Posted on 10/08/2012 5:25:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
The earth moved in Denver last week. A chunk of realist landscape broke through the media’s gloomy, impressionist artwork, as Mitt Romney dominated Barrack Obama in the first presidential debate.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men insist one good performance by the challenger and one off night for the president don’t really change anything. But in fact, they change everything.
The race is recast for several reasons: Everything voters believe—or have endlessly heard-- about the candidates was called into question. Romney’s dismantling of the president wasn’t just a win. The 90 minute encounter reintroduced the men in ways that elevate Romney, seriously wound Obama, and unmask the media as surrealist traffickers in distortion and fantasy.
Finally, the victory, borne on Romney’s spirited defense of American free enterprise and civic culture, energized a conservative base the media has labored desperately to demoralize.
Until Wednesday, things looked different. Voters know things are bad. President Obama hasn’t kept his promises, either in delivering results or bringing a new, post-partisan, unifying approach. But voters aren’t sure just how badly Obama has performed. For four years, the media painted him as the smartest, clearest-eyed, coolest leader in history. During that time, they’ve refused to ask tough questions or cover bad news that might undermine their admiring portrait.
Tough words or bad news have been occasions for blaming the president’s predecessor of four years past, or an obstructionist Congress, or greedy bankers and oil companies.
Meanwhile, the media’s had a year, all summer in particular, to hype and frenzy over any Romney error, real or fabricated, and to assign him any defect or character flaw, debatable or outrageous and slanderous.
When the two men walked on the stage at Richie Arena, casual viewers paying attention for the first time probably had a vague impression of Romney as a stiff, silver-spooned, tax-dodging, benefit slashing, wife killing, corporate raider who decimated worker pensions for sport.
And still, the polls were within the margin of error.
Within minutes, Americans could see and hear for themselves Romney is a warm, serious-minded, incredibly intelligent and articulate leader who understands Americans are hurting; we can do better; and he wants to free us up to turn things around.
Similarly, when ideas, pushes, and shoves were exchanged, voters saw a different Barack Obama. He was not the likeable colossus. Contrary to fawning media treatment, viewers saw a president who wasn’t especially warm, who was aloof, cool, and exuded a tired air of resentment he had to justify his ideas and defend his record.
It’s a hard record to defend. For 90 minutes, Romney pressed the president on lagging jobs, struggling families, exploding debt, and no relief in sight. For 90 minutes Romney asked the president like no one in four years has to account for a trillion wasted stimulus dollars; to explain how he can claim trillions in deficit reduction when his budget plans still project trillion dollar deficits into the known future; to account for the sudden importance of 100,000 new teachers when the $90 billion he’s wasted on green crony corruption could have hired 2 million teachers.
Obama responded to virtually none of it. He stuck to his talking points, mainly accusing Romney of pushing a 5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy that would force tax increases for the middle class. Romney cheerfully swatted that away with logic and nuance the dishonorable media has not paid him the courtesy of covering: he is talking about reducing tax rates, not tax burden. He intends to incent and stimulate investors and job creators so the economy grows and there is more work and prosperity for all. The wealthy will pay as much or more of the share of total taxation, as they are now.
Romney might have added that this pattern of the wealthy paying even more after rate cuts would repeat the nation’s experience under Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. That would make it a little harder for Obama’s media guards to call his proposal a lie, though they’d probably find a way.
When all was concluded, the biggest lie of the evening probably came from the president’s forced smile: “Thank you. This has been a terrific debate.”
The post mortems have alternatively speculated Obama was just off; it was a strategy decision to float above the fray; or, from the zanier precincts: maybe it was a combination of high altitude, missing his buddy teleprompter, and snuck-in Romney cheat sheets.
One important effect is the public seeing Obama forced to defend positions and answer questions that an institution worthy of the name “free press” should have been asking him. If a mere challenger can put the president on his heels, where has the fourth estate been for four years? (We all know the answer: mostly worshiping at the alter).
Beyond trying to find “lies” to recapture the story line, the media comforts itself with history: Mondale and Kerry also won the first debate, but Reagan and Bush went on to win reelection.
They are missing the river for the ripples. In 1984, America felt tremendous progress and wanted to stay with Reagan. In 2004, America felt protected and wanted to stay with Bush. The rippling debates didn’t turn the underlying reality.
Today, America feels discouraged and let down, and wants to move past Obama. Romney gave them comfort and solid grounds to do that.
It is 1980 again.
That debate blew the entire narrative. It changed the media/campaign narrative of this campaign (Obama’s inevitability). It blew the media agenda out of the water. It blew up the characterization of Mitt Romney as a heartless big business guy. It blew the narrative of Obama as a uber-talented politician, as well as rewriting his presidency in the minds of many voters fooled by the media.
It was one of the great examples of all time of a candidate going around the media and the noise and going straight to the American people.
And it was so brilliantly executed that if Obama comes out strident in the “townhall” debate, he’s going to lose even more voters compared to the “calm and in control” Romney.
Cue the Obama trolls and “Retired postal worker” Eeyores. “Lets not get over confident, Obama is a skilled liar and people are dumb, we will lose, its Obama’s to win...woes me me, its over”
He does everything to upset the balance that the Electoral College was suppose to produce. It's called "Marketing".
The media has been working overtime ever since the debate in an effort to re-establish their preferred narrative. I strongly suspect that those chickens have now flown the coop for good and that subsequent debates will serve to confirm what people saw last week: Romney is more honest, better informed, more likeable and more Presidential in character than Obama ever was.
It won't stop Obama from trying to re-establish his classic "reverse Reagan" strategy, as he seeks to go around the American people and go straight to the media instead.
It blew the narrative that 0bama is “brilliant” as well.
Leftists are very insecure about their self-worth. It’s why they invest their view of themselves in who and what they support. They’ll either double down on supporting 0bama and ignore his obvious “unbrilliance”, or they will become disillusioned and depressed.
Right on schedule! Too funny.
I warned BHO supporters that one day, someone will challenge his record without him using a teleprompter or having the media protect him and you will see how short he falls.
The God BHO supporters created has fallen from the pedestal they placed him on.
This outfit has chosen the last 8 pesidents correctly - method doesn’t skew or over sample.
330 EV’s will be hard to beat at this point
“That debate blew the entire narrative. It changed the media/campaign narrative of this campaign (Obama’s inevitability). It blew the media agenda out of the water. It blew up the characterization of Mitt Romney as a heartless big business guy. It blew the narrative of Obama as a uber-talented politician, as well as rewriting his presidency in the minds of many voters fooled by the media.”
Yes it did. And the lame-streams are now working overtime with the Zero campaign to convince people not to believe their lying eyes and ears. The day after the debate, Axelgrease was on tv telling the lame-stream to ‘fact-check’ Romney. The lame-stream took their marching orders, and that has been the narrative since. Also, the fake unemployment numbers gave the Lames something to crow about and deflect attention from the debate.
The town hall debate will be stacked with gotcha Romney questions and all future moderators have been put on (unspoken) notice not to let things get out of control as Lehrer did (i.e. don’t give Romney a chance to respond properly).
It’s going to be interesting to see just how much of an effect the Lames are having on people who only get their information from tv. These people have been presented crap poll after crap poll saying Zero is in the lead (without mentioning the Dim over-sampling). Fast and Furious has been given little attention, and when it has, it is always mentioned that W had the ‘same’ thing with Wide Receiver (and it’s never revealed that F&F did not track the guns while WR did). The press completely covered up for Zero’s ineptness at national security by going along with the story that a spontaneous reaction to a video cause all the upheaval in Cairo and Libya on Sept. 11, while going for the kill with Romney for daring to speak out against the disgusting apologies offered up by the administration.
Yes, people saw the real Romney and the real Zero. But the Lames are doing triple overtime to try and erase the memory of it.
Luke 8:17
Translation: In other words, Obama handed the election win to Romney last Wednesday night.
Barry will be on Nuvigil next debate. Expect wide eyes, sharper speech, no pauses, faster mind. Just a step below benzedrine. I’d bet a million bucks his handlers will have him on Nuvigil. You watch. Faster response time, clear speech, he’ll look like the Hare before the turtle passes him. Nuvigil. You heard it here first! Watch for it.
Easy. They’ll have his doctor give him Nuvigil and then the after his incredible performance the immediate spin will be He was just tired that first debate, but tonight we saw the REAL BarryUpChuck!
BarryBoy will drugged for his next debate, but NOT the way you guys think. He won’t be smokin’ crack, or meth, or dropping acid or shooting speedballs. He’ll be on NUVIGIL. And no one will ever know. Watch for a 180 in terms of pep. You’re about to see the NEW OBAMA on a drug!
“Easy. They’ll have his doctor give him Nuvigil and then the after his incredible performance the immediate spin will be He was just tired that first debate, but tonight we saw the REAL BarryUpChuck!”
Wouldn’t put it past them at all.
Let’s face it: it’s going to be very difficult for Zero to do any worse in the next debate. Expectations are way low for him now. So if he goes in (with or without Nuvigil) and puts in an okay performance the spin will be that a great improved Zero won the debate.
He is a skilled liar and there are a lot of dumb voters - else how could he have won in 2008? - but I feel a lot better about our chances today than I did last week.
The problem with being a propped up empty suit, is, sooner or later, you are eventually forced to stand on your own, and when you do, you fall flat on your face.
NO ONE should be surprised by the Debates outcome, what is surprising is that the failing was so incredibly epic.
There was no chance Obama was going to win the debate, and Romney was going to “suddenly” see voters move to him.. What is surprising is just how incredibly bad Obama performed. The fact he performed badly was a given, the fact he performed so badly was proof what arrogance and laziness get you.
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