Mitt Romney, but not because his "plans" are better than the President's, but rather because he had the audacity to step on the toes of Jim Lehrer and thereby of President Obama also.
OK, so stepping on the toes of an opponent no matter what the ring is exactly what one should do. But the rules on the floor aren't what most people expect. Ultimately Romney looked like an oaf, willing to continue to speak even if what he said didn't make any sense.
And a lot of it didn't make any sense. I still don't know what Mitt Romney plans to do if he gets elected. What I heard tonight was not what I've heard Mr. Romney say for the past year. In fact it seemed as if Mitt was thumbing a ride on what President Obama said, often trying to say that his plan was "much better than that" when we still hadn't heard word one of what his plan actually includes. But he somewhat looks good being a "but I'll go you one better", which, of course, he did not do.
For every attack Mr. Romney made against the President, Mr. Obama came back with irrefutable facts and figures, all of which are immediately available on www.whitehouse.gov.
Still, after being beat about the head and shoulders with the fact that Mr. Romney could only talk about a plan when he had still presented nothing of facts and figures of his own, he continued with new gusto to site his plans without saying what his plans included.
And this, my friends, is what the entire debate consisted of.
Now a lot of people are going to say that Mitt was combative, incorrectly assuming that this suggested that he was "Presidential".
Unless Presidents lie every time they open their mouths, Mitt did not seem Presidential to me, he seemed afraid that he wasn't Presidential at all.
Mitt, if he wanted to appear Presidential, should have had all of his ducks in a row, facts and figures to which he could use to support his ideas, and, in fact, he could have had some concrete ideas that didn't change depending upon whom he was talking to. Well, this time he was talking to the nation, and he was failing to come up with anything that the American people could embrace as something they felt comfortable about, something they could lay claim to well enough to get onboard the Romney Wagon as happy travellers.
I think we're still talking about an "anybody but Obama" strategy, hoping that Mr. Obama incapable in explaining his record, which, btw, he created over 4 hard years of governing. And that's one of the reasons that Obama has the answers, facts and figures. He created the answers, facts and figures.
Mitt Romney has been running for President for years, and yet somehow he still doesn't have a viable enough plan to do the job the way he sees it to actually lay it out in black and white for the American people.
Mr. Romney also spent most of the night walking back virtually every statement he had made in the past 20+ years of running for office. If Senator John Kerry was a flip-flopper, then one has to wonder what word will be invented for the man who made just about every statement he's ever uttered turn to dust in the air.
One has to question, in their hearts, if this man, Mitt Romney, is either too politically stupid to exist in this environment, or simply a pathological liar. Now for those of you that do not know, a pathological liar is a person who lies even if there is no cause to lie whatsoever.
Which ever way it works out as far as the electorate is concerned, everyone should be concerned that the man, Mitt Romney, could stand on the stage in front of 80 million Americans and essentially pull the wool over their eyes if they thought they'd get an idea of what Mitt Romney's Plans for America are, because he presented not one iota of information for you or I to make any assessments.
The best we can say is that we know Mitt Romney can somehow not shut up even when he actually has nothing to say. In fact, the thing that scares me is the possibility of people assuming that one without plans, without information, facts and figures, and timelines this suggests he is of Presidential caliber.
At the best my analysis has to be that this was a simple clusterfuck. The President looked somewhat off balance as he patiently waited for Mitt to shut the fuck up, and Mitt was more and more willing to talk as he saw the President being more of the gentleman than he should have been.
OK, so stepping on the toes of an opponent no matter what the ring is exactly what one should do. But the rules on the floor aren't what most people expect. Ultimately Romney looked like an oaf, willing to continue to speak even if what he said didn't make any sense.
And a lot of it didn't make any sense. I still don't know what Mitt Romney plans to do if he gets elected. What I heard tonight was not what I've heard Mr. Romney say for the past year. In fact it seemed as if Mitt was thumbing a ride on what President Obama said, often trying to say that his plan was "much better than that" when we still hadn't heard word one of what his plan actually includes. But he somewhat looks good being a "but I'll go you one better", which, of course, he did not do.
For every attack Mr. Romney made against the President, Mr. Obama came back with irrefutable facts and figures, all of which are immediately available on www.whitehouse.gov.
Still, after being beat about the head and shoulders with the fact that Mr. Romney could only talk about a plan when he had still presented nothing of facts and figures of his own, he continued with new gusto to site his plans without saying what his plans included.
And this, my friends, is what the entire debate consisted of.
Now a lot of people are going to say that Mitt was combative, incorrectly assuming that this suggested that he was "Presidential".
Unless Presidents lie every time they open their mouths, Mitt did not seem Presidential to me, he seemed afraid that he wasn't Presidential at all.
Mitt, if he wanted to appear Presidential, should have had all of his ducks in a row, facts and figures to which he could use to support his ideas, and, in fact, he could have had some concrete ideas that didn't change depending upon whom he was talking to. Well, this time he was talking to the nation, and he was failing to come up with anything that the American people could embrace as something they felt comfortable about, something they could lay claim to well enough to get onboard the Romney Wagon as happy travellers.
I think we're still talking about an "anybody but Obama" strategy, hoping that Mr. Obama incapable in explaining his record, which, btw, he created over 4 hard years of governing. And that's one of the reasons that Obama has the answers, facts and figures. He created the answers, facts and figures.
Mitt Romney has been running for President for years, and yet somehow he still doesn't have a viable enough plan to do the job the way he sees it to actually lay it out in black and white for the American people.
Mr. Romney also spent most of the night walking back virtually every statement he had made in the past 20+ years of running for office. If Senator John Kerry was a flip-flopper, then one has to wonder what word will be invented for the man who made just about every statement he's ever uttered turn to dust in the air.
One has to question, in their hearts, if this man, Mitt Romney, is either too politically stupid to exist in this environment, or simply a pathological liar. Now for those of you that do not know, a pathological liar is a person who lies even if there is no cause to lie whatsoever.
Which ever way it works out as far as the electorate is concerned, everyone should be concerned that the man, Mitt Romney, could stand on the stage in front of 80 million Americans and essentially pull the wool over their eyes if they thought they'd get an idea of what Mitt Romney's Plans for America are, because he presented not one iota of information for you or I to make any assessments.
The best we can say is that we know Mitt Romney can somehow not shut up even when he actually has nothing to say. In fact, the thing that scares me is the possibility of people assuming that one without plans, without information, facts and figures, and timelines this suggests he is of Presidential caliber.
At the best my analysis has to be that this was a simple clusterfuck. The President looked somewhat off balance as he patiently waited for Mitt to shut the fuck up, and Mitt was more and more willing to talk as he saw the President being more of the gentleman than he should have been.
Reportedly, the President spoke four minutes longer than the challenger--so it wasn't a matter of him patiently waiting...it just turns out he's got nothing to say. No record to run on, no plan in hand, and no vision for the future. Also, no MSM to loft him softballs, although Jim did try to help him out here and there. So if this was a C/F, it was one of the President's own making.
Posted by: Bill Perkins | October 08, 2012 at 06:16 AM