It’s go time from Hofstra University in Hempstead New York. Candy Crowley of CNN is the moderator and she looks like she could spit nails. The name Candy is a little misleading. Think of a fat guy named slim.
It’s town hall style tonight. Questions coming from the audience. That by itself should be worth a little unintentional comedy. That means the candidates are free range chickens. Free to roam to and fro. This bit John McCain in the rump last time. He looked like your great grandfather, wandering around the freeway looking for his puree`ed squash and brownie cake.
Interesting to note both campaigns balked at Crowley as the moderator because she threatened ask her own questions. God forbid.
Love Crowley already. Absolutely no introductions. She just took the first question from the audience and started. Nice. Look gang if these guys have to intro themselves, we have bigger problems than these guys ducking tough debate questions.
Second man up with a question about energy. I expected a blue collar, lunch pail, NY Islanders fan. Got Droopy Dog, with coke bottle glasses, who apparently free bases helium.
The President has come out stronger. But how could he not.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think the Obama and Romney just traded paint there. If not, they definitely shared the same breathing air for a second. Got very close passing each other on the stage. Shit just got real, (learned that from the muppets).
Ok we are into the tax plan weeds. This all benefits the Pres. for two reasons. First Romney had not offered too many specifics about his plan and Obama can corner him on this. Second any time not talking about the Libya cover up is a win for the President.
Until Romney expertly pivots it to Obama’s record on debt and deficits. President is on, but Romney is not wilting.
Katherine something or other asks about equal pay for women in the work place. Here is the best way to describe this exchange. From Sam Youngman, former White House press corp, now writes for Reuters, and a Kentucky fan, but we give him a pass on that sometimes:
nuf said
Now we are beating on George Bush again. Man, I wasn’t a fan but let the guy fade into his sunset.He served his country with passion and a care for Americans. Will anyone just own the current situation and start with the fix already.
Mike Jones hits Obama between the eyes. “I voted for you in 08, why should I vote for you now.” Good question from the audience for once. Obama goes down a pretty impressive list of things he’s done. Three myths that dog him: 1. raised taxes – no he actually cut them 2. Made it harder to get guns – no actually guns have never been easier to get in our history. 3. soft on immigration – no the administration has deported more illegals than Bush 43 did in 8 years.
Best tweet of the night – decided by me.
Trevino was a speech writer in the Bush 43 White House. Following his twitter feed should be worth 3 college credits in history and political science.
Romney smartly highlights the problem with the past 4 years as to why Obama should not get your vote; 23 million Americans are still out of work. It’s that number and not the percentage of unemployed that’s most important. Romney is in a good groove now.
Immigration is up now. And somehow they have both segued that to each others personal finances and again they get very close to each other, are raising their voices AT each other, and have to be called to task by the moderator.
No joke, there is an obvious dislike between these two men. It’s much more obvious from Obama then Romney and it’s more than just a passive dislike. Hate is too strong, but it’s close. But as much as a mormon can bow up, Romney is doing it.
Here we go. Another great question from the audience, “what happened in Libya?” They might just come to blows here. The room is still tight with stress from that last exchange.
Photo courtesy of HarlemGal Inc.
President still steaming from that last dust up and is speaking forcefully. However he really didn’t answer the question. Most pundits on twitter agree that there really is no good answer, that’s why the Pres. ducked it. Obama did say the buck stops with him. A lot of bucks floating around on this issue. HRC has the one that mattered. Obama is 4 weeks late a buck short on that. Pres is actually yelling in defiance during his response.
Oh Candy, bad Candy. Obama said he knew it was a terror attack the day after it happened. Mitt rightly asks then why did your UN Ambassador say other wise two weeks later, on five different Sunday talk shows? Candy cut the whole thing off. I’m not a big conspiracy type but the press has really crapped the bed on this story. And be advised this embassy story is huge, freaking huge. Shame on you Candy. Four Americans are dead. An Ambassador and 3 former military men. They were assassinated on US soil and the press seems unwilling to ask a question or allow questions to be asked.
Candy then steps on Romney bringing up Operation Fast and Furious. Google Fast and Furious, you won’t believe it. I am no longer in favor of town hall. Give me Jim Leher any day. He let them talk at least.
Barry gets the last question and asks something stupid. Sit down Barry, Thomas Jefferson doesn’t like you. Romney decides to just ignore the question and do a short bio about himself. Obama gets to answer last. We’ll see if he answers Barry’s stupid question or just blames Bush for the bad economy.
To the President’s credit, he actually answered the question. No matter, it was dumb. Something about what is the biggest misconception about you? How about housing, unions, DADT, Barry?
And thats it. No closing arguments. I like that. Now normally the two men will shake hands and chat for a bit on stage. Not tonight. I’m telling you, they were close to throwing hands. When the Pres accused Romney of investing in companies in China, Romney replied, “have you ever looked at your pension fund Mr. President?” Boom. Obama got pissed and the two men kept shouting the same thing at each other and getting closer and closer. I mean I was expecting some Secret Service agents to come on stage. That’s how tense it got.
No doubt each side will claim victory, but like the first debate there really was no clear standout in my opinion. And to me that helps Romney.
Also, the Libya thing is not going away. Romney flubbed his chance a bit and Candy blocked him some, but the question still remains, if the Pres knew it was a terror attack why did everyone else from his admin to include the UN Ambassador say otherwise?
Two final thoughts from twitter that encapsulate my opinion about debates quite well.
So same as the last time. No needle move from the debate. And if those were undecided voters I’m a Tibetan monk.
Off to Boca for the next one. That’s right, sunny Boca Raton and Lynn University, for the final Presidential debate.
That’s next Monday, 22 October. Don’t miss it.
Unfiltered and Unfettered 
Funny, Fran! Have to love Candy Crowley’s two cents – and how quickly after the debate she said Romney was right. Good work, Candy. I have always thought she was very professional and actually liked watching her back in my CNN-watching days. I’m sure she would like a do-over today.
Thrilled that early voting starts today…let’s get this show on the road! As soon as I have some monkey herding help, I’m there…don’t want to overstress the volunteers on the first day…
I agree. I think if she is honest in evaluating herself she’ll realize she stepped in to quick a few times. I think she did a decent job and wasn’t intentional. I mean it was pretty heated all night, she may well have been a bit rattled by the anger these two have toward each other. But Romney should have been ready for that issue and he flubbed it. He really could have buried the President big time. Plus he could have shined a brighter light on this Libya issue. Four Americans were assassinated on US soil and all anyone, including conservatives, seem to care about is a syntax error the President made in the Rose Garden.
I believe the Pres did call it a terrorist attack because he knew it was. So the bigger issue is who told the UN Ambassador to lie on 5 different Sunday shows? Why did Clinton’s under secretary testify on C-Span that she watched the attack in real time and knew it wasn’t a protest but an organized military assault while the Press Secretary was still calling it a protest sparked by the video?
I mean it can go on and on. The questions are endless, but the answers seem to be wanting.
Hopefully Romney will have his ducks in a row for Monday night…he looked a little shocked at the President’s brazenness. Who would have thought he would say THAT…talk about mincing words. I’m still not convinced that President Obama was even talking about Libya when he said it. The context sounds like the original 9/11 to me or maybe even just a bunch of words that don’t mean anything. You are right, though…we need to get out of the weeds and not lose sight of the real story. Still can’t believe they were watching the thing unfold in real time – two waves and over a period of hours and they lost track of the ambassador? Were they so engrossed they couldn’t call for some backup? Yes, an endless list of questions. My answer to the 5 Sunday show appearances, six mentions of the video by the President at the UN, Jay Carney’s performance, etc., etc. is full-out freak-out AND the election is a stone’s throw away.
See that’s another great question that is seemingly going unanswered. Standard operations for an embassy attack is for the Ambassador to go to the safe room and wait for the country’s government and military to intervene. But the State Dept would have known the Libyan govt is still getting it’s legs. They should not have been waiting on them to come to the defense.
That leads to the next natural question. How did the attackers know to burn the building where the safe room was located? The Ambassador died of smoke inhalation or so we are told. Somebody in the attacking forces had knowledge of procedures and embassy layout.
Congressman Issa has already had one committee hearing. I can’t wait for those. Thank God for C-Span.
Absolutely right on about freak out and election time. Making it even more grotesque in my opinion.
Oh, glad to know someone else still has Fast and Furious on the radar – unbelieveable indeed!
Thanks by the way for making the jump from Frank’s Place. Lets hope the Libya issue doesn’t fade into the ether the way Fast and Furious seems to be.
Amazing how all the people bloodthirsty for Holder’s head don’t seem as interested now that Romney has a good chance and the Libya issue may yield better results.
We’ll see who gives a crap about either deal after the election.
You bet, Fran…wouldn’t miss it. I actually enjoy this stuff, too. Still remember O’Reilly phoning in from vacation the day Obamacare was upheld and Holder was voted in contempt in the full vote. With footage of Nancy Pelosi and her buddies walking out on the vote playing on the screen, he said, this is about the President, Eric Holder, Nancy Pelosi and all the other people walking out saying – we are not accountable to you!
Ugghhhhh!