Wednesday, October 17, 2012

It's a Draw

The media are rallying around their boy and declaring it a draw. Of course all Obama had to do last night was not start crying for the water boys in the media to make this declaration. The first debate was such a complete surprise for everyone in the media that they were caught -- on film -- reacting (dare I say it?) honestly. Last night was the expected show of determined, yet undoubtedly white-knuckled, support for the president. Prayers were being whispered in newsrooms all across the country. "Please, dear God, don't let him screw this up so badly that we can't save it for him."

There are no atheists in foxholes. And last night was war on the frontline.

But I kept thinking about this cartoon.

"eeeeeeeeaaaahhh....shaddup!"

While Romney did miss a few obvious openings to what could have been devastating attacks, most notably the Benghazi coverup/screwup, he consistently made his points on the economy and his vision, while Obama just shook his widdle fists and made threats. If we, as the audience, didn't know that Obama was already president, it would have been difficult to glean who was the incumbent and who was the challenger. Obama talked about what he would do if elected, he talked about what Clinton did, he threatened us with what Romney might do, but he never talked about what he HAS DONE.

I kept thinking about this, too.


This debate can only be described as a draw in that it was not as brutally decisive as the first. And the polls over the next few days may well indicate that to the American people it was a win for Romney. There is only so much the media can do when their boy is without his teleprompter. Even the hefty Candy Crowley couldn't pull him completely over the finish line. She did her best, dragging him away from the Benghazi debacle, but it left her panting and uncomfortable -- and exposed. 

The brilliant Victor Davis Hanson agrees with me. 

A DRAW, OR BETTER THAN A DRAW?

I think the debate was a draw, and so Romney’s ascendance may well continue. Obama did better than in Denver and will energize his base by his competitiveness, but not better to the degree that he arrests Romney’s momentum or wins back independents. Next-day reflection, fact-checking, and selecta-quotes, as in the case of the VP debate, may well favor the Republican. Romney did well despite once again being given less talk time, an inept moderator, and a silly town-hall forum. 
The biggest losers? The pathetic staged town-hall format: The questions are preselected and the questioners not spontaneous and often clumsy. They seemed unenthusiastic and their presence impeded a fuller exchange of views 
Ms. Crowley was out of bounds by selectively attempting to offer real-time fact-checking — endorsed by Obama (“Say that a little louder, Candy!”) — and fact-checking, no less, that was not quite factual. Nemesis struck when, in the middle of her clumsy attempts to offer a lifeline to a stumbling Obama on Libya, she had a deer-in-the-headlights look and an exasperated stutter, almost as if to say, “Why am I giving myself away?” 
Final verdict: Again, I think polls and post-debate focus and reflection will suggest Romney did better than the immediate consensus of a draw. (emphasis mine.)





19 comments:

  1. I loved it when Romney just ignored CC and kept into Ø on his pension, pointing out that it invested in the same sorts of companies in the same countries as Romney's blind trust did. (Heck, I keep trying to point out to my parents that they don't want to cripple the oil companies, because I bet a lot of their retirement money from TIAA-CREF is invested in "evil oil"(tm).)

    There was a lot of stuff Romney could have tried to push more on, but since he knew from the get-go that the moderator was going to be working against him too, his plan may have been to get out as much as they allowed, and to look presidential while doing so, in which case he won handily.

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    1. I think you're exactly right. He knew after the beating he gave Obama in the first debate that NO ONE was going to allow that to happen again. The questions were going to be pre-screened, the moderator firmly pulling for Obama, the game was rigged. And Obama was going to "get aggressive". So Romney's best response was to maintain his composure and make his points when he could. All he had to do last night was not LOSE ground. He did that. In fact, I believe that in the final analysis, when the media dustup has settled about how Obama MAY have won, we will all see that Romney held his own and looked like a much more knowledgeable and just plain nicer guy. Like Ryan and Biden.

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    2. I think it was over at HillBuzz that the writer pointed out how well Romney does empathy, something that the primaries didn't really allow us to see. Here, he came across as someone who truly cares about the welfare of individual citizens, as opposed to Ø's "fair share" crap, when we know that he can't even be arsed to send $10 a month to his half brother in Kenya.

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    3. Hah. I had read that and didn't even make the connection. There's just way to much stuff to try to keep track of in this election. But they both fit with the diagnosis of malignant narcissism. I mean no one can be a special as our precious little snowflake Canute, can they? And given how special he is, how can we expect him to even want to understand the lower orders? /sarc (I think I made myself a little sick there...)

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    4. I wouldn't agree that Romney appears to be a malignant narcissist. Obama is a classic profile in that mental disorder. NO question.

      He has done nothing but pursue political power his entire life. I wonder where he goes from here? If he's not re-elected, I don't see him retiring quietly to Hawaii. Just like Carter and Clinton, Democrats never seem content to leave the political spot light. Obama will probably angle for head of the UN.

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    5. I didn't mean to be unclear, by both, I meant the two different things about Ø. I *know* that Romney isn't a narcissist, or at least no more than is absolutely necessary to actually have a successful political career.

      Sometimes what I type is completely clear to me, not so much to everyone else. 8D

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    6. You know, I thought of that exact thing after I posted it. That often happens to me.

      One of the drawbacks of entire conversations happening in print. And it didn't make much sense, since I didn't think you would honestly have characterized Romney as a narcissist.

      HAHA! I need to ask for clarification when I'm confused, which is often.

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  2. From what's trickling down through the interwiz, the undecideds were swung towards Romney, which is good, I guess. Considering the reasoning ability of anyone undecided at this point, a ball of aluminum foil would accomplish the same thing.

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    1. HAHAHA! I no longer care how stupid they are as long as they vote for Romney.

      Democrats win with stupid people -- and DEAD people -- all the time. It's time we were more inclusive, too. Big tent and all that. Stupid is welcome. HAHA!

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    2. I think a lot of the supposed undecideds have been looking for an excuse to jump off the Obama bandwagon. As long as Romney doesn't totally screw up they'll find a way to rationalize their decision. heh.

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    3. Actually, that's pretty much what one of the questions was: "I'm undecided, but I didn't like Bush, so how are you different?" She certainly didn't sound like she was desperate for a reason to vote for Ø.

      Even the one black questioner was of the "I voted for you four years ago, I'm disappointed, why should I vote for you again?" variety. And I don't think the laundry list of "achievements" would give anyone a reason. Especially after Romney kept hammering home all the broken promises from the '08 campaign.

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  3. One question "Please, dead God, don't let him screw this up so badly that we can't save it for him."

    Is that a typo or a subtle dig? :)

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    1. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

      I am a freaking remard.

      I have to leave that in. Okay...no I don't. OMG! I'm falling over in my chair.

      Dead God. Oh LORD!

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    2. Changed it. Dead God. It's not easy being completely retarded and taking your "show" on the road.

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    3. "It's not easy being completely retarded and taking your 'show' on the road."
      Oh, I don't know: Obama, Biden, Wasserman-Schultz, Alan Grayson, Anthony Weiner, et al, manage to pull that off all the time. Of course, it is counter-productive, but they do do that constantly. (Well, except for Grayson and Weiner. At least two of the other three listed will not have an opportunity to do so after November 6 (November 7 for Democrats, Greens, and Communists.)

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    4. And they manage to make a really good living at it. So now I've realized what my true calling was, but I missed the boat completely.

      I should have been a Democratic politician. Then all my stupid FULL REMARD (joke from a typo where I meant FULL RETARD) shit would have made me a player!

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  4. I love how many of the major media outlets trumpeted this as an Obama "win". Perhaps when compared to his abysmal performance in Denver he did considerably better, though that wasn't a very high bar to achieve. But although Romney failed to push through a few points that he could've easily made, he did mostly keep his composure and didn't allow Obama to totally knock him off course. I too would have to call this a draw at the absolute least, mostly because it would've been very hard for Romney to top his earlier performance, or for Obama to do worse.

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    1. I think the media were so completely blind-sided by their boy doing so dismally in the first debate, that they all decided that if Obama just could make it through this one, no matter WHAT Romney did, they would insist that he won or it was a debate and try to drive the narrative to how awesome Obama is again. They really tried. But it isn't working. People are not being swayed and the polls are opening up for Romney. YIPPEE-KI-YAY!

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