Debatable for a long time
Tonight’s the first Romney-Obama debate, and I’ll be watching.
My prediction: Unless Mitt Romney falls on his face so hard that he shatters every bone in his physiognomy — or unless Clint Eastwood wanders onto the stage — the press is going to anoint this as a win for him. Why? Because they want the game to go on. Look at all the coverage of polls; to focus on polls is to focus on the horse race, and not on the real need for political impact. Today I read a front page story in the Wall Street Journal about how Obama and Romney are pretty much tied. How many people in this poll are likely to vote? 832. That’s right, 1000 people were polled, and 832 of them are likely voters. 832 people who were almost assuredly influenced by the very fact that they were being surveyed, as essentially proved by Heisenberg.
One thing I’ll be looking for is how well Mitt Romney does with on-the-job training. Sure, Obama is now experienced at being President. But Mitt Romney is far more experienced at running for President — he’s been running for President for six years. (And, seemingly, getting worse at it.)
October 4th, 2012 at 2:17 am
Damn, George, you pegged it!
And don’t forget to remember MY platform: Tax-free tuition assistance for College Girls who go out with old bald guys. That’s my promise, abd I hope I can count on your vote.
October 4th, 2012 at 2:18 am
Don’t know why I called you George. It was a long night….
October 4th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
They both were less than inspiring but Obama seemed to put real effort into his suckitude. How the 47 percent quote wasn’t thrown in Romney’s face AT ALL is just a mystery for the ages.
October 5th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
After the debates, the network I was watching had commentators. One of the Republicans seemed to be doing damage control. Obama had challenged Romney to be specific about his vague plans. The commentator said that Mitt had achieved his goals, including specificity, even though he never responded to Obama’s request for details.
Also, I was surprised that Romney mentioned giving the freedom to choose schools. I have reservations about the voucher plan. Not a big fan of the public schools either but still worry about going to vouchers. I have grandchildren now.
October 16th, 2012 at 7:09 pm
LATE ENTRY ONE WEEK LATER: This is a bit of a more even playing field now, the PRESIDENT got his shot at showing that the Presidency is MORE familiar to him, than it is to Rmoney. We’ll see how all this pans out but I believe it shows on Mitt’s face that he knows how hard it is to knock the guy who’s in there out of the box. The only one in my lifetime is Bush 41, and that’s only because he didn’t have the energy to keep up with Uncle Bill. Even Lincoln managed to get back in DURING the Civil War. LBJ’s non-existant 2nd term does not count because that was 1968, and Carter was well, Carter.
I hate inside Baseball, but we don’t live in a true meritocracy, it continues to make sense that the President has history on his side. Our 21st Century version of William Jennings Bryan just might have to keep on running, and succeed at being the longest lived Presidential candidate of all time. Bless his pea-pickin’ heart.
October 17th, 2012 at 4:28 am
Obstacle is Mittens is such type of a pathological liar that nothing he promises means a thing…he has zero principles and flip-flops more rapid than a whirling dervish.
October 18th, 2012 at 3:58 am
Maybe Obama didn’t bring 47% in first debate because he didn’t want his comments about bitter clingers thrown back in his face. I notice he didn’t bring it up until his ending statement when Romney couldn’t respond. Coward.
October 18th, 2012 at 8:17 am
That’s not cowardice — that’s strategy. This isn’t a knitting circle. If what Romney says about his business success is true, he ought to know better. And he would have used Obama’s line about bitter people clinging to their guns if he thought it would help; polling show that most people like Obama, so he’s been reluctant to cross that line. His most compelling argument has been, essentially, that Obama is a nice person, but a failed president. There’s a reason he’s stuck to that.