Third Presidential Debate Auto-tune

source: gifwich
LOL! This is surely a new experience for Bob Schieffer. After a long career as a journalist at CBS he is now starring in animated gifs and youtube parodies.

The Last Presidential Debate - WOW

source: gifwich tumblr

What a great night for President Obama! He had zingers ready and Mitt didn't get away with most of his silly flip-flops and lies.

The theme of the night was "Mitt is Old-Fashioned" and Obama pointed this out at every opportunity:

Full Transcript of the Debate on ABC News

OBAMA: Gov. Romney, I'm glad that you recognize that al Qaeda is a threat because a few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia.

The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years.

. . . Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s.

The most famous lines of the night harkened back into history, evoking WWI or the Civil War to the days of warefare with "horses and bayonets" came during a discussion of military spending. Hilarious, and the best comeback line of all time! Twitter and Tumblr went nuts for this. At my house, we laughed and cheered.



source: weneedmorehorsesandbayonets tumblr

ROMNEY: Our Navy is old -- excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. We're headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me.

I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy. Our Air Force is older and smaller than at any time since it was founded in 1947.

We've changed for the first time since FDR -- since FDR we had the -- we've always had the strategy of saying we could fight in two conflicts at once. Now we're changing to one conflict. Look, this, in my view, is the highest responsibility of the President of the United States, which is to maintain the safety of the American people.

And I will not cut our military budget by a trillion dollars, which is a combination of the budget cuts the president has, as well as the sequestration cuts. That, in my view, is making -- is making our future less certain and less secure.



source: havelogicwilltravel

OBAMA: Bob, I just need to comment on this.

. . . I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works.

You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.



via gifwich
And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting slips. It's what are our capabilities. And so when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.

And that is not reflected in the kind of budget that you're putting forward because it just doesn't work.

 source: plures on tumblr

Obama also reminded Mitt of his "Romneyshambles World Tour" last summer, in which Mitt schmoozed and raised money in Israel from the likes of Sheldon Adelson. And to me, this quote is really all you need to know of the debate and the differences between Mitt and President Obama:

ROMNEY: ...Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq. And by the way, you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region, but you went to the other nations.

And by the way, they noticed that you skipped Israel. And then in those nations, and on Arabic TV, you said that America had been dismissive and derisive. You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations.

Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.

OBAMA: Bob, let me -- let me respond.

If we're going to talk about trips that we've taken -- when I was a candidate for office, first trip I took was to visit our troops. And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn't take donors. I didn't attend fundraisers. I went to Yad Beshef (ph), the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.

And then I went down to the border towns of Storok (ph), which had experienced missiles raining dowm from Hamas. And I saw families there who showed me there where missiles had come down near their children's bedrooms. And I was reminded of what that would mean if those were my kids. Which is why as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles.

So that's how I've used my travels, when I travel to Israel and when I travel to the region. And the -- the central question at this point is going to be: Who is going to be credible to all parties involved? And they can look at my track record, whether it's Iran sanctions, whether it's dealing with counterterrorism, whether it's supporting democracy, whether it's supporting women's rights, whether it's supporting religious minorities.

And they can say that the President of the United States and the United States of America has stood on the right side of history. And that kind of credibility is precisely why we've been able to show leadership on a wide range of issues facing the world right now.

It was quite elegant the way Obama went through a check-list of the Romnesiac's previous positions. The biggest fib of the night was Mitt trying to walk back an Op-Ed that he wrote for the New York Times titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." He tried to make it seem as if people misunderstood his position, forgetting that he put it in writing, and everyone knows there was no private money willing to bail-out the industry, so the government was their last hope. And it worked! And now he wants to take credit for what Obama did because people like himself, connected to Michigan and children of the auto-industry moguls did nothing to help a dying industry. Epic. Freakin'. Fail.

I'm a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry. My plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks. It was President Bush that wrote the first checks. I disagree with that. I said they need -- these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy. And in that process, they can get government help and government guarantees, but they need to go through bankruptcy to get rid of excess cost and the debt burden that they'd -- they'd built up.

And fortunately...

(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Governor Romney, that's not what you said...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Governor Romney, you did not...
ROMNEY: You can take a look at the op-ed...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: You did not say that you would provide government help.

ROMNEY: I said that we would provide guarantees, and -- and that was what was able to allow these companies to go through bankruptcy, to come out of bankruptcy. Under no circumstances would I do anything other than to help this industry get on its feet. And the idea that has been suggested that I would liquidate the industry, of course not. Of course not.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Let's check the record.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: That's the height of silliness...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Let -- let -- let's...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: I have never said I would liquidate...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAM: ...at the record.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: ...I would liquidate the industry.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Governor, the people in Detroit don't forget.

. . . ROMNEY: ...if -- if you're...
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: ...you've had the floor for a while.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: ...get someone else's.

OBAMA: The -- look, I think anybody out there can check the record. Governor Romney, you keep on trying to, you know airbrush history here. You were very clear that you would not provide, government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy. You said that they could get it in the private marketplace. That wasn't true. They would have gone through a...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: You're wrong...

By the end of the debate, Obama had eviscerated Mitt, who was stammering incoherently about things he loves, as he does when he is thrown for a loop. Incredible.

Look, I love to -- I love teachers, and I'm happy to have states and communities that want to hire teachers do that. By the way, I don't like to have the federal government start pushing its weight deeper and deeper into our schools. Let the states and localities do that. I was a governor. The federal government didn't hire our teachers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor?

ROMNEY: But I love teachers. But I want to get our private sector growing and I know how to do it.

SCHIEFFER: I think we all love teachers.

(LAUGHTER)

Hardball Nails Romney as Too Aggressive, Lacking Manners

pic via Gifwich

From the Hardball Post-Debate Wrap-Up Last Night (My Transcript)

Chris Matthews: I thought Romney, he looked like a big-shot CEO who walks into the room and thinks he owns any room he's in, especially what seems like a board room. And he just starts pushing, it's always physical, he just swats them away like flies. He knows they make less than him, and he treats them that way. You know what I'm talking about? He treats moderators as low-grade below the line employees.

John Heileman: The Help.

David Corn of Mother Jones: The Help. I just think the contrast between the first debate and the second debate is that Mitt Romney is excellent at presenting a case. you know, he had to do it as a consultant, walk into these boardrooms with CEOs and say 'I know better than you do.' He had to do it at Bain Capital, get people to give him millions of dollars. And he was unchallenged in the first debate! So he was able to present his case.
But in this debate he got challenged in two directions. From the Moderator Candy Crowley, who I think was fantastic! And also by the President, who didn't let him get away with anything. He had a hard time callibrating how to respond.

Chris Matthews: Here, John (Heileman), respond to this - here he is interrupting Moderator Candy Crowley and trying to go back to answer an earlier question, as if he's going to define the whole format. He also tried to tell Crowley the rules of the debate. He was instructing her, of course. Let's listen:

CROWLEY: -- and the next question --

ROMNEY: He actually got --

CROWLEY: -- for you --

ROMNEY: He actually got the first question. So I get the last question -- last answer --

CROWLEY: (Inaudible) in the follow up, it doesn't quite work like that. But I'm going to give you a chance here. I promise you, I'm going to.

And the next question is for you. So if you want to, you know, continue on -- but I don't want to leave all --

ROMNEY: Candy, Candy --

CROWLEY: -- sitting here --

ROMNEY: Candy, I don't have a policy of stopping wind jobs in Iowa and that -- they're not phantom jobs. They're real jobs.

CROWLEY: OK.

ROMNEY: I appreciate wind jobs in Iowa and across our country. I appreciate the jobs in coal and oil and gas. I'm going to make sure --

CROWLEY: OK.

ROMNEY: -- we're taking advantage of our energy resources. We'll bring back manufacturing to America. We're going to get through a very aggressive energy policy, 31/2 million more jobs in this country. It's critical to our future.

OBAMA: Candy, it's not going to --

CROWLEY: We're going to move you along --

OBAMA: Used to being interrupted.

CROWLEY: We're going to move you both along to taxes over here and all these folks that have been waiting.

Chris Matthews: Can you imagine a flight attendant trying to get him to turn off his phone? The guy just doesn't turn off the damn phone. You know he has fifty excuses, 'by the way I paid for this seat, screw you' basically, with that attitude.

David Corn: He has his own plane!

Chris: Oh, I forgot - he doesn't have to fly with a flight attendant.

John Heileman: I just think Governor Romney did not look good in that exchange. I think in general, and this is the point you started out on raising, they both whined about time keeping. They both interrupted each other.

Chris: But once one guy does it, if the other guy doesn't, he is the victim.

John Heileman: I agree. I just think that from the standpoint of the women voters that you were raising, I think there are a lot of voters who are kinda like - at those moments they look like petty schoolchildren. Talking over each other. Governor Romney was the worst, though, at the moment he said to President Obama "Hold On, you'll get your turn."

Chris: "Hold on, you'll get your turn." Where do you get that chutzpah?

Heileman: Yeah, to the President of the United States. I think in a debate you should have forceful confrontations, but there's something so pat and condescending.

Chris: Without the cordiality and civility, with that lack of deference to the Office.

Heileman: Yes! Whoa - "Hold on son, you'll get your turn" is kinda like - whoa, come on man.



David Corn: Romney wasn't challenged in the first debate. So therefore he didn't have to figure out how to respond. He could focus on making his powerpoint presentation to the voters without being interrupted. And Obama just sort of let him go through. This time around he seemed to get rattled again and again and again. He didn't know whether to deal with the voter asking him the question, whether to deal with the President, or to deal with the moderator. And he got very testy.

Heileman That exchange also reminds you of that one exchange during the Republican Primary Debates when he turned to Anderson Cooper and said, "Anderson! Anderson!" Same thing - "Candy! Candy!"

Chris: His Lifeline, yeah.

Heileman: Appealing to the Refs.

Chris: Okay, Romney's final burst of combativeness came when he was defending the content of his blind trust. But the President worked in a good line. Let's listen here:

ROMNEY: Just going to make a point. Any investments I have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust. And I understand they do include investments outside the United States, including in -- in Chinese companies.

Mr. President, have you looked at your pension? Have you looked at your pension?

OBAMA: I've got to say...

ROMNEY: Mr. President, have you looked at your pension?

OBAMA: You know, I -- I don't look at my pension. It's not as big as yours so it doesn't take as long.

ROMNEY: Well, let me give you some advice.

OBAMA: I don't check it that often.

ROMNEY: Let me give you some advice. Look at your pension. You also have investments in Chinese companies. You also have investments outside the United States. You also have investments through a Cayman's trust.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: We're way off topic here, Governor Romney.

Chris: What was that? Do you know more about what he's getting at there, David?

David Corn: Well, the campaign has told me this time and time again when I've asked about Bain investments and Chinese companies that they outsourced. They go, "Oh, Obama has investments outside in foreign companies." They're basically looking at his Mutual Funds and going through all the companies. He doesn't have anything major in this, though, so they're trying to come up with equivalence that doesn't really exist. And he kinda botched the point in making it.

Heileman: And can I tell you that this exchange to me was the epitome of this debate and Denver. When Gov. Romney raised the thing in Denver about the accountant and it presented a golden opportunity for the President to say "Oh, you gotta pretty good accountant," or something, the President just totally wimped on it, just stepped back and didn't do anything. Here, as soon as Romney went to the pensions, you saw Obama get up out of his chair and start walking over ther like "I am going right at this thing. I've got a pension line, I'm going to get right on this thing. I'm going to try and rip this guy's lungs out." It was the difference for me between the debates.



Chris: I like the fact that his (Obama's) synapses, if you will, that every time he gave an answer it was a Christmas tree he put up responding. And then he'd start putting the baubles on it. "And by the way, Lily Ledbetter. And by the way, Planned Parenthood. And by the way, this..." - he just adorned the tree with these answers.

David Corn: His debate performance was full of strategy. From start to finish, he knew what points he wanted to make. He found the best opportunities, and it all had this great crescendo at the end, with 47%. He waited till the very last moment, when Romney could not . . .

Chris: And he (Obama) also won both polls tonight. He won CNN's and CBS's.

John Heileman: Here again, a mirror image of the last debate. In Denver, Gov. Romney had a strategy and he executed it. President Obama did not have a strategy. In this debate, President Obama had a strategy and executed it.

. . . *snip* . . .

John Heileman: I'll tell you what we also saw tonight was the contempt between the two of them, the physicality of it, the moments when you thought they were going to get the nunchucks out and just start beating each other. (laughter)

Chris: Let me tell you something, knowing the President's contempt from you and a lot of other reporters, I think he held back.

John Heileman: There were just moments when it seethed, seethed.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama Fights Off Bully Romney for the Win

gif from Atlantic Wire
Honestly, if anyone says that Mitt Romney (A) Won this Debate (B) Tied this Debate or (C) Gained Ground with any focus group, they didn't see the same debate that I watched at my house.

It was a no-contest this time: Obama Won, and He Won Big.

Romney tried to bully moderator Candy Crowley as well as President Obama, but their attitude was "bring it on." They were ready for him.

Often Mitt stood there babbling as fast as he could in an attempt to out-talk Obama again, but the President just calmly sat watching him with a smile on his face, and when his turn came he let Mitt have it, pointing out lies and inconsistancies. A few times things got heated as the candidates invaded each other's personal space.

It seemed to me that the nuttier Romney acted, the more serene Obama appeared to be.

As Rev. Al Sharpton said on MSNBC: "A Bully Got Whipped Tonight."

For proof, here's a gif from Atlantic Wire of Mitt Romney just after the debate. He looks as if he is about to hurl.

President Obama took on the bully. I substance, demeanor, and debate style he was far more effective than Mr. Romney. No doubt a good night.
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) October 17, 2012

Obama is a dreamer who hasn't fulfilled his promises to working folks. Mitt is apampered bully/salesman with no clue about such people.
— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) October 17, 2012

Transcript of Townhall Debate Via ABC News

Videos Snarking the Vice Presidential Debate

The jokes from the Biden - Ryan debate almost wrote themselves. Here's the Gregory Brothers Autotune as well as Saturday Night Live's funny spin on the debate.

Snark in Pictures

Biden Won All the Way

It was just beautiful - Biden gave the young upstart a smackdown and he did it with a smile. It was just what the Democratic base needed. Thanks, Joe!

Complete Transcript of the VP Debate

From The New York Times

Mr. Ryan was no Dan Quayle, but he did make the mistake of mentioning John F. Kennedy in an argument over whether tax cuts recharge the economy. Mr. Biden flashed a Cheshire Cat grin and said to Ryan, after waiting a beat to let the moment sink in, “So, now you’re Jack Kennedy?”

The vice presidential debate on Tuesday was supposed to be a reboot for the Obama campaign after the president’s dismal performance at his debate with the Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, last week. Mr. Biden, clearly delighted to come to President Obama’s rescue, relished his role, addressing his opponent as “my friend” but dismissing his arguments as “malarkey.” He laughed at Mr. Ryan’s remarks so often and so heartily that at times he seemed like a guest at a comedy club roast, not a vice president debating the fate of the nation with his opponent.

. . . For Mr. Biden especially, the night was his chance to relive past debates and unleash his inner barroom brawler. He had to be contained and courteous when he debated Sarah Palin four years ago, lest he look like a bully. This time he let loose. And unlike the courtly Mr. Bentsen in 1988, Mr. Biden turned his temperature up, singeing the young man across the table with patronizing grins, but mostly withering retorts. His interruptive barrage was as relentless as his silent mugging for the camera.

Good Luck, Joe! VP Debate in Cenreville, Kentucky

I think I speak for many Democrats in writing that I don't really want to turn the TV on tonight to watch the Veep Debate. We can't take anymore gaffes, surprises, under-reactions, or disappointments. I mean, I still have ultimate faith in Joe Biden, as well as Barack Obama, and I'll be the first in line to vote for them when early voting starts, but our national psyche can only take so much. With polls acting like roller coasters, we NEED a smackdown of Ryan, and anything less will be devastating. I'm sure our Vice President knows what he has to do. I just don't know if I'm strong enough to watch it happening live on TV. Maybe I'll watch Project Runway, sneak a peek at Twitter to see if the coast is clear, and watch the debate on YouTube if Joe did okay. We all just need some good news. I don't want to see another meltdown of epic proportions on MSNBC.

There's always bourbon, too, in keeping with the Kentucky location.

From PBS - Our Favorite Vice Presidential Debate Moments

The GOP Campaign to Intimidate Moderator Martha Raddatz

Paul Ryan’s last major speech was called “stunning for its dishonesty.” Tune in to see if he’ll be honest tomorrow: twitter.com/JoeBiden/statu…
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 10, 2012

It's on!#Decision2012#NBCPolitics twitter.com/JBoxleyNBC/sta…
— John Boxley (@JBoxleyNBC) October 11, 2012

Here's the scene at Centre College!!! Again, gorgeous day twitter.com/KrystalBall1/s…

— Krystal Ball (@KrystalBall1) October 11, 2012

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Polls are Tightening As Dems Have Hope for Biden-Ryan Debate

I usually enjoy writing headlines, but this one makes me cringe. With just a few weeks to go, Obama has lost his lead in the election, mainly due to what was seen as his lackluster performance in last week's debate. My own take is that some viewers who have been checked out for the past few months took Romney's "enthusiasm" as somehow more honest than Obama's rather understated way of talking. And it didn't help that moderator Jim Lehrer was asleep at the wheel and let Romney bully him, but oh well . . . here we are now.

A PEW Poll released on October 8th nearly drove some Dems over the edge:
Snark Amendment: Le Pew: Dems Panic Over One Stinky Poll

Unfortunately, other polls show an increasing problem for President Obama since he has lost his big lead and the race is nearly a dead heat. But there is still hope that things might turn around quickly after tomorrow night's debate between VP Joe Biden and VP wannabe Paul Ryan. Fingers crossed.

From The Daily Beast

. . . while hile these numbers are painful for Obama supporters, the election is close to a tie overall. The Pew survey is just one poll, capturing one moment in time. Consider Monday’s Washington Times/Zogby poll, which showed Romney and Obama in an effective tie, with Romney slightly ahead by 45.1 to 44.5 percent. If you factor in Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, Obama is actually ahead by half a point, 45.5 to 45 percent.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen’s tracking numbers also show a tie, with both candidates at 48 percent. The Gallup numbers put Romney only slightly ahead at 49 to 47 percent. And yesterday, Rasmussen reported that 55 percent of likely voters still think Obama is probably going to win in November.

The electoral map also continues to shape up in the President’s favor. Although Romney is ahead by one in Ohio, according to the latest ARG survey, he trails by three in both Pennsylvania (PDF) and Virginia (PDF).

From Nate Silver's 538 Blog

Following another day of strong polling on Tuesday, Mitt Romney advanced into the best position in the FiveThirtyEight forecast since the party conventions. His chances of winning the Electoral College are now 28.8 percent in the forecast, his highest since Aug. 29. For the first time since Aug. 28, President Obama is projected to win fewer than 300 electoral votes. And Mr. Obama’s projected margin of victory in the national popular vote — 2.0 percentage points — represents the closest the race has been since June 27.
The forecast model is not quite ready to jump on board with the notion that the race has become a literal toss-up; Mr. Romney will need to maintain his bounce for a few more days, or extend it into high-quality polls of swing states, before we can be surer about that.
But we are ready to conclude that one night in Denver undid most of the advantage Mr. Obama had appeared to gain in September.

Mitt Romney Debates . . . Mitt Romney

Hilarious but also maddening! I am really tired of the etch-a-sketch thing.

Big Bird on Saturday Night Live

Big Bird stayed up past his bedtime to appear on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update last night. He chose not to confront Mitt Romney over possibly firing him from Sesame Street, saying he didn't want to "ruffle any feathers." But he did make a debate joke and was his ever-charming childlike self.



Conan O'Brien had his own spin on Romney "killing" Big Bird:



And Rick Santorum made this disturbing remark on CNN:



via gifsfln on tumblr
Rick Santorum on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, October 4, 2012

MORGAN: Finally, would you kill Big Bird?

SANTORUM: Well, as a matter of fact, I voted to kill Big Bird in the past. I have a record there that I have to disclose. That doesn't mean I don't like Big Bird. You can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don't know. That's probably that. Can we go back on that one?

MORGAN: That was beautifully badly phrased. I think we should end on that note, just to let you feel really uncomfortable. You can kill things but still like them, Rick Santorum. What a perfect way to end the interview.

Big Bird Art is rampant on the internet since Romney chose to target PBS last week in the first Presidential debate:

Krugman Slams Press Over Debate Dishonesty

Today on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, economist Paul Krugman had some strong words for the press, who praised Romney's "style" this past week after the Debate in Denver instead of fact-checking his lies on his shifting positions.

The show also featured Republican pundit Peggy Noonan, Mary Matalin and her husband, Democratic strategist James Carville, and Democratic spokesman Robert Gibbs. Some of their statements are below as well . . .

At one point Matalin accuses Paul Krugman of being a liar for saying that Paul Ryan has a "voucher" plan. *eyeroll*

Complete Transcript Here

KRUGMAN: I don't know whether to blame Lehrer or blame the president but it was kind of amazing because Romney was not only saying things that are not true, he was saying things that his own campaign had previously said weren't true. The one that got me was not the stuff about taxes but the thing about covering people with pre-existing conditions which his plan does not, which he has said that before and his campaign has walked it back in the past and there he was right again saying, well, my plan covers people with pre-existing conditions which is displaying a kind of contempt to the public...

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you think it's the moderator's job to call him on that...

KRUGMAN: No, I'm not sure whose job it is, but it is -- there's a contempt for the whole process. There's a contempt for us people, because he's thinking the news media will not cover me on this, as long as they say it forcefully they'll say I won, which is more of the ways...

MATALIN: Oh, you're going to say the press is against Obama now?

KRUGMAN: The press just doesn't know how to handle flat out untruths.

~~~

KRUGMAN: When you say my covers pre-existing conditions when it doesn't and when your own campaign has admitted in the past that it doesn't, what do you say? That's amazing.

MATALIN: You have Mitt characterized -- and you have lied about every position and every particular of the Ryan plan on Medicare from the efficiency of Medicare administration to calling it a voucher plan, so you're hardly...

KRUGMAN: It is a voucher plan.

MATALIN: You are hardly credible on calling somebody else a liar. Here's what else...

~~~

NOONAN: I think one of the key things about the debate is it's changed -- we will look back on it as an historic moment in this election. It upended things. This is what it upended. Barack Obama was supposed to be the sort of moderate centrist fellow, who looked at Mitt Romney, this extreme, strange fellow. By the time that debate was over, Mitt Romney seemed a completely moderate, centrist figure, who showed up as Mitt Romney the governor, not as Mitt Romney the candidate.

KRUGMAN: Except that everything he used to claim his centrism wasn't true, so this is a question, does that start to take its toll over the next few months.

~~~

STEPHANOPOULOS: And finally, will we see a different game from President Obama in the next debate?

GIBBS: Well, again, I think now that Barack Obama has had the opportunity to meet both Mitt Romneys, I don't doubt that he'll make some adjustments. I know he's looking forward to the next debate.

~~~

PEGGY NOONAN, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yeah, I thought the president barely showed. I thought "The New Yorker" cover -- the now famous "New Yorker" cover in which they had a candidate Romney at a podium looking at the empty chair where Mr. Obama would have been, captured it all. I am very curious about what the heck happened. Was it a strategic mistake on the part of the Obama campaign to play it a certain way and it didn't work or were there other factors involved? To me it is a mystery and one of those delicious things that will probably be answered in the big books about 2012 but, yes, the president was bad, Romney was good.



STEPHANOPOULOS: You want to jump right in here.

PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: This is classic Obama. He really, really wants to be the president of national unity. He's always wanted to be the reconciliation candidate and his instincts always in confrontations is to not go for the jugular but to go for the capillaries. He doesn't -- did the same thing in 2008. People forget just how weak his campaign was through August of 2008 when he just was refusing to make the obvious case against McCain and then he toughened up but also...

STEPHANOPOULOS: In the debate he toughed up in 2008.

KRUGMAN: Because he needs to be -- have his head against the wall.

So this was classic. This was him - this was the real Obama who does not like -- he really wants to be a president of the whole nation. And he somehow has a hard time wrapping his mind around the necessity to take a tougher line.

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I said on CNN I said I didn't want to come to this conclusion but sitting watching I have to come to it. He just didn't want to be there.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So it wasn't strategy?

CARVILLE: I don't think it was. We'll know the next debate. I mean he's obviously either got to be different or it's going to be pretty bad but just looked like to me he really didn't want to be there. His mind wasn't on it. He didn't want to engage. He just wanted to get through the 90 minutes. And I'm sure he's a very competitive guy. I hope -- knock on wood - we're going to see a different President Obama at Hofstra.

Romney AutoTune and Gangnam Style Parody

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Fact Checking the Big Bird Debacle ~ Mitt Needs Educational TV

After watching the debate last night and the Big Bird sympathy all over the internet, I realized the problem is that Mitt just doesn't know much about PBS and how it works.

Nearly every show has a corporate sponsor all ready, from children's shows to Masterpiece Theater, and guess what - they always have! So his new "plan" to defund PBS and make it commercial is redundant and stupid. Same thing with sister channel "Create" - they don't need advertisements because they get sponsors for the products they use for cooking and crafts, and those are displayed at the beginning of the shows. It's a win-win for the network and for the viewers who watch without commercials.

It's as if Romney just wants to strip PBS and NPR bare the way Bain Capital did all those companies before selling them off piece by piece. He's a scorched-earth kinda guy and he likes to prey on the weakest link - in this case, television that helps children, the elderly, shut-ins, and those who need more education.

What Mitt Romney doesn't understand about everything would fill volumes, but if you are going to attack a beloved childhood icons like Big Bird and Sesame Street, at least know what the hell you are talking about!


CNN Interview with PAULA KERGER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PBS (via telephone):

Joining us now by phone is Paula Kerger the CEO of PBS. Welcome, Paula.

PAULA KERGER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PBS (via telephone): Thank you for having me on Carol. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you.

COSTELLO: Oh we're excited to talk to you. I mean -- I mean, the Big Bird moment was funny but there's a serious issue here and that is funding for PBS. Were you surprised that Mitt Romney brought up Big Bird?

KERGER: I was. I mean with the enormous problems facing our country, the fact that we are the focus is just unbelievable to me, particularly given the fact that you know at another part of the debate, both candidates talked about the importance of education. We are America's biggest classroom. We touch children across the country in every home, whether -- whether you have books in your home or computer or not, almost everyone has a television set.

And so we're able to bring kids across the country, not just enjoyable programs but programs that really help them prepare and get ready for school with core curriculum and math and science and literacy. So the fact that we're in this debate, this is not about the budget. It has to be about politics.

COSTELLO: So -- so tell us how much money does Big Bird get from the government?

KERGER: Well, actually, Big Bird doesn't get money from the government. In fact, the money that comes from the government into the corporation for Public Broadcasting actually doesn't even come to PBS. It goes to our member stations.

And so that is actually what's at risk if, in fact, we are defunded because the money is going to stations across the country. In aggregate our money is 15 percent of our budget. But you know when you look at it station by station, there are some stations, particularly in rural parts of the country, that they are a part of the federal budget is 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent. Those stations will go off the air. And so for people sitting in communities across the country, that is at risk. That is the consequence if, in fact, our money is zeroed out.

We have been for the 40 years of our history a great public/private partnership and we take the federal money and we leverage that with resources that we -- that we raise.

COSTELLO: I want to talk a little bit about Jim Lehrer. Because there are critics this morning just annihilating his performance last night. What did you think of Jim Lehrer's performance?

KERGER: Well I think you know that it was a very complicated debate structure and so you know and I think that in -- and you saw that I think in the debate last night.

COSTELLO: Well, there was criticism even when Jim Lehrer was initially named to be a moderator. People said oh another old white guy. He's too old to be doing this we live in a new world, we don't need an old-fashioned journalist doing these things any longer.

KERGER: Again, I think it was -- it was a complicated structure for the debate. And -- but, I -- you know again, the fact that we were, you know, singled out early in the debate, to me was just -- it was -- it was stunning. It was just a stunning moment.

The Big Bird Debate

This debate wasn't what anyone really expected.

Poor Jim Lehrer of PBS lost control after about 5 minutes as Mitt Romney ran over him like a amroller.

I've seen Democrats on Twitter and the blogs going nuts over the fact that Romney was more forceful than Obama. The gang on MSNBC were overwhelmingly negative to the point of apoplexy, and I can see their point - Obama didn't bring up the war on women or immigration or any number of topics that affect millions of people. So the second-
guessing and armchair-quarterbacking will go on for days. Why didn't Obama zing Romney over the 47% video? There were many wasted opportunities.

But there's another way to look at this. We also saw was a more calm and gentlemanly President Obama watching Mitt Romney growl about the debate limits while bullying the moderator and lying through his teeth about all his previous positions.

The fact checkers are going to have a field day with this. And I can't imagine what the Tea Party base thought of Romney's sudden interest in the elderly and schoolteachers, not to mention Obamacare.

None of it really makes sense, and if Obama seemed stunned or distracted, he was probably wondering why he was having to debate such an insidious politician who will literally say anything to win. "Lying for the Lord" some call it. I just call it craven.




The most nonsensical point of the debate came early on when Romney said he would do away with PBS, the network they were on, and fire both Big Bird and Jim Lehrer. It just seemed to come out of nowhere and you could hear people in the audience gasping. I think it was supposed to be a Romney "zinger" but came out harshly and almost cruel, even more so when you realize that his grandchildren were in the audience. I wonder what they thought about Grandpa firing Big Bird?

In effect, Big Bird became the latest version of Clint Eastwood's Chair that usurped Romney at the Republican convention. Tumblr has gone crazy with pictures, of course, and Big Bird has his own twitter.






However, Obama did hold Romney's feet to the fire several times, for instance when Romney strongly denied that he has a $5 trillion tax cut in his plan, Obama gave him a smackdown:

Talking Points Memo

“I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut — I don’t have a tax cut of the scale you’re talking about,” Romney said. “My view is that we ought to proide tax relief to the middle class. … High income people are doing just fine in this economy, they’ll do fine whether you’re president or I am.”

But Obama countered that Romney has refused to specify which deductions and tax breaks he would eliminate to counterbalance the 20 percent rate cut, which Romney claims would not reduce overall revenues.

“Well, for 18 months he’s been running on this tax plan, and now five weeks before the election, he says his big bold idea is ‘never mind,’” Obama said. “And the fact is that if you are lowering the rates the way you describe, governor, then it is not possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only effect high-income individuals to avoid raising the deficit or burdening the middle class. It’s math — arithmetic.”

Romney also insisted that he never means to lower taxes for the wealthy. which seems out of character and disingenuous. And he made an unfortunate analogy that seemed to brand his own children as liars while labeling Obama a "boy" - a word that seems all too familiar as a racial dog whistle. At any rate, even if he meant to make Obama sound like a lying juvenile, that's still not good. So I don't think Romney won anything in this debate, and after people can get a transcript and see the effect on the polls they may change their verdict. I think Romney might get a slight bump in states where he is already winning, so who cares?

Mediaite

Romney went on to say that he would also not reduce the tax rates paid by the rich. “I know that you and your running mate keep saying that, and I know that’s a popular thing to say with some people, but it’s just not the case.”

“Look, I’ve got five boys,” Romney added. “I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true but just keep repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it. But that is not the case.”

Obama and Romney Point/Counterpoint

Obama and Romney both made speeches in the swing state of Ohio today.


Talking Points Memo ~ "Dueling Speeches"