The general consensus about the debate, if we are to believe the veins in Chris Matthew's forehead or Ed Schultz' neck, is that Mitt Romney won and.. If you missed the debate itself... President Obama blew a snot on his jacket and never wiped it off because he was too busy shuffling through his papers like Mitch Taylor in Real Genius. At least that was the immediate reaction.... From 9 people...many of us thought that while the president didn't lambast Romney like we hoped, he had obviously decided on a calmer, patient approach. In the days that followed I have heard caller after caller on Steph's show, Bill Press, Ed Schultz etc... State that they didn't have a problem with the president's performance only to be talked out of that belief by a host defending their own gut reaction. On Sirius, I heard a host actually berate a caller, who said that truth was more important to him than volume and slickness, as having a "minority opinion" as if that was something to be ashamed of. Last time I checked, we in the left prized diversity of opinion.
Cut to: a week later and while the polls tightened around the 2 days after the debate, better than expected jobs numbers, Mitt's ridiculous attack on Big Bird as a way to patch the titanic sized whole in the budget that he proposes (along with his continued assertion that he will "ask if we should borrow money from China to pay for".. Things like public Televison - when China holds only 8% of our debt - the question should be - is it worth borrowing from the Social Security trust fund to pay for it?... But I digress) the polls are moving back towards Obama and Mitt's reversals are only comforting to his anti-Obama base and the Neo-cons like John Bolton and his ilk who not only approve of Lying as a tactic.. Seem to insist on it. Apparently they don't think calling for all out war with Iran would be popular.. So Romney can just strut around it GWB style. But make no mistake about it, War with Iran is the plan.
The main thought I want to convey to my media friends is this, be careful how you use the word "won" in terms of the debate. If you want to say he "dominated" the debate or that he "stole the spotlight" or even "upstaged the president" you have a case to make as far as presentation in a very superficial sense... But if you say he won you are also saying two other things...
1) you believe people are fundamentally stupid
2)Telling the truth is optional to YOU
For the record..
1) I don't believe that
And 2) it isn't
Peace and be wild
Hal
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