Pause a moment: a Democratic president saying "Romney hasn't spent enough time thinking about how the military works" is a generational moment. Somewhere in heaven, Scoop Jackson is weeping with joy.
President on fewer ships than 1916, made a blunder. Equating ships with horses, etc., is a big mistake.
Romney is showing grasp of nations and issues around world. Can be commander in chief and steward of foreign policy. His capacity to take over is the big issue of this debate. He is showing he can. Makes him a winner.
Romney is scoring debate points with the people watching by not interrupting the president when he is speaking. Obama, on the other hand, can't sit still. As far as the optics go, points to Romney.
The crowd at my place is getting bored. Cant say I blame them. This debate should be about the economy and the fiscal cliff.
Apology tour...this is a great talking point.
It occurs to me that it took the Obama administration, according to published reports, almost two weeks to set up the daily national security briefing for Governor Romney once he was officially the GOP presidential nominee. That is simply
astounding.
Worth noting that former Israeli intel chief today had a great comment about the value of talking with your enemies -- "not talking with them doesn't de-legitimize them."
Everything the president has said boils down do a continuation of his calls for a second stimulus. He has no new ideas.
Note: President's pink rubber bracelet is for breast cancer.
Governor Romney has missed an important opportunity in the discussion of Pakistan to mention it was leaks out of the Obama White House that led to the arrest of the doctor who helped the United States "get" Osama bin Laden--and that the president has remained largely silent on the subject while this friend of America languishes in jail for 30 years.
Peter, are you watching the same debate I am?
Schieffer, *we* may know Obama's position on drones but low information voters watching might want someone to elucidate it.
Paul--you were probably too busy engaging in polemics to notice that Governor Romney gave a lengthy response on Latin America, something to which I already referred if you care to scroll back.
Now the moderator is recycling questions. And Obama isnt answering it.
Did Romney just say that China wants the world to be free and open?
Robert, you can spin Bush's Iran record all you want, but at the end of his administration, Iran was eight years closer to a nuclear weapon. And the very same U.N. that Romney is so fond of criticizing today--and all its resolutions--did nothing to change that equation. I understand it's the only fig leaf the neocons have today for basically giving Iran a free pass for eight years to enrich uranium. But this is the only administration that has imposed crippling sanctions -- and rallied the world to support them.
Peter, Delphi management, and their Bain Capital shareholders, were happy to sell Delphi workers down the river years earlier. They were cut off and their pension plans abrogated in the early '00s.
President Obama using his closing statement to attack Romney again.
There are no major take aways from this debate. The line of the night goes to Romney, who said America does not dictate to other nations--America frees other nations from dictators. The wonks will dissect this debate more than the other three because they feel they have the expertise to do it vs. the wisdom of the common American. The problem is that foreign policy is not high on the list of issues on which people are basing their votes in this election, for good or for bad. That means all the "thinking" and postulating by the smart set over what was said in this last debate may be a lot of wasted effort. And, by the way, it's official: Obama-Biden get more time to speak than Romney-Ryan in all four debates.
CNN's John King: Debate coaches would say president won this on points.
CNN's Gergen says on debate points Obama won but Romney passed the commander in chief test.
The president was much stronger on every foreign policy question. Romney spent the entire night basically agreeing, without pushing back. Obama dominated the middle part of the debate. Romney tacked back to the economy at the end to save his night. Romney did nothing to screw up. But Obama won.
I disagree with my colleagues and the media pundits who want to "draw" this one --Romney was the clear winner and the polling will confirm it.
Of course, Wallace has also said that four debates in a row.
Now comes the part where we endure interminable spin (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Axelrod thought Obama won) while waiting for the instapolls.
In the end, debate number three just guarantees that the next few weeks are going to be a slugfest.
From the Romney campaign:
Mitt Romney says Obama conducted an apology tour. PolitiFact says ... Romney's pants are on fire.
Despite standing on the side of Tunisians, the administration has repeatedly failed to stand up for democracy across Latin America. President Obama failed to address the topic during his March 2011 trip to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador. As the Washington Post noted,
Robert, you can spin Bush's Iran record all you want, but at the end of his administration, Iran was eight years closer to a nuclear weapon. And the very same U.N. that Romney is so fond of criticizing today--and all its resolutions--did nothing to change that equation. I understand it's the only fig leaf the neocons have today for basically giving Iran a free pass for eight years to enrich uranium. But this is the only administration that has imposed crippling sanctions -- and rallied the world to support them.