One woman says, “Until now Obama has defined Romney. Tonight Romney defined himself.”
The group particularly liked when Romney spoke about leadership and working with Democrats and Republicans, and that he had a track record in doing so.
But most astounding of all, every single person in the group (and there were probably 30 or 40 of them) said Romney won the debate. Quite a few of them who’d voted for Obama in 2008 said they would be voting for Romney now, and that this debate was what had changed their minds. And every single person said that Romney’s performance had exceeded their expectations.
I’d like to say it was a game changer, but I cannot because the game has already been decided, formerly, by someone who comes close to genius.
With the amount of political experience and intelligence Romney has, only pride could defeat his game plan. But pride belongs to the opposite side.
Now, the coup de grace, the saturation of air waves, and the United States can do military spirit against that awful inner enemy which we now began to defeat, comes into play. We will defeat: Islam, hate America, socialism, hate God, progressivism, hate the Constitution. It stops here, now!
Let us give our lives to this task.
Best line of the night by Bill Maher, “Romney is about a minute away from holding Obama down and cutting his hair.” 🙂
I was pleasantly surprised at how well Romney did, and not surprised at how Obama came off as “I’d rather be somewhere else right now.”
I’ve never been a huge Romney fan, but I came away impressed with how articulate and knowledgeable he can be. Very impressed.
Tweet of the night:
“That wasn’t a debate so much as Mitt Romney just took Obama for a cross country drive strapped to the roof of his car.”
rickl Says:
“I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. I’ve been making do with the tinny built-in speaker for years”
cheap ear bud speakers are probably even a better sound. Even the $2 ebay ones.
Neo, I saw that Luntz group also and he mentioned that this group changed the most of any group in his past.
Jan of MN Says:
“If Obama is as narcissistic as we think, he has to be furious by now. I think it’ll be a while before he can settle down and start asking how he can do better – if he ever does.”
Yeah; would be great if an opponent supporter slipped in a question or two, in the next week, and he flipped out.
Obama did seem disengaged. I wonder if he already knows he has lost. The response he gets on the trail and internal polls may tell a very different story than the one pushed by the dem-controlled MSM.
Don’t be fooled. Despite Jeralyn’s happy-dappy “glass is half full” spin (she’s in the tank for Obama and so her normal objectivity -as it did last election- went out the window about 5 months ago when she decided on Team O) the commenters in her threads are pretty unanimously agreeing with you guys and gals as to how the debate went. Romney won this debate. You all have reason to be happy.
I think the most important fact about the debate is that significant numbers of voters are getting first hand exposure to Romney for the first time.
And that old time voters are energized, bunny-wise.
Before I was ABO, now I going to vote for Romney.
Mitt has succeeded in opening America’s ears for a 2nd listen. The question is whether his campaign is up to seizing the opportunity.
Jan’s point is also spot on: Is Obama the boxer who never steps back into the ring after getting knocked down for the firs time or is he a quick learner?
I think I’ll print that picture for my cube tomorrow. 🙂 I’ll cause a war in the belly of the beast (where I work in Sacramento, CA)
I haven’t read Andrew Sullivan in 8 years. So I go there today and I see him use the F word.
Andrew, You are low class. You lost me long ago and I don’t know why I’d ever read you again.
BTW, I can’t imagine being down on the moderator except for questions that were biased.
After the question is asked it is best if the moderator is just about invisible.
I think that Obama really wants to be Bill Clinton these days. Obama likes politics less than Richard Nixon, probably less than almost any man elected president. He would like nothing more than to get paid big money for speeches (with a teleprompter!), spend the day golfing and hang out with celebrities when he needs a change. Clinton misses being president. Obama won’t.
My boyfriend, who was a huge Obama fan last election, will be voting Romney this time. He thought Romney did much better and is probably more unbiased than I am. Romney was not my original choice, but he’s competent and capable. We really could use that in the White House now. And I’d like to see my stepson have a better future than he’ll get with four more years of Obama.
Baklava referred to Andrew Sullivan. I haven’t read him in years. In fact, I make a point of avoiding clicking over there when someone links to him.
6:58PM Intermission: Aaron Hanscom, our managing editor, just emailed to tell me Andrew Sullivan is wailing and rending his garments over Obama’s bad performance.
What, he was expecting another McCain?
As a guy who always believed in Romney, I can say I am not surprised.
Does that sound like I told you so? So be it.
Hopefully, he cut through the media fog and connected with enough people so that those who were not watching will hear around the water cooler, so to speak.
Hopefully, now people will have their interest piqued and start paying attention.
Hopefully, Peggy Noonan, Bill Kristol, et al will shut up. (Not holding my breath; but will not be surprised if they rush to jump on the bandwagon before it leaves the pier. To jumble a few metaphors. But like Obama I don’t have a teleprompter tonight.)
Just a comment. Curtis you must be on the wrong forum. I have never seen that kind of language here; and really hope I do not again.
Maybe in the next debate, Obama will look at his watch halfway through.
Or maybe Romney will say something that rattles him and his arrogant and petulant side will be on full display.
This was a capable businessman in a meeting with a poseur. Mrs. Dunphy sums up my impression of why Romney felt so comfortable:
“In doing turnarounds, €œMitt Romney’s met a million Obamas: people who act like they know what they’€™re doing but really don’€™t. It’€™s people like that who get fired first.”
Exactly, Mrs. Dunphy. Businessman Mitt Romney wouldn’t allow Barack Obama to run a Dairy Queen.
What did you all think of the format?
Personally, I loved it. Lehrer tried a bit to keep a leash on things early on but then threw in the towel, and even seemed to start acting more assertive toward Obama as it became clear that Romney wasn’t going to have any of that nonsense.
It was almost like a real debate.
I actually rather liked Lehrer out there doing his best bemused babe-in-the-woods routine. Of course, the left is going to go bananas and, in all likelihood, this will never be allowed to happen again. But for once in our lives, we were witnesses to a crushing beat down the likes of which I, at least, have never seen in a presidential debate.
The catharsis is almost too sweet to savor. By the 30 minute mark, I was (really) munching on popcorn, downing soda, and grinning from ear-to-ear.
I still can barely believe how well Romney did. All I can do is keep repeating, “Really? Yes, REALLY.”
By the way, in case anyone wondered: speaking with my political science hat on, it is a well-known result of the literature that of all the debates it is, by a long way, the first of them that matters most for settling minds. In other words, if we were going kick a** in one of these debates, this was the one to do it in.
Obama and his team screwed up bad tonight (not least by coming in cocky after having had John Frankestein Kerry as his debate prep partner – WTF was he thinking?). The only question is how much bleeding there will be.
I wonder who Obama will blame for this fiasco. It can’t be his fault. “It’s that damned Leher guy.”. “Brian Williams would never have let him disrespect me like that!”. “Somebody should have protected me.”. “Can we send a drone to John Kerry’s yacht?”. “He should’ve prepped me for this!”.
Oh, boy. Obama looked like a one-legged man in a butt-kickin’ contest.
:-)))
And I love Ace’s thread title: “Post-debate cigarette thread.”
This morning, the Dems (Dims?) are whining about Romney telling lies, the moderator didn’t control the debate (even though Obama yacked 4 mins more than Romney presented facts), Kerry didn’t prepare him well enough, etc etc.
Their problem in this debate is that they sent out a conceited, cute, little boy out to do a man’s job.
As usual, Karl Denninger splashes a bucket of ice water in our faces:
Romney strapped Obama to the roof of his car and took him for a ride.
I couldn’t watch it. Too nervous. I felt like our country’s fate hung in the balance last night and kept imagining Mitt being robotic and plaintive, seemingly ingenuous. But I followed on Twitter, and whoa nelly! I previously thought that debates are just about avoiding defeat, but I think Mitt and his team knew they had to play to win; it was President Obama who was playing not to lose. And it backfired, hugely. As people have said, I’ve not “seen” anything like last night’s debate performance. As someone mentioned above, the biggest deal is that this is the time when most Americans start to tune into the race and find out who is running. They saw the best possible Mitt Romney last night and I think in an election that will come down to 3-5% of the vote, that’s a big deal. I think Mitt won the election last night, barring some disaster going forward. Tied in money, economy not about to suddenly rebound, people wanted to see if Mitt Romney can be a leader and he fit the bill.
Great comments by all here, by the way. The exuberance is palpable and I think because everyone intuitively feels a sense of relief and joy- Mitt crushed it and is likely going to be President.
Worth repeating from neo-neocom’s Emperor’s New Clothes thread:
Hong Says:
October 4th, 2012 at 8:56 am
Can’t celebrate yet. The same liberal trolls said the same about the legal defense of Obamacare yet look at the final result there.
I, believing that Romney would be a much, much better president than Obama, judged the debate a draw.
Ira: of course you did.
There are always outliers. At the moment, one of them happens to be you.
But there are plenty of people who judged the opposite—that is, they believe Obama would be a much, much better president than Romney, and they judged that Romney won the debate handily. You heard a great many of them on MSNBC last night, for instance.
And they still plan to vote for Obama.
The people who matter who were watching the debate are a whole bunch of other people—those who were leaning somewhat to Obama beforehand and changed their minds last night, and others who were truly undecided and made up their minds last night. And it seems most of them are now closer to voting for Romney than they were before. I hope subsequent events solidifies them in that direction.
Listening to some of the morning after commentary. Al Gore tops them all; (paraphrasing) “Obama only arrived in Denver this afternoon. The Altitude did it”.
Only Al Gore. For starters, Las Vegas, where Obama chose to hang out is 2,300 ft; Denver is approx 5,000. Like many here, I have traveled to Denver and even higher altitude locations from sea level locations on numerous occasions. I never noticed that the altitude caused me to act any more stupid than usual.
I am surprised ALGOR did not cite the heat from global warming as the problem. Oh, oh. It wasn’t warm in Denver.
neo-neocon Says:
October 4th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
***
There are always outliers. At the moment, one of them happens to be you.
Happy to be one on this matter (i.e., who won the debate).
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Romney is focused on jobs, jobs, jobs. That is perfect!
Romney is very well prepared.
He is seizing opportunities and debating way better than John McCain did.
Obama is coming off uninformed and petty.
I really really really am trying to be objective. I don’t know how an Obama supporter can watch this debate. He is getting destroyed.
He looks foolish.
I love how Romney turned the tables on Jim Lehrer and established the precedent – Obama had the first word therefore he gets the last in that segment.
Jim Lehrer was prepared to run that debate like the McNeil Lehrer hour on PBS where the conservative gets little to say and the 4 liberals get a lot to say.
Baklava: I have found it impossible to be objective when watching debates.
Correction: I always think I’m objective. And maybe I even am. But the world seems to judge these things in line with previous preferences. I’ve noticed over the years that it’s extremely rare for people to say their guy lost.
That said, it seems that Romney’s doing… (I can’t say it; don’t want to jinx him, so I’ll shut up now).
Romney just hammered Obama on the Solyndra and the Fisker, etc and picking losers. 🙂
Neo,
Say it !
I felt foolish but I jumped up clapping.
Another time I pumped my fist in the air.
He has his attitude, poise, facts, delivery down.
And on the “money to send business overseas”!
Romney is cleaning Obama’s plough. Just look at the looks on Obama’s face. And Romney is controlling the debate…not Lehrer.
In all my debate watching history I’ve never seen anything like this.
This is awesome.
Harkens back to the Reagan days actually.
Bob Dole, Bush senior, Bush junior, John McCain, etc all were weak
Loved the “I’ve got 5 boys” so he’s familiar with somebody repeating something over and over and hoping he’ll believe it. Next time O says $5billion tax cut, I wish he’d say “There you go again!”
I’ll say it neo –
Romney is KILLING this debate.
I am astounded. He looks and sounds better than in any prior debate. I am highly impressed.
I am not bashful about letting it be known when I think Romney looks stiff and robotic, so I think you can take my opinion as one good data point on your objectivity.
That said – please don’t let this be a jinx!
Yea, I’ll admit that I am biased; however, it seems to me that Obama started this thing with his trade-mark “smirk” which now seems to have disappeared.
Is that a good thing?
I’d rather be at the mercy of an insurance CONTRACT than at the mercy of the government committee on cost effective care.
Dale, “Trillion”.
I loved that line also. That’s when I clapped.
I’ve been multitasking! CSPAN on one tab to listen to the debate, a second tab on neo-neocon, and, Shane on netflix. To me it sounds like Mitt is on cruise control and very convincing while BHO is uncomfortable in his messiah robe.
Obama just criticized CRA! Sic ‘im Mitt!
Romney: We didn’t raise taxes. You raised them by a trillion in Obamacare.
We didn’t cut Medicare.
30% are anticipating dropping off of coverage.
smack. boom. bam.
Mitt has been “forceful,” but respectful when the moderator tries to cut him off.
On the other hand, Obama just said: “I had 5 seconds before you interrupted me.”
That was a zinger that was NOT funny and hopefully will hurt Obama as it shows more of his rude nature.
“that was more than five seconds sir”
Obama is admitting there is a unelected “board” and expanding on the topic
Neo,
I am pleasantly surprised at Romney’s intelligence level.
Obama is all over the place and comes off as unfocused.
@Baklava: I’m not. I _know_ he’s intelligent, and after four years of Obama, it’s nice to hear a leader who’s actually got a clue.
Baklava: Did you ever read this article? One thing Romney is is intelligent.
We are enjoying this debate. One man looks very intelligent and prepared; the other one looks like his usual stumbling self without a teleprompter.
Neo (and I BTW) have been saying that Romney is intelligent and competent for months.
I didn’t read that Neo. Thank you. I learned a bit.
Only one man up there looks presidential.
I find it difficult to follow Obama’s train of thought.
But I glad for that.
Choom did that to him.
Dare I say it: It seems to me that Romney operates from a higher mental plain than most politicians. That’s in addition to the high IQ. He’s cut from a different cloth. Reminds me of Charles Deming, the quality thought leader and pioneer. Elevated smarts. The electorate would be doing the country a great service by putting this man in the White House.
Is Jim Lehrer a closet conservative? Could be…he grew up and was educated in Texas and is an ex-Marine.
oh. my goodness.
Obama’s one liner about repealing Obamacare the first day felt small.
Closing statement:
Romney elected to go last 🙂
Obama’s closing statement:
“and and and uh ya know uh”
Reading through hotair comments in their open thread was HILLARIOUS
TOTALLY impressed with his closing statement.
Tomorrow’s headlines “Romney Gaffes Amuse Millions, Dismay Supporters” or “Obama Sexually Excites Masses Again”.
I won’t be able to sleep. I’m so jazzed…
Jenna said it well.
I didn’t think Obama sounded as bad as others have said, he wasn’t nearly as condescending as he is capable of being for one thing, but Romney was far better than I expected. Sounded even tempered, on top of the facts, unflappable, someone you could imagine being president, which is a big thing.
Joe Trippi: I think Romney did his self a lot of good tonight.
“Obama looked sour and like he didn’t want to be there”
Megan Kelly: Obama kept looking down.
I must confess I could only watch bits and pieces of it. Too nervous (like the olden days before the Red Sox won the World Series, and I’d have to leave the room for the last few innings of important games).
But this is pretty amazing—from a comment at Ace’s:
Can that be true? My. Goodness.
And now I’m watching Chris Matthews. He thinks Obama did poorly. Wow. He says angrily, “WHERE WAS OBAMA TONIGHT?…He went in there disarmed….
What was Romney doing? He was WINNING.”
Let me repeat: that was Chris Matthews.
Now at MSNBC they’re talking about how Obama hasn’t been challenged much before, and hasn’t had practice in this sort of thing (thought that was their job 🙂 ).
They are very agitated.
I thought Romney was the clear winner, No doubt libs thought the same thing of Obama. Bias aside, Romney came across as Presidential, prepared and knowledgeable. He offered a viable alternative for independents to consider. Obama’s toast.
Neo,
What is amazing about Chris’ comment is I didn’t see a different Obama. He looked like the same Obama I’ve always seen.
It was simply the amazing competence of Romney. He was like a ninja battling Lehrer and Obama with his lips and brain and did it with good grace and social intelligence as well as a command of the facts.
Geoffrey Britain: see my comment right above yours.
“Dare I say it: It seems to me that Romney operates from a higher mental plain than most politicians.”
Jenna, that’s exactly it! Romney is extremely intelligent. He has succeeded and achieved all those goals he aims for.
What he is NOT a slick, lying politician who is willing to pander, promise everything and anything to all in exchange for votes, abandon his job to a) hobnob and party with celebrities, b) appear on talk shows, c) travel nonstop to raise money for his campaign (and try to pass all those trips off as official business) d) address the numerous immediate issues facing us all: unemployment, deficit spending & entitlements, and foreign policy in a world where terrorism is a very real threat, just demonstrated in the last few weeks, yet the President refuses to acknowledge even its existence and has no problem outright lying to the American people — even when the truth was obvious.
Fact is, Romney has every reason to have a strong ego, yet his is not one which communicates, arrogance, patronizing attitude, and contempt like Obama.
Romney is not a politician. He’s a businessman who addresses the issues figures out what he needs to do and gets it done.
Obama is nothing but a pompous politician.
Let’s just hope and pray that voters get it.
Inspite of the MSM.
I’m tuning into MSNBC for the first time. 🙂
In his closing statement, when Obama asked for people to vote for him, his self-doubt as to his chances was obvious.
Obama lacked confidence because he knows his record can’t support that plea.
I chuckle as I look at Maddow.
Lawrence O’Donnell and Obama basically don’t listen and that is why they are gobsmacked about the so-called “5 Trillion dollar tax cut”
O I C.
The press is going with the Romney is lying business. They will hammer down.
MSNBC is reporting that Obama spoke for 4 more minutes than Romney.
Romney vs. Obama … it’s like matter vs. anti-matter
Great and interesting comments all.
Romney owned this night.
Let’s hope that he owns the election too!
Debate? I forgot all about that.
I finally broke down and bought speakers for my computer and I’ve been listening to music all evening.
I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. I’ve been making do with the tinny built-in speaker for years.
My favorite spin:
Martin O’Malley calling Obama’s demeanor “a certain dignified reserve.”
My observation on the night: The most impressive thing about Romney’s victory here is that it wasn’t that Obama was so bad, it was that Romney was so GOOD.
kolnai: you know he was good when the folks at MSNBC are gobsmacked.
rickl, I hope your purchase is a flood to come because Romney won.
Marco Rubio is on Fox right now
And this from a comment at Hot Air: “Greta Van Susteren on Fox News just reported Twitter post by Bill Maher: ‘Obama looked like he NEEDED a teleprompter tonight.'”
I’m like Neo, so terribly nervous during debates I can barely watch them and mostly don’t watch at all. Tonight, amazingly, I watched the whole thing.
If Obama is as narcissistic as we think, he has to be furious by now. I think it’ll be a while before he can settle down and start asking how he can do better — if he ever does.
It is only the first debate. The campaign is a long way from over. Romney supporters should not get overconfident.
Having said all that,
WOOOOO – HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neo, Rubio just mentioned that!
Look at Sarah’s smile !
“thought that was their job”
Zing! That was a killer observation.
I’m not on Twitter but somebody ought to tweet that far and wide.
You just can’t substitute bullshite for competence and the 10 to 1 rule manifested: 10 liberals are required to subdue
I’m watching one of those Frank Luntz focus groups of Independents on Fox. Fascinating.
One woman says, “Until now Obama has defined Romney. Tonight Romney defined himself.”
The group particularly liked when Romney spoke about leadership and working with Democrats and Republicans, and that he had a track record in doing so.
But most astounding of all, every single person in the group (and there were probably 30 or 40 of them) said Romney won the debate. Quite a few of them who’d voted for Obama in 2008 said they would be voting for Romney now, and that this debate was what had changed their minds. And every single person said that Romney’s performance had exceeded their expectations.
I’d like to say it was a game changer, but I cannot because the game has already been decided, formerly, by someone who comes close to genius.
With the amount of political experience and intelligence Romney has, only pride could defeat his game plan. But pride belongs to the opposite side.
Now, the coup de grace, the saturation of air waves, and the United States can do military spirit against that awful inner enemy which we now began to defeat, comes into play. We will defeat: Islam, hate America, socialism, hate God, progressivism, hate the Constitution. It stops here, now!
Let us give our lives to this task.
Best line of the night by Bill Maher, “Romney is about a minute away from holding Obama down and cutting his hair.” 🙂
Bob From Virginia Says:
“Tomorrow’s headlines “Romney Gaffes Amuse Millions, Dismay Supporters” or “Obama Sexually Excites Masses Again”.”
Why pick just one? Run two stories!
I was pleasantly surprised at how well Romney did, and not surprised at how Obama came off as “I’d rather be somewhere else right now.”
I’ve never been a huge Romney fan, but I came away impressed with how articulate and knowledgeable he can be. Very impressed.
Tweet of the night:
“That wasn’t a debate so much as Mitt Romney just took Obama for a cross country drive strapped to the roof of his car.”
rickl Says:
“I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. I’ve been making do with the tinny built-in speaker for years”
cheap ear bud speakers are probably even a better sound. Even the $2 ebay ones.
Neo, I saw that Luntz group also and he mentioned that this group changed the most of any group in his past.
Jan of MN Says:
“If Obama is as narcissistic as we think, he has to be furious by now. I think it’ll be a while before he can settle down and start asking how he can do better – if he ever does.”
Yeah; would be great if an opponent supporter slipped in a question or two, in the next week, and he flipped out.
Kirsten Powers: He killed (referring to Romney)
Obama was disengaged
They are angry
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/10/obamas-cutter-takes-swipe-at-lehrer-137444.html
Obama did seem disengaged. I wonder if he already knows he has lost. The response he gets on the trail and internal polls may tell a very different story than the one pushed by the dem-controlled MSM.
Is this what natural selection looks like?
This is hillarious Neo. Check out the celebrities
http://www.gossipcop.com/celebrities-react-2012-presidential-debate-obama-romney-jim-lehrer-twitter-reaction/
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/10/3/225022/731
Don’t be fooled. Despite Jeralyn’s happy-dappy “glass is half full” spin (she’s in the tank for Obama and so her normal objectivity -as it did last election- went out the window about 5 months ago when she decided on Team O) the commenters in her threads are pretty unanimously agreeing with you guys and gals as to how the debate went. Romney won this debate. You all have reason to be happy.
I think the most important fact about the debate is that significant numbers of voters are getting first hand exposure to Romney for the first time.
And that old time voters are energized, bunny-wise.
Before I was ABO, now I going to vote for Romney.
Mitt has succeeded in opening America’s ears for a 2nd listen. The question is whether his campaign is up to seizing the opportunity.
Jan’s point is also spot on: Is Obama the boxer who never steps back into the ring after getting knocked down for the firs time or is he a quick learner?
http://dailydish.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e2017c324ede4d970b-popup
I think I’ll print that picture for my cube tomorrow. 🙂 I’ll cause a war in the belly of the beast (where I work in Sacramento, CA)
I haven’t read Andrew Sullivan in 8 years. So I go there today and I see him use the F word.
Andrew, You are low class. You lost me long ago and I don’t know why I’d ever read you again.
BTW, I can’t imagine being down on the moderator except for questions that were biased.
After the question is asked it is best if the moderator is just about invisible.
I think that Obama really wants to be Bill Clinton these days. Obama likes politics less than Richard Nixon, probably less than almost any man elected president. He would like nothing more than to get paid big money for speeches (with a teleprompter!), spend the day golfing and hang out with celebrities when he needs a change. Clinton misses being president. Obama won’t.
My boyfriend, who was a huge Obama fan last election, will be voting Romney this time. He thought Romney did much better and is probably more unbiased than I am. Romney was not my original choice, but he’s competent and capable. We really could use that in the White House now. And I’d like to see my stepson have a better future than he’ll get with four more years of Obama.
Baklava referred to Andrew Sullivan. I haven’t read him in years. In fact, I make a point of avoiding clicking over there when someone links to him.
My favorite Andrew Sullivan reference of the night, though, has to be this one from Stephen Green:
6:58PM Intermission: Aaron Hanscom, our managing editor, just emailed to tell me Andrew Sullivan is wailing and rending his garments over Obama’s bad performance.
What, he was expecting another McCain?
As a guy who always believed in Romney, I can say I am not surprised.
Does that sound like I told you so? So be it.
Hopefully, he cut through the media fog and connected with enough people so that those who were not watching will hear around the water cooler, so to speak.
Hopefully, now people will have their interest piqued and start paying attention.
Hopefully, Peggy Noonan, Bill Kristol, et al will shut up. (Not holding my breath; but will not be surprised if they rush to jump on the bandwagon before it leaves the pier. To jumble a few metaphors. But like Obama I don’t have a teleprompter tonight.)
Just a comment. Curtis you must be on the wrong forum. I have never seen that kind of language here; and really hope I do not again.
Maybe in the next debate, Obama will look at his watch halfway through.
Or maybe Romney will say something that rattles him and his arrogant and petulant side will be on full display.
This was a capable businessman in a meeting with a poseur. Mrs. Dunphy sums up my impression of why Romney felt so comfortable:
“In doing turnarounds, €œMitt Romney’s met a million Obamas: people who act like they know what they’€™re doing but really don’€™t. It’€™s people like that who get fired first.”
Exactly, Mrs. Dunphy. Businessman Mitt Romney wouldn’t allow Barack Obama to run a Dairy Queen.
What did you all think of the format?
Personally, I loved it. Lehrer tried a bit to keep a leash on things early on but then threw in the towel, and even seemed to start acting more assertive toward Obama as it became clear that Romney wasn’t going to have any of that nonsense.
It was almost like a real debate.
I actually rather liked Lehrer out there doing his best bemused babe-in-the-woods routine. Of course, the left is going to go bananas and, in all likelihood, this will never be allowed to happen again. But for once in our lives, we were witnesses to a crushing beat down the likes of which I, at least, have never seen in a presidential debate.
The catharsis is almost too sweet to savor. By the 30 minute mark, I was (really) munching on popcorn, downing soda, and grinning from ear-to-ear.
I still can barely believe how well Romney did. All I can do is keep repeating, “Really? Yes, REALLY.”
By the way, in case anyone wondered: speaking with my political science hat on, it is a well-known result of the literature that of all the debates it is, by a long way, the first of them that matters most for settling minds. In other words, if we were going kick a** in one of these debates, this was the one to do it in.
Obama and his team screwed up bad tonight (not least by coming in cocky after having had John Frankestein Kerry as his debate prep partner – WTF was he thinking?). The only question is how much bleeding there will be.
I wonder who Obama will blame for this fiasco. It can’t be his fault. “It’s that damned Leher guy.”. “Brian Williams would never have let him disrespect me like that!”. “Somebody should have protected me.”. “Can we send a drone to John Kerry’s yacht?”. “He should’ve prepped me for this!”.
Oh, boy. Obama looked like a one-legged man in a butt-kickin’ contest.
:-)))
And I love Ace’s thread title: “Post-debate cigarette thread.”
This morning, the Dems (Dims?) are whining about Romney telling lies, the moderator didn’t control the debate (even though Obama yacked 4 mins more than Romney presented facts), Kerry didn’t prepare him well enough, etc etc.
Their problem in this debate is that they sent out a conceited, cute, little boy out to do a man’s job.
As usual, Karl Denninger splashes a bucket of ice water in our faces:
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=212322
But note his conclusion.
Had to get it to 100.
Thank me later 🙂
blink..
i missed it…
🙂
Romney strapped Obama to the roof of his car and took him for a ride.
I couldn’t watch it. Too nervous. I felt like our country’s fate hung in the balance last night and kept imagining Mitt being robotic and plaintive, seemingly ingenuous. But I followed on Twitter, and whoa nelly! I previously thought that debates are just about avoiding defeat, but I think Mitt and his team knew they had to play to win; it was President Obama who was playing not to lose. And it backfired, hugely. As people have said, I’ve not “seen” anything like last night’s debate performance. As someone mentioned above, the biggest deal is that this is the time when most Americans start to tune into the race and find out who is running. They saw the best possible Mitt Romney last night and I think in an election that will come down to 3-5% of the vote, that’s a big deal. I think Mitt won the election last night, barring some disaster going forward. Tied in money, economy not about to suddenly rebound, people wanted to see if Mitt Romney can be a leader and he fit the bill.
Great comments by all here, by the way. The exuberance is palpable and I think because everyone intuitively feels a sense of relief and joy- Mitt crushed it and is likely going to be President.
Worth repeating from neo-neocom’s Emperor’s New Clothes thread:
I, believing that Romney would be a much, much better president than Obama, judged the debate a draw.
Ira: of course you did.
There are always outliers. At the moment, one of them happens to be you.
But there are plenty of people who judged the opposite—that is, they believe Obama would be a much, much better president than Romney, and they judged that Romney won the debate handily. You heard a great many of them on MSNBC last night, for instance.
And they still plan to vote for Obama.
The people who matter who were watching the debate are a whole bunch of other people—those who were leaning somewhat to Obama beforehand and changed their minds last night, and others who were truly undecided and made up their minds last night. And it seems most of them are now closer to voting for Romney than they were before. I hope subsequent events solidifies them in that direction.
Listening to some of the morning after commentary. Al Gore tops them all; (paraphrasing) “Obama only arrived in Denver this afternoon. The Altitude did it”.
Only Al Gore. For starters, Las Vegas, where Obama chose to hang out is 2,300 ft; Denver is approx 5,000. Like many here, I have traveled to Denver and even higher altitude locations from sea level locations on numerous occasions. I never noticed that the altitude caused me to act any more stupid than usual.
I am surprised ALGOR did not cite the heat from global warming as the problem. Oh, oh. It wasn’t warm in Denver.
Happy to be one on this matter (i.e., who won the debate).