Knockout blow to romney that WASNT delivered.

[mgcgulfcoast]

I see it like this. Had the president engaged romney in the debate and refuted his lies and challenged every statement he made the race would be over. it would be over because 2 days later we had 7.8. instead, obama sat out the debate and now we have to fret and worry about every poll that comes out.

[lunatica]

1. It must be important to you to trash President Obama

What side are you on?

[samsingh]

9. i'm a huge liberal, Democrat and President Obama supporter

i'm disappointed that an opportunity to destroy the repugs was not used

[lunatica]

11. So you think it's necessary to trash President Obama?

I'm of the opinion that he needs our support, but that's just me.

[mgcgulfcoast]

12. tough love

if we all pat ourselves on the back and tell the president he did just great in the debate we are deluding ourselves. another debate like last weds will not be good.

[lunatica]

13. So you think he hasn't gotten it yet?

I suspect he's already thought about it without your continual nagging help.

[Life Long Dem]

30. President

That's President with a capitol "P". When referring to the President you use a capitol letter.

[theinquisitivechad]

51. That would be "capital letter".

If you are going to be a grammar/spelling Nazi, please get it right.

[Sherman A1]

54. Well Played!

and absolutely correct...........

[treestar]

37. You'e not raising a child here.

[Indpndnt]

53. Tough love? Oh, yeah, because the President reads your threads.

It wouldn't be to try to divide and demoralize those who do read here, though, right?

Of course, not.

[BlueCaliDem]

56. My thoughts exactly.

Too many trolls disguised as "concerned Democrats" infesting DU these days.

[2pooped2pop]

31. the poster can think that Obama had a bad moment

without losing their support of him. It's the poster's opinion and probably not wrong.

Please quit accusing everyone that has a different opinion than yours of being either on the other side, a troll, an Obama hater.

It is growing old.

[mgcgulfcoast]

34. you are right

we need a sense of urgency now, not complacency.

[lunatica]

36. What should I accuse them of?

We've got one month. Maybe you think trashing President Obama is helping get him re-elected. The whining Du Fear Brigade is what's getting old.

[2pooped2pop]

41. Just leave everyone alone.

What should I accuse them of?

Nothing, accuse them of nothing. They can voice opinions that do not match yours. You are pestering anyone who says anything that you don't agree with. Just maybe, leave them alone.

It is not trashing our president to say that he sucked at the first debate. It is a fact. We will still win. He will in my opinion soon be soaring in the polls and have a decisive victory.

I think for some of us, Obama failing to outguess what was coming from Rmoney leaves us to worry about what will happen if the election is stolen. Will he be able to come out like an attack dog then and defend his rights? Will he just be at a loss because he failed to see it coming.

I think these are legitimate concerns. I don't think he has lost even one serious voter. No one here is gonna back Rmoney just because Obama didn't do what we had hoped.

Nothing has really changed but people are very tired of others telling them what they can think, what they need to do, what they need to be concerned about, what they need to let go, and well, just about everything.

People are people and you may just want to quit trying to bully them into sitting down and shutting the fuck up.

[lunatica]

43. I left everyone alone for 5 days

When does it get old enough to move on? Some very positive things are happening and some DUers are ignoring it just so they can pitch their fits again and again. Constant enraged self pity is disgusting after a while. And you aren't going to bully me into shutting the fuck up either.

[2pooped2pop]

44. You are the only one I see pitching their fits again and again.

Really, just leave the other members alone.

[lunatica]

45. Or what?

[2pooped2pop]

46. or what?

seriously? Or what? Nothing. It was just a reasonable plea asking you to get off of the backs of the other posters. There is no or what?

The only "or what" I can even think of is that everyone may come to realize that your chosen name may be an accurate one.


But go on bash all of the other posters if that is really what you want to do. Just please don't claim how productive you are while they are all apparently blowing the entire election, or so you seem to think.

Or what? Lol No really, LOL

[lunatica]

47. You're order for me to shut up is now a reasonable plea?

Sure. I'll take your word for it.

[2pooped2pop]

60. I don't think I would have bothered to answer if that was the best

I could do.

By all means you do what you want. You go ahead and try to tell everyone who doesn't march in step how wrong they are.

[Sherman A1]

55. "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,

or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

[samsingh]

2. i completely agree

the repugs could have been taken out for the next 12 years at all levels of government. instead our President decided to have some kind of a bipolar episode (sorry i'm upset) and make comments like "we both share an approach to protecting social security" (in which fing world is that true?).

i'm very disappointed. i don't think there was any wider strategy. i think it was an overconfident screwup.

fortunately, it is not too late and Obama (clearly the better man for President) could still win. But an opportunity to truly help the nation for decades has been lost. I don't think we can win the house now.

[mgcgulfcoast]

6. on avg a president running for re-election gains

10-12 house seats for his party so i doubt the house was in play. the good news is the senate continues to improve for us.

[samsingh]

10. these r not avg times and congress approval is at an alltime low

[lunatica]

14. Why don't you run for President

You seem to know so much more than Obama.

[samsingh]

24. i'm glad to see loyalty to President Obama as i'm a lower supporter as well

[lunatica]

38. Then support him

We have one month left. I would think we would have his back instead of stabbing him in the back.

[samsingh]

61. i am supporting him. he could have helped our collective cause by at least memorizing

a moving two minute closing speech.

[mgcgulfcoast]

62. thats what hurts so bad

we all support him and wish like hell the debate hadnt happened.

[oswaldactedalone]

21. I agree

I love Obama but the screw-up by the Plouffe, Axelrod, and Obama team was massive. A huge opportunity lost. I just don't get how three such intelligent people who've done so many things well could have effed this thing up so badly.

[samsingh]

25. its infuriating

[treestar]

35. Your first sentence puts way too much into one debate

There are even two more debates and the VP debate plus another month of campaigning!

[WI_DEM]

3. Come on people--get over it. Nothing is going to change to go day after day obsessing

about the debate. What is done is done and it's time to move forward.

[Donkees]

4. Mitt refuted his own lies by surrendering his positions...

Mitt Romney: "just completely wrong"

[magical thyme]

5. there will be only one knockout blow to Romney, and that will be in November.

Sorry to inconvenience you with a few more weeks of fretting and worrying, but that's when the election is scheduled for, not Oct. 3.

Furthermore, Obama's strategy to use the debate to state his vision is working out for the best. The more money they waste on Romney's flailing campaign, the less money they have to spend downticket. And the longer the drip, drip, drip continues against Romney, the more he drags the rest of their ticket down with him.

Had the President attempted to refute Romney's deluge of lies, he would have:
1. lost his opportunity to state his case and his vision, and
2. walked right into the traps the Romney was attempting to lay for him.

Romney spent months preparing his "zingers" against Obama. His campaign was so filled with hubris, not only did they warn Obama of their strategy, they even warned that they were preparing Romney to "lure" Obama into their traps so that Romney could use his zingers.

Instead, Romney's big 47% apology was delivered to his base watching Hannity with 3M viewers instead of the debate with 67M+. And the most memorable thing coming out of the debate is Romney threatening to fire the debate's host and Big Bird. Fabulous outcome, imho.

[mgcgulfcoast]

7. if the outcome was fabulous

why dont the polls reflect that?

[Jackpine Radical]

15. The effects may not be instantaneous.

Kinda like ethylene glycol.

Tastes sweet, animals like it. An ounce will kill you, but it takes a while.

I don't know that the full impact of the debate has yet become clear. That will depend on how effective the Dems are at getting out the word about Willard's lies and maybe even pushing the Big Bird craze.

[magical thyme]

18. your analogy works best against Romney, I think

Romney's "win" was predetermined by 1. the fact that he is the challenger and 2. the Media's need for a horse race. It tasted sweet, but was filled with poison.

The headlines say far more than the polls right now. The day after "winning" the debate, aside from "Romney won debate," the headlines were full of fact checks and all about Romney's lies and Killing Big Bird.

The day after that, the headers were Big Bird and that the jobless rate fell to 7.8%, killing Romney's job rate soundbite. He and his staff weren't reported as changing from cheers to "silent and stone-faced" on the jobs news for no reason.

The day after that, the headlines were the jobless rate fell to 7.8% and the deficit dropped by $200B, killing his deficit soundbite.

There was a small bump in some polls; smaller than they expected or hoped for and already peaked. They were looking for a complete turnaround. They didn't get it, or anything close to it. And then the winds changed back and now they are facing headwinds again.

Obama has the wind at his back. It doesn't matter if he is buffeted here and there by a single small shift in the wind. He has the gale force wind at his back and Romney is going down.

[Jackpine Radical]

50. That's the way I meant it.

[Life Long Dem]

39. Romney might as well give some anti-freeze to Big Bird

He wants to kill Big Bird anyway.

[samsingh]

26. good points

[Stargazer09]

8. I understand your frustration

The president had a lot less time to prepare for the debate (he was actually running the country), and it's obvious that rmoney has been doing nothing except preparing for it.

However, there wasn't really any point in challenging romney on all of his lies. Romney wanted to be called a liar, so he could put the President "in his place," thus satisfying the racists in the GOP who absolutely can't stand the idea of a black man being President. Romney went into that debate ready to stir up drama, and President Obama didn't give him the openings he wanted.

The only reason the election seems close right now is because Romney has lots of big money donors trying to buy the election.

[oswaldactedalone]

23. All Obama would've had to do

is just say "etch a sketch" once as RobMe's avalanche of lies continued to mount. It was a softball zinger but Obama took a called strike instead. Just one zinger to look as if he was standing up to RobMe. He had many openings and took none.

[samsingh]

27. thats all i wanted

one comment, even in the closing. Something like:

My honorable opponent, with all due respect, keeps changing his position every week. From cancelling the ObamaCare program outright to salvaging the best parts of it. From cutting taxes to not cutting taxes. From...... Who really can say what he believes in or what he will believe in a month from now. Just look at the videos of diagramatically opposite comments he's made.

We can't afford to go back to the bush era policies that my opponent will bring us back to. We need to continue to fight hard to undo that damage as we have done in the Auto Sector .....

God bless America.

[Stargazer09]

32. I know

I wish he had done better, but debating is not one of his strengths. I'm sure he's working on his strategy for the next one, and we can only hope he can do better then.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. We Can't Put The Toothpaste Back In The Tube

President Obama's performance was analogous to a basketball team with a 3-0 lead in a best of seven seven series that lost game four and couldn't close out his opponent. Disappointing yes but how many teams in that position come back to win? Less than one in a hundred.

Bitterly, bitterly disappointing but the president still has the upper hand.

[JoePhilly]

17. Obama refuted many of Romney's lies ... Romney just repeated the lies, and then added more.

And we don't have to fret about the polls. The only aspect of the debate still being discussed are Mitt's endless lies.

Finally, Mitt has no realistic path to 270 EC votes.

[TroyD]

19. 'Mitt has no realistic path to 270 EC votes.'

You're probably right, but remember that we don't just want to risk scraping over 270. Going into this past week we had a chance to win 300+ EV. We want to keep it that way.

And we want to keep the Senate. So I hope people aren't saying it's no big deal if we take a hit of a few points since "we're going to win anyway".

A bare win will be used against Obama by the GOP & the media of lack of a mandate! We need the biggest win possible!

[LiberalFighter]

20. Was there enough time to refute all of the Rmoney lies? No

[Democat]

22. Obama reinforced the "Carter" meme

True or not, the Republicans are always trying to paint Obama and Democrats as "weak" like Carter.

Whoever in Obama's camp decided that he should act weak when that is exactly what the Republicans were hoping for, should be demoted.

Looking strong would have been a big victory.

[MjolnirTime]

29. You don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[Democat]

42. Which part - Republicans trying to make Democrats look weak, or Obama looking weak in the debate?

Many Democrats are fed up with leaders who won't put up a fight for us when we are fighting for them.

Maybe you missed the Bush years?

[MjolnirTime]

28. Let it go, dude. There's another debate in a week.

Rehashing this over and over is what a Repuke would do.

[treestar]

33. This was a boxing match?

Who knew? There's no way to knock out the opponent before any election takes place.

You'd be worried about the polls no matter what happened.

[sofa king]

40. I don't see it that way at all.

The original post here makes a dangerous and totally inaccurate assumption, which is that if President Obama had refuted the lies, more voters would have arrived at the truth.

Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true of right-wing voters. They don't have the thinking skills or untainted information from which to make an informed decision. That is exactly why they search for authority figures who claim to know all the answers--because they act on belief, not knowledge.

What those voters needed--millions of them--was for the President to lose his temper and call Mitt a liar. Once they heard the black Muslim terrorist call Mitt a liar, Mitt would have instantly become an authority figure who could be trusted--and they would have rolled out in greater numbers than we do and voted for every Republican in every downticket election, too.

As it is, they still don't trust Romney, and as long as they don't, Republican control of the House and their chance to grab the Senate are both lost to them.

There are scarcely enough undecided voters left to tip the issue and if we leave them alone the majority of them always break for the incumbent. The real undecided voters are the beer-bellied white male Christians who are too racist to vote for President Obama under any circumstances, but who might not vote at all if God doesn't give them a sign soon.

President Obama didn't give that to them, and he won't next time, either, because he knows that refuting the lies creates Republican voters, simple as that.

Don't you see? Mitt Romney is our bitch now. We're going to use him to hold onto the Senate and maybe even flip the House, so that President Obama doesn't just win his own reelection, he wins a Congress that he can work with to get something done. But Mitt is a slimy ball of toxic waste, and he must be handled with expertise, not thrown to the floor with the contempt he deserves.

[brindis_desala]

49. I wish our allies understood this

The media was always going to spin this for Mittwit.

[cheriemedium59]

48. Get over it already....

He is a human being after all, life just happens. I truly believe had he went after Romney it may have even been worse. The President would have been accused of being over confident and risked looking like Mr. know-it-all.

I say we keep up the fight, celebrate the new job numbers and know we have 'truth' on our side.

[Indpndnt]

52. You couldn't post this in one of the many threads about the debate? You had to start another one?

Oh, please.

Willard had one day of 'victory' and has been on his heels ever since.

Who's fretting over each and every poll? Not me. Stop watching the polls, if it bothers you so much. What's the point?

[taught_me_patience]

57. There is no way a knockout blow could have been delivered

Romney was too sharp and too prepared.

[11 Bravo]

58. "Now we have to fret and worry about every poll that comes out." Ummm, no, we don't.

Perhaps you feel that need, but I've been through way too many campaigns to feel a compulsion to "fret and worry" about every one of the scores of polls that will be out between now and Election Day.

[courseofhistory]

59. Unfortunately the problem is

the spin and the ignorance of many Americans who haven't followed all of Romney's flip flops. Obama did engage him on his tax cuts saying you've said blah, blah for many months leading up to this debate and now you're saying never mind. Also, Ben Stein said this morning on Fox that he thought Obama acted respectfully and presidential but many Americans want a boxing match and knock out no matter the truth and facts.

[cliffordu]

63. Ah, bullshit.