Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 11:00 pm:

---

quote:

Chuck Todd Declares Romney the Winner. CHUCK TODD! -- Tony Lee

NBC's Chuck Todd concedes Romney came across as someone who knew his stuff and the president's proposals and refudiates Obama advisers who claimed Romney did not have enough specifics.

Todd said Romney looked like a "credible alternative" and it was a "big night" for him.

He said Obama advisers will have to go back to the drawing board.



CNN Panel Declares Romney Winner By Knockout

From Carville to Begala to Borger -- Romney was declared not only the winner but the overwhelming winner of tonight's debate.



MSNBC Hosts Both Devastated and Angry

MSNBC Crew can't even spin this loss. Currently entering second stage of grief.

Chris Matthews screams: "What's Romney doing? He's winning!"



Bill Maher Finally Figured Out Obama Needs a Teleprompter

@billmaher: i can't believe i'm saying this, but Obama looks like he DOES need a teleprompter

Welcome aboard The Emperor Has No CLothes Express!



Even David Gregory Can't Spin Obama's Debate Drubbing

Gregory's latest tweet: One hour in Romney is far more energetic and aggressive than the President.

I've been arguing for days that the media will spin this as a win for Obama no matter what, but we're 25 minutes from the debate being over and he's not giving them anything to work with.

I'm waiting for David Axelrod to run in the ring, throw a towel, and demand the bloodbath be stopped.



Obama Media Fans Now Blaming Lehrer for Obama Debate Drubbing

CNN's Roland Smith: I can already tell when this debate is over I'm going to go off on Jim Lehrer and these questions! #EssenceDebate

Bill Maher: Hey Lehrer, you're the ••••••• ref, stop letting the Mittbot bully you - he can't fire YOU

If you need me, I'll be popping the popcorn.



Ben Smith Over-Compensates For Years of BenSmithing By Declaring Romney Debate Winner in First Five Minutes

BenSmither Ben Smith is the biggest joke in journalism.



Andrew Sullivan Declares Obama Debate Performance a 'Calamity'

Poor Sully, can't even spin this one: This is a rolling calamity for Obama. He's boring, abstract, and less human-seeming than Romney!

I can't even follow him half the time. Either exhausted, over-briefed ... or just flailing. He's throwing debate away.

Finally, Sully and I agree.



Huffington Post Writer Already Making Excuses For Obama's Epic Debate Fail

Huffington Post scribe Joshua Hersh: Syria did sort of start a war with Turkey today, so that might have pulled Obama away from debate prep a bit.

Romney is owning President FailureTeleprompter.



Jim Lehrer Throws Obama a Life Raft

"Mr President you are saying..."

Yep, time to yank the tax breaks.

---

Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2012 - 05:36 am:

---

quote:

Romney Wins Big in First Debate
Joel B. Pollak, Oct 3, 2012

Halfway through, they should have stopped the fight.

Gov. Mitt Romney eviscerated a staggering and bewildered President Barack Obama tonight in one of the most lopsided presidential debates in American history. Throughout the debate, which focused on domestic policy, Obama looked shaken, rarely looking at the camera, reciting old talking points and filibustering as Romney gave a master class at the University of Denver.

The debate had been described as a must-win for Romney--and he delivered. Using a rapid-fire style that had not been seen even in the numerous Republican primary debates, he bobbed and weaved through Obama’s attacks and moderator Jim Lehrer’s interjections, launching bullet-point policies that displayed not just a familiarity with the wonkish details but a focus on the travails of ordinary people he had met on the trail.

Again and again, Romney returned to his theme: creating jobs. He did--as expected--take Obama to task for misrepresenting his policies, principally Romney's tax policy, which Obama referred to, even after being corrected, as a $5 trillion tax cut. But Reomnyexceeded expectations in focusing on the end result he wished to attain--and which, he said, the president wished to sacrifice: creating jobs for a struggling American workforce.

Obama could not have pleased anyone except those playing drinking games at home, with familiar references to corporate jets (drink!), job training programs (drink!), and tax cuts for shipping jobs overseas (drink!). And for these tired suggestions, most of which appeared in Obama’s talking points in 2008, Romney reminded the president that he had four years in which to enact his policies, to which the president could only nod.

Romney came armed with some memorable one-liners. He called Obama’s economic policy “trickle-down government.” He called the decline in household incomes under the Obama administration the “economy tax.” And--most memorably--he attacked Obama’s green energy subsidies, including Solyndra, Fisker, Tesla, and other failures: “You don’t just pick the winners and losers. You pick the losers.” Obama had nothing in response.

Obama refused--as he has done throughout the campaign--to adopt the stance of the incumbent, and tried to fight as the insurgent challenger, as if his own record were not up for debate. But Romney refused to let him escape--and soon Obama began making several blunders, stating at one point that he had conversations with Americans about their health care “four years ago”--i.e. not since he has taken office. He even turned his frustration upon moderator Jim Lehrer at one point, accusing him of interrupting him.

Lehrer, for his part, was quicker to pounce on Romney with follow-up questions, giving Obama a wider berth. Yet Romney did not let Lehrer divert him from his message or cut off his defenses. He even teased the moderator with his proposal to cut funding from PBS, among other government programs. It was a fearless and clarifying performance.

On health care--which might have been Romney’s weakest issue--Romney argued for the repeal of Obamacare as the best Tea Partier might have done, attacking the board that the law sets up to ration care as a cost control mechanism. The best that Obama could do was remind voters--as if they did not already know--that Romney had passed a health insurance law in Massachusetts. He had to concede one of the best arguments Romney offered--that Obamacare has actually increased the cost of insurance so far.

Romney missed a few--very few--opportunities, taking a long time to defend his tax policy by pointing out that it would be revenue-neutral because it would encourage economic growth. And Obama did put a few points on the board, reminding viewers (twice) of his popular Race to the Top education program, and that he had amassed experience as commander-in-chief with which Romney cannot (yet) compete.

Yet Obama seemed uneasy simply to have a worthy opponent on the other side of the stage. He could not even articulate his oft-repeated philosophy of government in the most basic terms, borrowing from the likes of Barney Frank in describing government as “the things we do together.” Romney gave a straight answer: that the role of government is simply to defend the principles of the Constitution and the founding documents, without replacing the roles of individuals and communities in helping the less fortunate.

Source, and read more: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/10/03 /Romney-Wins-Big-in-First-Debate

---

Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2012 - 05:49 am:

---

quote:

Jim Lehrer is Biggest Loser in Denver Debate
Dan Gainor, Oct 3, 2012

The only consolation President Barack Obama had for his poor showing during Wednesday’s debate was that moderator Jim Lehrer did even worse. Lehrer, executive editor of “PBS Newshour,”showed little ability to control the give-and-take and keep candidates to time. He even had to handle a direct attack on PBS funding.

Former New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller summed up the Lehrer criticism, giving him a D grade and calling him “road kill” in his Twitter analysis of the debate.

...To make matters worse, Romney used a deficit discussion to take a direct attack at PBS, scoring points with conservatives by making sport of the moderator. “I’m sorry Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS.” While Romney admitted he liked Big Bird and “I like you, too,” it was a masterful jab.

Source, and read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/03/lehrers- road-kill-showing-makes-obamas-weak-debate-perform ance-look-good/?intcmp=trending

---