Friday, March 29, AD 2024 7:43am

I Was Watching a Townhall and a Fight Broke Out

 

 

 

Predictably Obama was very aggressive tonight.  Less predictably perhaps, Romney was just as aggressive.  Here are some thoughts:

1.  Wired Obama-Obama came loaded with talking points and spoke rapidly throughout the debate to get them all out.

2.  Face Time-Classic political theater with Obama and Romney having a few face to face clashes during the debate.

3.  Crowley Hearts Obama-Candy Crowley attempted to come to the rescue of the President in misstating that Obama blamed the Benghazi attack on terrorism in his rose garden statement.  That is incorrect.  The operative phrase in Obama’s statement:   Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths.  We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.  But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence.  None.  The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.  Crowley’s intervention indicated that she was not a moderator but rather an Obama partisan.

4.  Romney the Good-Romney gave another good debate performance and I expect he will do just as well in the third debate.  If Obama is hoping for Romney to stumble or commit a gaffe, I think he will wait in vain.

5.  Boxing match-Although the back and forth got a bit tiresome to me after a while, I did like the way in which both candidates talked directly at each other.  Romney did make the mistake of asking too many questions of Obama, as if he were going to get any forthright answers.

6.  Confusing-The fast pace of the debate may have come across as confusing to voters who do not follow politics and issues as obsessively as political junkies do.

7.  Face Discipline-Romney exercised strict control of his features while Obama was speaking.  Obama was not at Biden’s manic level, but he could not keep fairly frequent looks of disdain from his face while Romney was talking.  Likeability has been Obama’s electoral life rope and I think that probably took a few hits tonight.

8.  Times are Tough- One of Romney’s themes throughout the debate was how bad the economy is and how he would put America back to work.  Obama tried to have it both ways:  we’ve done a good job but times are tough because of the mess I inherited from Bush.  After four years I think blaming Bush is a losing strategy.

9.  Luntz Undecideds Decide-Frank Luntz had his usual panel of undecideds watching the debate.  The vast majority of them voted for Obama in 2008.  After they watched the debate tonight, the vast majority had swung behind Romney.

10. Draw-I suspect that the debate will be viewed as a draw and that is very bad news for Obama.  He needed an overwhelming victory tonight and he didn’t get it.  Romney is ahead and I do not think this debate will alter that fact.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
12 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Tuesday, October 16, AD 2012 10:45pm

I do think Obama was pretty slick in getting in the 47% dig in his closing remarks without Romney being able to respond.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Tuesday, October 16, AD 2012 11:13pm

I just want to point out that the big question is not really how soon (or not) Obama put the label “act of terror” on Libya– to me the really big point is about his LACK of ACTION. he might have (or not) said the right things. He is a talker after all. But he should have immediately taken some kind of action in our defense; not even beginning investigating for how long!

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Tuesday, October 16, AD 2012 11:30pm

“I just want to point out that the big question is not really how soon (or not) Obama put the label “act of terror” on Libya– to me the really big point is about his LACK of ACTION. he might have (or not) said the right things. He is a talker after all. But he should have immediately taken some kind of action in our defense; not even beginning investigating for how long!”

Romney gonna have a golden opportunity to fact check exactly what Obama said and rub his nose in it during Monday’s debate because Monday’s debate is entirely on foreign policy and national security.

PM
PM
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 12:12am

1. #3. paved the way and helped her favorite consistently. No F & F n’ stuff needed.
Bet he got a handle on his four year term in the resort where he was trained for days for ‘townhall’ – in all but sincerity.

3. Unprofessional. Broke rules. Not a moderator. Can just hear the screams if the shoe were on the other foot. The rule book would be on the table with condemnations forever.

6. Mitt Romney striving for clarity and fairness, but incumbent wasn’t as usual.

4. Very strong man to be able to withstand the cheating.

7. Obama’s free pass from the media spoiled him – resents being questioned while he can continually point at and blame what is diverse from him. Playground bully, backroom thug.

10. Too bad these debates are reported like sports scores. People see behavior and character, which hopefully helps them sort through truth and lies.

Pauli
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 12:37am

To me it was all about tone. Obama sounds angry, petulant. Romney exudes calmness, stability — what you want in a crisis. These debates demonstrate why I’ve supported Romney since the primaries. He’s going to win.

Don the Kiwi
Don the Kiwi
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 2:59am

Watched the debate. Despite some sayind Obama won, i can’t agree. In my high school years I was on our class debate team. In my 20’s i was the leader of our debatng team in Jaycees. The key to winning a debate, is making your point strongly and believably – even if it is wrong – and being able to effectively counter any rebuttal to your argument. Romney was head and shoulders above Obama again tonite, although Obama came out fighting – unlike last time, and gave a much better performance. But he focussed on trying to tell everyone what Romney was “:really” saying – he had no positives for his own vision for America – because his record in four years is dog poo.
I won’t say that Romney has gained further momentum from this, but has certainly held up his gains from last debate. Next week, I think that he will be able to close the gate on O’Bumbler when the porkies that O’Bumbler came out with will be confirmed by the media at large – not just Sean Hannity 🙂
I’m beginning to agree with your assessment Don – that Romney will win in a lesson to the Dems. We have been having a debate here on our local Catholic blog about the US elections – and some are saying “so what?”
Thepoint is, that what happens in the US has a major influence in the rest of the world – in particluar the western Anglo-Saxon- Celtic world, because we hold a common heritage and mindset different to the rest of world cultures, and the US, whether people like it or not, is the leader in this culture.
I do really hope that Romney kicks O’Bumbler’s arse (ass in ‘mericaspeak) 🙂

trackback
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 5:20am

[…] Last night I lambasted Candy Crowley for this: […]

Paul W. Primavera
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 5:40am

As long as Obama is defeat, that is all that matters. I am glad Romnry acquitted himself well again. I see many main stream news outlets saying Obama won, but they are liberal and that is to be expected.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 5:55am

I was walking Buddy (try to be the person your dog thinks you are) and snoring.

Couldn’t bring myself to watch the Yanks roll over, either.

Glenn Beck (on Imus) said, “Romney kindly emasculated Obama.” heh

Old Chinese adage, “A liar is not believed even when he tells the truth.” Obama and his imbecilic worshipers have divorced themselves from facts and truth.

Re: energy: Mitt missed his opportunity to ask why gas prices are so high during slow driving season, and for Obama’s advice to Americans choosing between buying gas to get to their jobs or eating.

Benghazzi. . . 100+ recent violent episodes . . . repeated requests for security upgrades . . . spontaneous protest . . . 200 gomers armed with AK’s and RPG’s . . . for five days it was caused by an obscure YouTube video . . . video producer still in jail . . .

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 7:01am

“video producer still in jail” . . . thanks for that info.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 7:57am

The amazing thing is how little discussion is being had in these debates and in the election in general about Obamacare. One would think that the signal achievement of Obama’s first term – the one that our esteemed Vice President called a “big f’n deal” would be trumpeted a bit more by President Obama. Curious.

Rozin
Rozin
Wednesday, October 17, AD 2012 9:20am

Re: Obamacare and its invisibility

The Left simply goes “underground” when there is public opposition to anything they are doing. They let the bureaucracy and activist judges carry the ball forward. The same thing is going on with the EPA etc. The Repubs have a candidate who doesn’t want to mention Obamacare that much either.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top