Clinching - How Romney survived the first presidential debate

[Xipe Totec]

"The goal of clinching in boxing is to tie up your opponent. Basically you want to capture both of his arms under yours - much like giving him a big bear hug that effectively prevents him from lifting his arms and punching. Don't think you are going to be able to do this for long. In boxing, you can't tie up your opponent and the referee will break you apart, but it can be enough of a break if you are getting pummeled and need to stop the onslaught."

http://how-to-box.com/content/boxing-tip-11-clinching

Like a boxer being pummeled, Romney moved so close to the President's political position so that Obama couldn't take a swing at him and just stood there waiting for the referee (the moderator) to break the clinch.

"Clinching in a boxing match is never allowed for long, but you can prolong it by looking busy in the clinch. If one of the boxers has an arm free and is fighting, the referee may not break it up. This takes a tremendous amount of energy and nullifies the short rest break you are attempting to achieve in the clinch, but if you are facing an opponent that likes to tie you up, then feed it to him. Get one arm free and slam it into his liver and side as he clinches you.

That is what Biden did to Ryan when he tried to pull the same trick.


Thoughts?

[Ian David]

1. What Romney did is called The Gish Gallop, or Spreading

Gish Gallop

The Gish Gallop, named after creationist Duane Gish, is the debating technique of drowning the opponent in such a torrent of half-truths, lies, and straw-man arguments that the opponent cannot possibly answer every falsehood in real time. The term was coined by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. Sam Harris describes the technique as "starting 10 fires in 10 minutes"

The formal debating jargon term for this is spreading. You can hear some mindboggling examples here. It arose as a way to throw as much rubbish into five minutes as possible. In response, some debate judges now limit number of arguments as well as time. However, in places where debating judges aren't there to call bullshit on the practice, like the internet, such techniques are remarkably common.

More:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop

But the sudden move to the center does sound a lot like clinching.

[woolldog]

2. It was a Gish-clinch

with a lot of chuztpa

[TomClash]

3. Hit him on the break

If there is no ref, there is no foul.

The break is when the ref separates the fighters, but before they start boxing again.

If you watch Ali's fights, he pushed off and used his left jab to ward off clinchers and then delivered a straight right when he saw an opening. He had a crisp, fast right.

The President could use a crisp, fast right. He was slow and sluggish last time.