Live blogging the first Presidential Debate

[blizz01]

The only thing I know for sure is that Mitt lost the yellow bird vote tonight....

[fsquid]

The only thing I know for sure is that Mitt lost the yellow bird vote tonight....

no doubt

[buckethead]

Sorry everyone. I should have come here to share a link to democracynow.org

They hosted the 'other' candidates in a format which essentially 'paused' the debates between the Wall Street candidates and allowed Jill Stein (Green Party) and Rocky Anderson (Justice party) to participate.

(Gary Johnson {Libertarian Party} was invited as well, but was 'unable' to attend)

Rocky was polished, more so than Jill, but she rocked my world.  I love Jill Stein.

[buckethead]

Here's my FB attempt at live blogging. Glaring misspellings, grammatical errors, and displays of ignorance included

How'd I do?

OMGeesus H Crisco! The pregame show is fooking excruciating.
3 hours ago · Like · 1

The link above is hosting a debate where the Wall Street candidates square off, then there will be a pause while Jill Stein (Green Party) and Rocky Anderson (Justice Party) are allowed to respond. Gary Johnson was invited, but is 'unable to attend'. (Sadly)
2 hours ago · Like

Clearly this will be longer than the MSM 'debate, but I relish the opportunity to see Jill Stein respond to Barry and Mittens... If only it were going to be direct.
2 hours ago · Like

President Obama seems quite nervous.
2 hours ago · Like

I want to bitchslap Mittens. Does that make me evil?
2 hours ago · Like

Mitt's gonna make the US Energy Independent!!!! YIPEE!!!
2 hours ago · Like

Is this thing on?
2 hours ago · Like

Jill Stein... I would wax that ass... Oopsie... I digress
2 hours ago · Like

C'mon, Jill.. don't be nervous. We don't care what they are gonna do...uh oh... she's talking about what she would do... (Platitudally)
2 hours ago · Like

Rocky is polished.
2 hours ago · Like

Rocky's take + Obama Bad.... It's convincing but "Im not Obama" is Romney's campaign slogan. Uh oh... repeal Nafta et al... now he's talinking..
2 hours ago · Like

O says reform education. (platitude) uh oh... hire teachers... a million did he just say?
2 hours ago · Like

Close loopholes for offshoring...
2 hours ago · Like

Drill baby drill + green energy.
2 hours ago · Like

Those are Your tax cuts now, Mr President... You signed the extension
2 hours ago · Like

ROmney with a decent rebuttal... not believeable but tactically sound. regulation mantra.... training... taxation... Lower taxes... blah blah blahhhhh.. energy: Romney, so far is pwning Obama.
2 hours ago · Like

No mention of Monetary policy or the role of the FRB... Shocker!
2 hours ago · Like

Someone really needs to explain to these guys that correlation is not necessarily causation.
2 hours ago · Like

Romney namedrops Bolles~Simpson.
2 hours ago · Like

Obama just took credit (by clinton proxy) for the tech bubble and blamed GWB for the housing bubble. Fed actions. Deliberate actions as well. Unntended consequences, but manufactured bubbles nevertheless
2 hours ago · Like

Jill Stein... Why I oughtta... n/m... smart lady. Calmed down and truly taking a substantive stand for the non wealthy. She sounds like a radical who believes people should be able to make enough to eat. Crazy.☼
2 hours ago · Like

Wars for oil? Is she a muslim?
2 hours ago · Like

Rocky just flashed his little Keynes. He's gonna need to cover that thing up.
2 hours ago · Like

Rocky is losing me.
2 hours ago · Like

Romney with the "grow the economy to pay off the defict" mantra... He's jumping the GWB shark. Uh oh... here's something.... Obama = Bad... theres a weak effort.
2 hours ago · Like

O--- Bush did it. Wars... Financial collapse.... No child left with his/her behind... waste/fraud/unlcedaddys///
2 hours ago · Like

Deficit Reduction Plan? It's on the website?
2 hours ago · Like

Youignored Bolles Simpson, Mr Obama.
2 hours ago · Like

Where the fuck is Ron Paul?
2 hours ago · Like

AAAannnd rocky anderson has lost me with stats manipulation.
2 hours ago · Like

Welp... he just piqued my interst again by suggestion the "rich war cheerleaders should pay for these wars as they happen" Mild imo
about an hour ago · Like

Why am I typing this? Blog practicing? Am I insane?
about an hour ago · Like

Does anyone else think Jill Stein is hot? sorry ... sexist. She is spot on, though. Wall street bailouts!!!! HELLLO!!!!!
about an hour ago · Like

Bail out student loans? Wouldn't it just be cheaper to fund higher education? Even a retard like me might have gone to college.
about an hour ago · Like

Screw the student loans.
about an hour ago · Like

Romney is a fooking liar. He suggested Prez should have grabbed Bolles Simpson... but said he did not support it... he has "his own plan"?
about an hour ago · Like

Obama is a tax raiser? Romney is a duche how the hell do you spell duscheue?
about an hour ago · Like

You get more revenue by killing babies
about an hour ago · Like

Spaniards are frikkin awesome, Mr Romney
about an hour ago · Edited · Like

4 billion? Oil tax subsidies? Why didn't you say BP mr prsident?
about an hour ago · Like

At least he is looking more composed now.
about an hour ago · Like

ObamneyCare debate... smoke em if you got em... this is a good time to make a sandwich
about an hour ago · Like

YAAAAAAWWWWWWNNNNN
about an hour ago · Like

PIGPACT
about an hour ago · Like

Private Insurers Guaranteed Profits ACT.
about an hour ago · Like

We need the health insurance and health care sectors milking a larger share of GDP. What a fooking bunch of nonsense.
about an hour ago · Like

Watch out for that drone, Mr Lehrer!
about an hour ago · Like

Romney has no leg to stand upon regarding ObamaCare
about an hour ago · Like

Newsflash: Medical rationing is not only coming, it's been here for years. (HMO PPO Medicare parts A/B/C)
about an hour ago · Like

Obama just bitchslapped Romney with his own words
about an hour ago · Like

I'm not sure this is very theraputic for me. I'm gonna need some medication
about an hour ago · Like

Obama said romneys replace" is not specific. Romney should counter: we need to pass the bill so we can find out what's in it... That would be NICE!!!
about an hour ago · Like

okiedokie. I hate them both.
about an hour ago · Like

But I'd like for either or both to take me to dinner!
about an hour ago · Like

100,000 teachers... not a million. I remember some great teachers.... and some real duds.
about an hour ago · Like

Losing altitude...
about an hour ago · Like

I don't feel any more informed for having watched this. Has anyone read a single word of the drivel I typed?
about an hour ago · Like

Loans for students are criminal. You are both fucking twits
about an hour ago · Like

Fund education, end wars of aggression. Vote for buckethead.
about an hour ago · Like

Romney with a zinger. It was funny. Funny doesn't serve Romney
about an hour ago · Like

What about HFTs? Hedgies? WTF? Dodd Frank my asnipple
about an hour ago · Like

Assnipple. sorry for the misspell.
about an hour ago · Like

Jill stein is hammering Obama for dodd frank.. HOLY SHIT SHES TALKING ABOUT CLINTON AND RUBIN?SUMMERS GLASS STEAGALL> GOOD GOD I"M VOTING FOR JILL STEIN!!!!!!
about an hour ago · Like

Public banks... SHe is a badass. Public control of monetary policy. You can't sway me, Rocky.... Well... talking CDS/AIG, higher capiytal requirements... all good, but Jill just did the same, and named frikkin names. She slayed. She took no prisoners. Jill wins
about an hour ago · Like

Jill is ripping PIGPACT... errrr ACA... she says it's neither affordable nor caring. Her home state is MA incidentally. Okay... I love this candidate.
about an hour ago · Lik

Romney just used Tip O'Neal and Reagan as examples of political coopereation? THE LARGEST EXPANSION OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC DEBT E.V.E.R.
51 minutes ago · Like

My apologies to Ms STein for my earlier sexist remarks. Not that she's not hot, but perhaps it was inappropriate. Sorry about that.
49 minutes ago · Like

Jill just cited Finland as the model to follow for education after she called "race to the top" a privatization scam. She is sharp.
28 minutes ago · Like

[finehoe]

I love Jill Stein.

I like her too:  http://www.jillstein.org/issues

[Pinky]

I'm a bit baffled watching the CNN recap of the debate this morning; they're calling it a stunning victory for Mitt Romney??  Hello?!?  I mean, I know that I'm a bit biased, but I don't know how anybody could call last night's performance a victory for Mitt.  He seemed awkward and stiff, had to wipe his sweaty upper lip repeatedly, bullied Jim Lehrer over and over.  He still hasn't offered any specifics on his multitude of "Plans", and was allowed by Obama to state absurdities like how his 20% across the board tax cuts "won't affect the deficit".. 

I must have watched a different debate than the Pundits did.  I saw it as even at best, and only because Obama didn't hammer Romney on his bullshit. 

[fsquid]

even liberal pundits are saying that Mitt looked more polished and that the President looked like he was playing "not to lose".  Probably your bias as I don't think I've seen a one-sided debate since the second one between Clinton and Bush.

Obama can be a great debater as we saw in '08, I imagine that we will see him be much more aggressive in two weeks.

[Bridges]

Obama looked tired and one got the feeling that whatever was going on in the secret world of being president, that his mind was partially elsewhere last night-

Exactly what I thought too.  That's why I spent the first 30 minutes of the debate under my dining room table awaiting the nuclear attack that Obama had just been told about. 

[finehoe]

Obama looked tired and one got the feeling that whatever was going on in the secret world of being president, that his mind was partially elsewhere last night-

Exactly what I thought too.  That's why I spent the first 30 minutes of the debate under my dining room table awaiting the nuclear attack that Obama had just been told about.

Turkey and Syria. Turkey responds to a Syrian attack that killed civilians by bombing Syria hours before the debate. NATO is holding emergency meetings. The specter of real regional war looms. The President doesn't exist in a bubble - I'd be a little distracted as well.

[Bridges]

Turkey and Syria. Turkey responds to a Syrian attack that killed civilians by bombing Syria hours before the debate. NATO is holding emergency meetings. The specter of real regional war looms. The President doesn't exist in a bubble - I'd be a little distracted as well.

Of course.  But the President is required to multi-task with a multitude of large problems and small problems.  And he/she must be able to adjust to the moment at hand.  McCain took a lot of flack for suspending his campaign in 2008 because of that.

[finehoe]

Of course.  But the President is required to multi-task with a multitude of large problems and small problems.  And he/she must be able to adjust to the moment at hand.  McCain took a lot of flack for suspending his campaign in 2008 because of that.

He showed up and debated didn't he?  What's your point?

[Bridges]

Of course.  But the President is required to multi-task with a multitude of large problems and small problems.  And he/she must be able to adjust to the moment at hand.  McCain took a lot of flack for suspending his campaign in 2008 because of that.

He showed up and debated didn't he?  What's your point?

My point was that he looked distracted and unprepared. 

[fsquid]

Unless this changes the polls in the nine swing states then it doesn't matter.

[finehoe]

Interesting take on the debate from the right:

Over and over again, Mitt Romney would attack the President on general principles, then the President would say, in so many words, “well, the implications of that view are” and start listing policy implications, and Romney would retort: no, I don’t believe any of that, in fact that stuff you say I oppose is stuff I agree with, and that stuff you say I support is stuff I absolutely will not do.

On the budget, Romney praised Bowles-Simpson, which called for a substantial net increase in revenue, suggesting his own plan was a variation on that theme, and denied he would cut spending in any specific area that Obama highlighted as a possibility that he might cut â€" the only spending he talked about was spending he promised to increase: increases on defense, restoring cuts to Medicare, etc.

On health care, he repeatedly talked up his reform in Massachusetts, and when asked how it was distinguished from Obamacare, said it was a state-level plan that was enacted on a bi-partisan basis â€" an entirely process-related answer. Any time Obama talked about anything popular in Obamacare â€" like the way it handles pre-existing conditions â€" Romney said, effectively: don’t worry, I’ve got that covered in my plan as well.

On Wall Street regulation, Romney was at pains to reassure that he believed in regulation, and that there were plenty of sensible things in Dodd-Frank, and the one line that he called out as being a problem was the “too big to fail” designation (without explaining what that was, or how it was related to the regulation as a whole, or how he’d deal with the actual problem of too-big-to-fail).

On education, Romney was eager to say that Secretary Duncan had good ideas that he agreed with and would build on, and that he would not roll back the Federal role (but would use Federal leverage to promote school choice).

Even on taxes, the clearest point of contrast, Romney denied he intended to reduce the tax burden on the wealthy, denied he would increase taxes on the middle class, and denied he would increase the deficit. His tax cut was reduced to a “goal” of reducing rates and broadening the base, which would come out of a process that would involve both parties.

And on it went in that vein.

The President was plainly frustrated by this approach, and his frustration showed. If, as they say, you watched it without sound â€" or, even better, if you didn’t speak English, so you could hear the sound but couldn’t understand the words â€" I have to believe Romney won by a mile.

But if you didn’t watch the debate, and read the transcript, what you’d see is the following. When Romney attacked, Obama generally had a policy response â€" some more persuasive than others, but the response was generally policy-related. When Obama attacked, Romney would generally deny that he took the position that was being attacked.

Romney’s palpable zest for the debate made him look like a guy ready to take charge, and the President’s demeanor suggested some willingness to let him do so. But his refusal to stand his ground on anything â€" and the marked contrast with the President in that regard â€" made him sound like a snake-oil salesman.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/millman/the-first-presidential-debate-a-choice-or-an-echo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-first-presidential-debate-a-choice-or-an-echo

[fsquid]

don't particularly agree. one point is about specifics. How much do people honestly think they'll get on detailed specifics from 2 minute rebuttles back and forth? Also, the statement that Romney refused to stand his ground. Did he even watch the debate? Romney kept refuting what Obama was saying over and over. Either he didn't watch, or he doesn't know the definition of standing your ground.

I would like to see more specifics from Romney on his plans, but I wouldn't expect that from the debate. But I'd love to see it drawn up on his website or published somewhere.