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A Historic Debate Failure
Townhall.com ^ | October 6. 2012 | Hugh Hewitt

Posted on 10/06/2012 3:28:13 AM PDT by Kaslin

By the time of Thursday night's debate between Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan, the polls will reflect the early consequences of President Obama's disastrous debate performance from Wednesday night.

Mitt Romney had a superb night and the contrast between his calm and in-command performance and that of a flailing, rambling president could not have been sharper, and indeed it could not have been more disorienting for the Chicago Gang running the president's re-election campaign.

The day after the president's face-plant in front of 67 million viewers, the geniuses behind the nation's dismal economy instructed the president to go ugly, setting off the "Mitt Romney is a liar, liar, liar" chorus in the wholly-owned Obama subsidiary known as the MSM. The president led the charge himself, repeatedly referring to the "fellow who played Mitt Romney last night" in stump speeches Thursday, a weirdly nasty-but-ineffective attempt to argue that his whupping wasn't fair because Romney made arguments the president hadn't heard inside the cocoon, though they are the same arguments Romney has been making on the campaign trail for the past year.

A desperate Manhattan-Beltway media elite seized on Friday's job report as a life line without realizing what was at the other end: The "revisions" in the numbers that led them to claim victory at 7.8% unemployment also meant that job growth has been declining for three straight months, with fewer jobs created in August than in July and fewer still in September than in August --exactly what one expects in a slowing economy, one headed for the recession that is the worry of the CEO survey and the direction pointed to by The Index of Leading Economic Indicators and downward revision in 2Q GDP as well as the FedEx and Norfolk Southern forecasts which shocked serious observers of the economy.

It is a recession, folks, and it is headed this way, accelerated by President Obama's election year campaigning for growth-killing tax hikes and the promise of energy-production-destroying anti-fracking rules and other EPA job killing moves in December. (The recession has already arrived in the Eurozone.)

The economic reality most people feel is the price at the pumps --double what it was when President Obama took office-- and the knowledge that they have of the joblessness of friends and family and the job insecurity they and others worry over. The cluelessness displayed by President Obama on Wednesday night has become the symbol of his entire presidency, and his aimlessness in answering direct questions is what most distressed independent voters who moved so decidedly towards Romney in the Frank Luntz focus group that shocked long-time watchers of such groups.

The huge polling margins that declared Romney a winner in the debate took away a lasting impression of the president because it is consistent with the suspicion that has grown up around the 100+-rounds-of-golf playing Commander-in-Chief, the one who jetted off to raise money on the day the nation learned of the brutal murders of our ambassador and his aides in Benghazi and who then participated in the cover-up of that slaughter.

The wandering-in-answer Obama Wednesday night was the same guy who doesn't sit down with the press (and now we know why) and who cannot defend his record though offered repeated opportunities to do so by Jim Lehrer.

The takeaway from the first week in October, as the voting begins across the country, is that President Obama was as unprepared for the debate as he was for the presidency.

He isn't doing his job because he can't do his job.

The cluelessness President Obama displayed erases any argument that his on-the-job training has equipped him for a second term or earned him a second chance.

It was the worst debate performance by a sitting president in the history of these meetings, and millions who tuned in have now tuned out his appeals for one more chance. Not this time. Not with conditions this serious.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012campaign; 2012elections; barackobama; debate; debates; denverdebate; failure; inexperience; jobsreport; mittromney
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1 posted on 10/06/2012 3:28:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
The cluelessness President Obama displayed erases any argument that his on-the-job training has equipped him for a second term or earned him a second chance.

It was the worst debate performance by a sitting president in the history of these meetings, and millions who tuned in have now tuned out his appeals for one more chance. Not this time. Not with conditions this serious.

When only a Presidential "Face Palm" will suffice.

And Clint Eastwood on the "serious" thingy: Eastwood Reloaded (for bear)

2 posted on 10/06/2012 3:34:40 AM PDT by spokeshave (The only people better off today than 4 years ago are the Prisoners at Guantanamo.)
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To: Kaslin

If you look at the timing now of the Ryan-Biden debate....you start to wonder if this was really smart because Ryan is likely to win that debate. But I think that the President already expected marginal showings in the first debate, and wanted an extra week or two to prepare for the second meeting.

As you gaze at the townhall meeting between the President and Romney....it really becomes a significant situation. The President has to do very well in this situation. If he doesn’t....there’s another two percent of the voters flipping toward Romney, and the election is mostly lost at that point.


3 posted on 10/06/2012 3:35:28 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Kaslin

“the geniuses behind the nation’s dismal economy instructed the president to go ugly”

He already did that when he married Mooch!


4 posted on 10/06/2012 3:37:13 AM PDT by tired&retired
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To: spokeshave

“....for months, the Obama campaign has relentlessly portrayed Romney as an inveterate scoundrel: a dissolute shylock — maybe even a felonious one — who fleeced mom-and-pop stores, secreted his ill-gotten gains in offshore vaults, and, in his spare time, tortured his own pooch. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it” — it’s the Alinskyites following their dog-eared rule book.

The problem for our community organizer–in–chief is the debate setting. With no slavish Obamedia filter between the candidates and the viewers, the Obama campaign’s ludicrous distortion of Romney collided, one on one and for all to see, with the reality of Romney. The challenger’s upbeat energy simultaneously effused respect for the president’s office and sheer joie de vivre at the prospect of laying bare the president’s miserable record — of forcing Obama’s vision of Euro-America to compete with Romney’s traditionally confident, self-determining America......

....It was a Romney who has appeared in flashes over the years, but then frustratingly veered away. Suddenly, he seemed comfortable and commanding — like he’d finally arrived at where he wanted to be, like he planned to be staying for a while. When his moment came, the biggest in his political life, the guy who “couldn’t connect” knew he was connecting like there was no tomorrow. And maybe there isn’t. He was the very picture of the happy warrior — somewhere, at least for this night, Ronald Reagan and Bill Buckley were smiling........”

http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/329590


5 posted on 10/06/2012 3:41:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The next “debate” is a Town Hall....OMG!! They will crucify Mitt. And everyone thinks Ryan will destroy Biden, but I don’t think so....Biden is a loose cannon and a mean one at that and he’s been around for a LONG time.


6 posted on 10/06/2012 3:47:17 AM PDT by Ann Archy ( ABORTION...the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ann Archy

Town Hall format can lead to the hooting shout-down that is so familiar to anyone who has ever dealt with leftists en masse. I’d be tempted to provoke overkill myself in such a position, but it’s a risk. The mob owns the media filter.


7 posted on 10/06/2012 4:00:02 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

It’s going to be UGLY!


8 posted on 10/06/2012 4:01:28 AM PDT by Ann Archy ( ABORTION...the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ann Archy

Is this sarcasm? You have to be joking?


9 posted on 10/06/2012 4:03:41 AM PDT by FightforFreedomCA (I WILL be voting on November 6th to evict the current pResident.)
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To: FightforFreedomCA

No....the left ALWAYS wins these Town Hall style “debates”....I will be praying hard, but Mitt will be crucified by the audience (packed by Dems) AND the mod or mods.


10 posted on 10/06/2012 4:08:36 AM PDT by Ann Archy ( ABORTION...the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Kaslin

I bet Mitt does great in the town hall setting.....


11 posted on 10/06/2012 4:13:45 AM PDT by The Wizard (Madam President is my President now and in the future)
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To: pepsionice

The only problem with that is early voting. Perhaps early voters were/are making a decision based on that debate.

For the record, 4-5 WEEKS early voting? This needs fixing. I can see a day or two or absentee ballot but this is an outrage.


12 posted on 10/06/2012 4:24:33 AM PDT by SueRae (See it? Hell, I can TASTE November from my house!)
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To: The Wizard

No matter how well he actually does, the media has already penciled this in as a win for dear leader. I hope he can handle the first robed muslim asking a nonsensical question about palestine and the idiot 19 year old asking a nonsensical question about “health” she read off the planned parenthood website. I have no faith that the crowd will be “undecideds” but just a bunch of Obama staffers that flooded the Gallup website with requests for tickets.

It’s a lot easier for Obama to say “It’s free” than it is to explain health care economics and individual responsibility. Same with SS and mediscare. All Obama needs to do it say “i’ll pay for it” and fake some empathy and Romney will have nowhere to go.


13 posted on 10/06/2012 4:34:04 AM PDT by newnhdad (Where will you be during the Election Riots of 2012/2013?)
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To: pepsionice
I'm not worried. Ryan will clean the clock with Biden. Biden will be a doddering old fool out on that stage by the time THAT debate is over. By the time Romney/Obama II begins, Obama's heart will be beating faster than a Meth Addict's. He'll be sweating bullets, trying to remember all the zingers he couldn't come up with the first debate, while trying to remember what he was told by John Kerry (who served in Vietnam). Romney, with an above-average IQ, will be "surprisingly" engaging (although you have to remember that he was in 20 debates in the past year, including many where he was being ganged up on by the opponents).

By the third debate, Obama is going to look like Jim Carrey's Riddler character in Batman, after his brain machine goes haywire.

Romney wins by 10-20 points in November.

14 posted on 10/06/2012 4:35:44 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Obama does not have the work ethic to be Anti-Christ.)
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To: Ann Archy
Obama will be smooth and confident in the Town Hall, and, of course, he'll be declared the winner by the media. However, it won't help him. Everyone already knows that Obama can handle himself on The View, but now everybody doubts he can handle himself in serious situations when the stakes are high. “Winning” the town hall debate won't do anything to undo the damage from the first debate.
15 posted on 10/06/2012 4:59:41 AM PDT by utahagen
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To: newnhdad

Unfortunately I agree with you on the town hall setting. The media will figure out a way to plant Sandra Fluke in the audience.

I caution all of you that when Mitt gets those type of questions from those type of people not to freak out when he goes moderate like he did the other night.

The other night he completely took Choom by surprise when he pivoted to moderate responses on a number of issues. You could tell Choom thought he’d be debating Rush Limbaugh as it relates to positions and style.


16 posted on 10/06/2012 5:05:46 AM PDT by SteveAustin
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To: Ann Archy

“The next “debate” is a Town Hall....OMG!! They will crucify Mitt.”

I think you’re confusing a Town Hall meeting, with the Jerry Springer show. They can ask tough questions, respectfully, but they will not be permitted, (the crowd that is), to turn into some feral pack.

You think there won’t be any ant-Obama attendees?

Mitt will do fine.


17 posted on 10/06/2012 6:16:24 AM PDT by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: Bshaw
You think there won’t be any ant-Obama attendees?

They won't be called on to speak.

18 posted on 10/06/2012 6:47:16 AM PDT by Dan(9698)
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To: Kaslin

I fully expect the pre-debate polls will show Biden to be the clear winner.


19 posted on 10/06/2012 7:14:15 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Re-distribute my work ethic, not my wealth.)
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To: Arm_Bears

You mean that will be the spin, don’t you?


20 posted on 10/06/2012 7:31:55 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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