2012 Presidential Election (free for all edition)

I haven't seen it yet, it's on the DVR for tonight. However, I heard the moderation was absolutely horrible (for both sides). Will the same moderator do all of the debates or do they typically switch it up?

Sounds like Obama dropped this one pretty bad and Mitt came out strong. I have a feeling Ryan will own Biden pretty hard. I'm not a Biden fan at all in general. Seems weird and against net neutrality. Paul Ryan, although I don't agree with many of his stances, seems pretty charismatic and smart.

President Obama was off last night. No other way to put it. Romney won, Obama lost.

Two more debates to go and a jobs report tomorrow.

Being fiery doesn't win elections, making the voters feel you care about them and their lives does. Obama left one too many unused trump-cards at the table though I think Obama did a good job explaining his policies and positions vs Romney's.

There are 3 more quarters left in the game and the deck is still hot.

Watched the whole thing. I lean towards Romney but am not enamored of him for a lot of reasons. Personally, I find Obama unappealling and dislike his administration, Holder in particular. What they do with the law and the manner in which they treat the Constitution disturbs me (Not that I was of fan of GWB's selective use of the Constitution either). With that said, I voted for Obama last time. First democrat for whom I have ever voted.

With that said, nothing that happened last night struck me as game changing. Sure, Romney came out well but nothing that's going to change anything. I don't even think they framed the stark, underlying philosophical differences between them very well (i.e. - what is the role of gov?; How do you balance the interests/rights of the individual against the interests/rights of the group? What rights do those in the minority have to frustrate the will of the majority?). They touched upon the edges and Romney probably strengthened his base. As others have said, maybe a few undecided went to Romney, but I can't imagine any Obama supporter switching b/c of last night.

At the same time, there was practically nothing on social issues and, for all his "reach across the aisle" talk, Romney's "all the people" talk goes by the wayside on these issues. Sorry, I know too many people who would vote for Hitler if he supported their positions (whichever side it might be) on gay marriage and abortion. To my mind, Romney is on the losing side of these issues in terms of votes (i.e. regardless of how you feel as to the right and wrong of the underlying issue, more voters support Obama on these issues). On the economics, Romney just doesn't have the logical/rational imperative (i.e. his method is so clearly right that no reasonable person would disagree with it and Obama's is so clearly wrong no reasonable person would agree with it) to overcome the weight of the votes against him on the social issues.

Ultimately, I foresee myself casting a protest vote for the Libertarians this year. (I am a citizen of the Democratic Party sub-committee known as the State of Maryland so it really doesn't matter for whom I vote. The electoral votes are already in the bank).

Blech to it all.

If Romney comes out and said something along the lines - States have the right to decide if their State should allow gay marriage or the laws regarding abortions, THAT would be a game changer in my mind but I could be wrong.

If Romney comes out and said something along the lines - States have the right to decide if their State should allow gay marriage or the laws regarding abortions, THAT would be a game changer in my mind but I could be wrong.

He didn't say that in the debate but has said that in the past when asked about abortion. Gay marriage is currently a state issue with some passing laws for gay marriage and some states passing laws against.

I haven't seen it yet, it's on the DVR for tonight. However, I heard the moderation was absolutely horrible (for both sides). Will the same moderator do all of the debates or do they typically switch it up?

Sounds like Obama dropped this one pretty bad and Mitt came out strong. I have a feeling Ryan will own Biden pretty hard. I'm not a Biden fan at all in general. Seems weird and against net neutrality. Paul Ryan, although I don't agree with many of his stances, seems pretty charismatic and smart.

Actually I think the moderator did a great job. He let them debate and he did not become part of the dabate. I've seen to many debates where the moderator actually becomes part of the debate and that's not their job. Some say he let them go over their time but how do you just cut someone off in the middle of statement. Obama did have 4min more time but that's not bad when your talking about a 90 min debate. Some on the left are blaming the moderator for OBama's poor performance which is BS.

All Ryan need to do is shut up and let Biden do all the talking. He will hang himself.

I managed to yawn my way through most of it, wasn't impressed with either of them. I can see why they requested to keep the room so cold, they were both blowing hot air all night long. Mitt came off a little bitchy and defensive to me, Obama was too passive.

I put it up there so your buudy could read it,it shoots down everything he says.

I was talking about the Chinese Govt, not some random businessmen in Hong Kong. You never even touched on that so please do tell how you could of shot something down that you never even touched on.

First Jr you're kinda late to the party and I know a whle bunch of us don't want to re hash what was said "again" ...months ago,and yes I'm not a liberal ...go back,way back .

I made a comment about China. You came back with a Bain comment. If you dont want to discuss Bain, then dont bring it up. More importantly, dont bring it up then claim that I did. But if you want to bring up Bain again, I will discuss it.

Sorry, you're way off the mark. I won't address most of your post, but I will say this -- when I say people died, I wasn't referring to military. Where in the hell did you get that? I'm talking about pre-civil rights activists and those who fought for the right to vote in the 50s and 60s.

You talked about people dying for our freedoms. My mistake to assume a liberal would be talking about the people that actually died for our freedoms, the military. I dont even know why I ever expect a liberal to respect our military. I keep making that mistake over and over again.

Watching President Obama try to debate Romney is like watching Billy Cundiff try to kick from beyond 50 yards, or Reed Doughty try to cover Andre Johnson.

http://nimg.sulekha.com/sports/original700/andre-johnson-reed-doughty-2010-9-19-19-40-9.jpg

I was talking about the Chinese Govt, not some random businessmen in Hong Kong. You never even touched on that so please do tell how you could of shot something down that you never even touched on.



I made a comment about China. You came back with a Bain comment. If you dont want to discuss Bain, then dont bring it up. More importantly, dont bring it up then claim that I did. But if you want to bring up Bain again, I will discuss it.



You talked about people dying for our freedoms. My mistake to assume a liberal would be talking about the people that actually died for our freedoms, the military. I dont even know why I ever expect a liberal to respect our military. I keep making that mistake over and over again.

You seem to be carelessly reading and seeing what you want in my post. That, or you're being blatantly dishonest. The word "freedom" never appeared in my post and neither did the military's role in protecting said freedoms. In fact, you dragged the military into this. Not once did I make any inference to our men and women in uniform.

On top of your misguided response, you seem to equate being liberal with a disdain for our military. I'll just say this, we have liberals and conservatives who are members of this forum that have served proudly in our nation's armed forces. Our politics may differ, but we're all patriots nonetheless.

But let me clarify my original post. From 1955-1968, particularly in the segregated south, many civil rights activists were martyred as they petitioned gov't to grant them voting rights. The Women's Suffrage Movement in the late 19th century and early 20th century, which culminated in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment; "The United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. "

So yes, I stand by my original post. Men and women have fought, suffered, and many have died for the right to vote in this country. I don't see what's controversial about that.