Free Republic

Never mind the debates, said those very knowledgeable members of the mainstream media, as they will have no appreciable effect on the election. Whistling past the graveyard has always been a popular pastime among journalists, especially when they have the distinct feeling that their candidate might not be up to a very important, very public challenge. Well it has now been a week and a day since the Barack debacle in Denver and polls have not only swung to Romney’s favor, they have done so in a startling, even unprecedented way. Here are the numbers: The Rasmussen Swing State Poll...

Those were my cheers you heard coming from the Left Coast last Wednesday night. I watched the Romney-Obama debate at my home in L.A., where I could hear the gasps and sobs of the creative community get louder and louder as Mitt came out swinging and never let up. That wasn't a debate. It was "The Great Debacle" -- and everyone who watched it for three minutes knew Kid Romney was winning every round on substance and style. I kept waiting for David Axelrod to throw a towel in the ring or referee Jim Lehrer to step in, wave...

The debate last Wednesday has reset the presidential race. Those who thought President Obama was a shoo-in or that Republican nominee Mitt Romney was a lost cause had their perceptions turned on their heads during the debate. Romney appeared confident, enthusiastic, engaged, knowledgeable -- in contrast, Obama appeared disinterested, arrogant and confused about why he had to endure such an event. His body language appeared to be saying: "Why am I here, wasting my time against this guy? I have better things to do -- I could be on 'The View,' I could be hanging with Beyonce and Jay-Z." Since...

Usually after a presidential debate, both sides spin the results. But after the first face-off between President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, Obama's exasperated handlers made no such effort. How could they when most opinion polls revealed that two-thirds of viewers thought Obama clearly lost? Within minutes of the parting handshake, the liberal base went ballistic. Bill Maher, Chris Matthews and Michael Moore all but accused Obama of embarrassing the progressive cause. The post-debate spin focused not on whether the president had been creamed by challenger Mitt Romney, but rather on how that had been possible. For a while, there...

As much of the far-left mainstream media continues to panic over Mr. Obama’s abject failure of a first debate, they deliberately avoid doing their jobs and reporting the real reason for his totally expected performance. Said one Obama-fawning editor from The Atlantic magazine, “…The president appeared snippy, his eyes flashing angrily during those infrequent moments when he looked at his opponent, his lips pursed and upturned when he looked down…There was, in the expression, a mixture of annoyance, impatience, and dislike” The fact is that Mr. Obama was “snippy.” His expression did have a “mixture of annoyance, impatience, and dislike.”...

Mitt Romney gave President Barack Obama a much-deserved shellacking in the first Presidential debate held in Denver. The Republican nominee, who many conservatives were close to writing off, served ace after ace, while Obama just stood there and tried to hit the ball back, looking stunned by Romney’s strength and his own failure. After an hour and half “match,” it was clear Romney was the man with the plan and Obama the man with more promises. Heeding conservatives’ advice to go bold, Romney showed us his backbone, laid out his plan and cornered Obama on his failed record. Again and...

Note: The author would like to thank the Psalmist, Switchfoot, and Samwise for inspiring this column.Back in May of 1999, I made a decision to leave the Democratic Party. It was an easy decision. I had been a Democrat for 11 years. I voted for Dukakis when I was a committed leftist. But, later, when I became a pro-life conservative, there was no room for me in the party. So I became a Republican and also joined the NRA. I've been a straight shooter ever since. Excuse me if that last line sounded heterosexist. I’m a work in regress. As...

The first presidential debate of 2012 is now behind us. And Republican challenger Mitt Romney won it handily. No one challenges this verdict. Even President Obama’s most ardent supporters concede it by way of the truly laughable excuses to which they’ve resorted in accounting for the decisive drubbing that their candidate received. But while the conventional wisdom concerning the victor is sound enough, the conventional wisdom concerning the debate’s loser is not so much. Obama, we are told, was “off his game.” From Denver’s altitude to personal family issues, every conceivable rationale has been offered by the President’s admirers to...

He tried ignoring his base in the primary when it was rallying behind marriage in North Carolina and rallying behind Chick-fil-a when it was under attack, and that didn’t work. Then he tried just scaring people into voting against Obama, and that didn’t work. Finally, Mitt Romney tried conservatism at Wednesday night’s debate—and that did. The result was Romney – that’s right, the guy that was once named the No.8 RINO in the country by Human Events – provided the country the most teachable moment on the differences between Republicans and Democrats in a presidential election since before Al Gore...

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,...

Discussing the debate last night with Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin issued a warning to the American people:  the Obama camp is not going to let Romney take the lead without a fight. “…these guys in the Obama camp, they’re not going to go down without swinging. They’re going to pull something. "And the American public, with the media's help, these lapdogs in the media, kind of going along with what Obama and his people want to do to shake some things up if Mitt Romney continues to do so well. The American public just needs to be aware that they've...

Romney's stated policies in business during the first presidential debate: champion the growth and development for the middle class. Until now, Romney's position was widely perceived as one of the biggest enemies to the middle class. One of his most powerful moments during the debate was the contrast he illustrated between the president’s decision to finance the five big banks, while allowing small banks to fail across America. Some credit should be given to the president, however, for his short-term policies to save the banks, and the wise business decision to make interest from the banks that were save through...

Education turned into a key issue in Wednesday’s first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. Their visions could not have been more divergent and stark.Romney called for putting federal education dollars into the “backpack” of the student, empowering parents to pick the educational option that best meets the needs of their child.Obama called for hiring 100,000 new teachers, a familiar refrain during his first term in office. A champion of government school bailouts, Obama emphasizes more teachers, as opposed to insisting on more effective teachers, and refuses to endorse the idea of freeing students to choose...

When you write about war, Barbara Tuchman once told aspiring historians, write as though you don't know who won. That's hard to do. It's just as hard to write about which presidential candidate will win a tight race, or even a presidential debate. Who among the smug punditry would have predicted Mitt Romney's repeated knockdowns of Barack Obama in their first debate? The pundit buzz had been that the re-election of the president was inevitable; it was time to uncork the Champagne. The debate proved the celebration was premature. Some inevitable presidents have lost in the long run; some in...

I am elated to report to you something you surely already know: Mitt Romney trounced President Obama in their first debate. The rout was so decisive that even the liberal media cannot spin it the other way. There is no need to grade this on a curve. Romney did very well in absolute, not relative, terms. He didn't just do well compared with Obama's poor performance; he really shone, in every category. He proved himself to be very knowledgeable on policy and business, quick on his feet and able to deliver zingers as graciously as possible under the circumstances. Obama,...

At Last Night’s Debate, Obama Had Trouble With The Facts LIE #1: OBAMA SAYS HIS PLAN REDUCES THE DEFICIT BY $4 TRILLION THE CLAIM: Obama: “I’ve Proposed A Specific $4 Trillion Deficit Reduction Plan.” OBAMA: “I’ve proposed a specific $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. … The way we do it is $2.50 for every cut, we ask for $1 in additional revenue.” (President Barack Obama, Presidential Debate, Denver, CO, 10/3/12) THE FACTS: “Virtually No Serious Budget Analyst Agreed With This Accounting.” “But virtually no serious budget analyst agreed with this accounting. Obama’s $4 trillion figure, for instance, includes counting some...

Nuances and moments from Denver debate, Romney team can use Obama's arrogance: "all the experts say this, say that..." We'll, it's quite convenient when your propagandists, donors and backers are YOUR chosen "experts." Repeating a lie... till you believe it... Where in recent history did we see it again? Even Obama's fan, the liberal Daily Beast said: "Obama’s $4 trillion number was inaccurate."