2012 Presidential Debates

[klaasend]

Drinking Game

[numbersgirl]

For the first time in 4 years, I feel hopeful.  Mitt Romney was masterful.  I can't wait to see what msm has to say.   

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/romney-binders-full-women-remark-viral-article-1.1185341
Mitt Romney remark, 'binders full of women,' becomes Internet sensation after debate with Obama
'I went to a number of women’s groups and ... they brought us whole binders full of women,' former Gov. Romney said about his search to find more women candidates to work in his Massachusetts cabinet. The term went viral, spawning its own Twitter account and Facebook page.
October 17, 2012

On the Internet, the winner of Tuesday night’s presidential debate has been declared — the phrase “binders full of women.”

Mitt Romney’s sound bite quickly spawned its own Twitter account, Facebook page with more than 193,000 likes and countless online memes.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/instant-reaction-polls-show-narrow-obama-advantage-in-second-debate/
Instant Reaction Polls Show Narrow Obama Advantage in Second Debate
By NATE SILVER
October 17, 2012

[flutter1]

Drinking Game

Wish I had seen this before the debate -- it would have been a lot more amusing:)  If any industry should be doing well in this economy, it should be the alcohol producers!   

[Slogger]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/cnn-applauds-crowleys-debate-performance/2012/10/18/0e3427ee-1923-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_blog.html

The mood of CNN management regarding the affair is summed up in a Whitaker memo to CNN staffers that TMZ has posted :

“Let’s start with a big round of applause for Candy Crowley for a superb job under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. She and her team had to select and sequence questions in a matter of hours, and then she had to deal with the tricky format, the nervous questioners, the aggressive debaters, all while shutting out the pre-debate attempts to spin and intimidate her. She pulled it off masterfully.

The reviews on Candy’s performance have been overwhelmingly positive but Romney supporters are going after her on two points, no doubt because their man did not have as good a night as he had in Denver. On the legitimacy of Candy fact-checking Romney on Obama’s Rose Garden statement, it should be stressed that she was just stating a point of fact: Obama did talk about an act (or acts) of terror, no matter what you think he meant by that at the time. On why Obama got more time to speak, it should be noted that Candy and her commission producers tried to keep it even but that Obama went on longer largely because he speaks more slowly. We’re going to do a word count to see whether, as in Denver, Romney actually got more words in even if he talked for a shorter period of time.”

BBM

Are these folks on mind-numbing medications? (or, desperate)

[We need more information about the "Benghazi Betrayal."]

[flutter1]

CBS's Crawford Exposes Obama's Deception on Benghazi Attack
Published: 10/18/2012 7:58 AM ET

By Brad Wilmouth

Media Research CenterOn Wednesday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Jan Crawford devoted a full story to President Obama's deceptive claim that he called the Benghazi attack an "act of terror" early on, as she recounted the administration's initial reluctance to call it a terrorist attack. The CBS correspondent also implicated debate moderator and CNN anchor Candy Crowley in bolstering Obama's distortion.

After showing a clip of Obama and Romney clashing over whether Obama had used the words "act of terror" early on, Crawford showed a clip of what the President said the day after the Benghazi attack, but then exposed Obama's revisionism:

But with that statement, Mr. Obama didn't directly say the Libya attack qualified as one of those acts of terror. Earlier in his remarks, he seemed to suggest the attacks instead were triggered by an anti-Muslim video.

After another clip of Obama, she continued:

Top administration officials, including U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, delivered that message over the next five days. On Face the Nation, Rice suggested the Benghazi incident might have been triggered by demonstrations in Cairo over the film.

Then came a clip of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice:

It began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo.

Crawford then noted Crowley's willingness to accept Obama's explanation:

JAN CRAWFORD: And for two weeks the President declined to call it terrorism, but debate moderator Candy Crowley accepted the President's interpretation last night, telling Romney-

CANDY CROWLEY, DEBATE MODERATOR AND CNN ANCHOR: He did, in fact, sir, so let me, let me call it an act of terror- (INAUDIBLE)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?

CROWLEY: He did call it an act of terror.

Crawford relayed disappointment by Republicans that Romney did not challenge Crowley as the CBS correspondent concluded the report:

Now, many Republicans say they think that Romney missed a real opportunity last night to forcefully challenge Crowley and the President over what they say, Scott, is a new timeline that just doesn't square with the facts.   ::snipping2::

http://www.mrc.org/biasalerts/cbss-crawford-exposes-obamas-deception-benghazi-attack

Refreshing to see some real candor from MSM regarding one of their own.   

[Slogger]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/more-evidence-of-deception/2012/10/17/2a4a26c6-1870-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_blog.html

And finally, this Reuters report suggests the administration was entirely unprepared for the 9-11 attacks.:

In the months before the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, U.S. and allied intelligence agencies warned the White House and State Department repeatedly that the region was becoming an increasingly dangerous vortex for jihadist groups loosely linked or sympathetic to al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.

Despite those warnings, and bold public displays by Islamist militants around Benghazi, embassies in the region were advised to project a sense of calm and normalcy in the run-up to the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

“In short, it appears that the Obama administration didn’t take 9-11 all that seriously, and when tragedy hit, it went into spin mode. Now the president is caught in a tangle of contradictions. Not even Candy Crowley can get him out.”

[Slogger]

Mini-debate between the debates:

Romney Jokes at the Al Smith Dinner--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIHbe-aO6oI

Romney's not the cardboard candidate the press portrays.


For Obama's remarks, choose from right side group.

[Slogger]

http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2012/10/25/what_the_debates_taught_us/page/full/

So what did we learn from nearly five hours of verbal gymnastics?

The image of competency and composure that Romney projected in the first debate was not altered by the second and has been confirmed by the third.

Presidential debates really do matter, and a few hours of engagement with Romney may have cost Obama what he had tried to ensure through six months of attack-dog campaigning. And so in the last 10 days of the campaign, Obama will have to return to negative advertising -- a last hope to achieve through personal attacks what he couldn't accomplish through public persuasion.

If voters conclude that Obama is desperate to demonize Romney in a way he could not in the fair match of the public debates, then Obama will probably lose the election.