I just finished watching the debate again on C-Span

[ArnoldLayne]

just now. I still don't see where Romney beat Obama that bad or at all to be honest. They both looked good and at the end both families seemed nice and polite a little banter. I dont get it what is the big deal?

[hrmjustin]

1. He did not beat him.Obama let too many things slide.

[bluestate10]

10. You got it right. Romney was hanging on every Obama word, ready to pounce.

President Obama, on the other hand, went on long seemingly unrelated talking points when it was his time to speak, instead of de-constructing what Romney had just spoken. President Obama let to many slow pitches cross the plate for strikes.

[hrmjustin]

13. took me a bit to figure it out.

[CJCRANE]

2. Sometimes you've just got to trust your own eyes and ears...

the pundits and nattering nabobs will make you believe the sky is green if you let them.

[treestar]

15. +1

People have let the pundits create this whole thing.

[DearAbby]

18. Media Blah...since when is lying positive point in Debate?

When the Media readily handed victory to Romney, even though they all said he flip flopped. Since when is that a value we seek in a President?...at that moment I knew, they were playing us like fools, we are rooting for the home team in the SUPERBOWL...they have now made the Presidential debates into a BEAUTY CONTEST....I decided who won, and in MY RULES liars are not to be award the match...get my drift?

[treestar]

19. I agree, if they are going to use words like "win" and "lose"

they should have at least some type of score card for which style would only be a part of it. If they thought Rmoney's hyped up ramblings sounded good they could give him points for that but subtract for the inaccurate statement and the fallacies, such as the Gish Gallop.

[Siwsan]

3. I think expectations were set too high for President Obama, and way too low for Willard

And, although we all know that Willard is a liar, I don't think anyone expected Willard to be such an oddly animated and enthusiastic liar. Nor did they expect the moderator to be so seemingly inept.

I do anticipate a very different vibe at the next debate.

[ArnoldLayne]

4. I agree Romney did better than I thought but

yeah so what. I wonder how the Lincoln-Douglas debates would be critiqued now.

[shraby]

5. I don't believe the Lincoln-Douglas debates were full of outright lies like Romney's

half of this one was. In no way, shape or form can Romney be declared the winner of anything considering the number of lies he spewed.

[ArnoldLayne]

6. Who did win the Lincoln-Douglas debates? I am

a big Civil War fanatic especially Gettysburg. But dont know much about those debates.

[bluestate10]

12. Lincoln was credited with winning.

But during that time, debates were about policy and were substantial events that attracted the educated and learned. The debate on Wednesday had Romney lying his ass off and President Obama mentally somewhere else.

[rock]

7. The definition for "debate" is the problem

Keep in mind the two meanings of "debate" and there should be no problem:
a) rational discourse in a formal contest;
b) shit slinging fight.
Since one candidate did one thing and the other candidate did the other it's easy to tell who won what!

P.S. the second definition in the dictionary is marked obsolete (and prettied up).

[ArnoldLayne]

8. But who one the Lincoln-Douglas debates in the end?

[ladjf]

9. As I watched the debate, the main thing that occurred to me was that Romney was lying and

that his demeanor was that of an unstable maniac while Obama maintained dignity and calmness. I felt that Romney was burying himself under a pile of lies and bad manners.
While I wasn't too impressed with Obama's unwillingness to be more blunt, I wasn't too worried about the debate outcome.

Then, when it was over, the media pundit from all sides starting ranting and raving about what a terrible job Obama had done, I was very surprised but not convinced that Romney, by virtue of lying about almost everything had won the debate.

Well, days have passed and I understand that my views appear to be in the minority. I, like all other Democratic supporters just hope that this election is more about Party policy than
debate impressions.

[brush]

11. Agreed

I watched it at a watch party and we all felt the way you did about the President. We all thought Romney had spun a few whoppers though. When the howling, Obama bashing, and Romney praising commenced on MSNBC we were all aghast at how over-the-top they all were except O'Donnell, Bashir and Sharpton. It was disgusting, quite frankly. We thought for a minute we were watching FOX. Romney lied all night and yet they were totally bashing the President and not calling out Romney. I think it was groupthink for them and that contributed to groupthink from many viewers.

[treestar]

14. The pundits decided to try to help create a horse race

That's the only explanation for it.

[tblue37]

16. Is there a link to an online version of the debate on CSPAN? I couldn't find one. nt

[wishlist]

17. I agree, Romney lost points with me on his demeanor, dishonesty

I had the same impression as you and was shocked by the extreme reactions by the pundits saying how great Romney did and how poorly Obama had done. I thought Obama was dignified and respectful, giving thoughtful intelligent explanations and good rebuttals on the issues of tax policy and Medicare, health care and Medicaid. But his closing statement was hesitant and weak-that was his greatest missed opportunity

Romney was bullying, hyper, and rude without regard for the facts and talked a lot of glib gobblygook nonsense. He took advantage of having the last closing statement to forcefully repeat his lies knowing that Obama could not respond.

At least Obama has responded strongly in his speeches since the debate and Romney's reputation as a lying flipflopper has only grown.