Tomorrow night's presidential debate

[Teo Torriatte]

You can criticize the two party system all you want. In fact, intellectually speaking, such criticism is fairly well deserved.

HOWEVER, as much as some of us may not like it, the reality is that one of two men are going to be the next POTUS. People can work to change that for the future, but it's not going to happen in the next month.

[Stattick]

The US has a two party system. It's designed to be like that in the Constitution. Until we make massive amendments the Constitution, or draft a new Constitution, we're stuck with this two party system. I'll be the first to say that our two party system doesn't work very well, and that we should change it. But until we do, we'll always just have two major political parties (perhaps a third party will emerge for a brief period of time, but we're almost always back down to two dominant parties again by the next presidential election). So, go ahead and throw away your vote if you want. Go ahead and waste your time watching a third party candidate if you wish. But know that in almost all elections, that there isn't a viable third party candidate. This election is no different. On the other hand, if you actually want to see a real change in our form of government, then do what you can to try to raise awareness of the situation and try to get an amendment drafted and passed to change the US Constitution, and let's get ourselves a parliamentary government instead of the broken two party government that we have.

[Will]

Is it just me, or is Romney crushing it?  That grin is still ridiculous, though.

[gaggedLouise]

Is it just me, or is Romney crushing it?  That grin is still ridiculous, though.

If he wanted to look and sound charismatic, or angry - wanted to really change the game, then he's missing the opportunity for sure.

[Revelation]

As a man voting for Obama, Romney definitely came out swinging and fighting and it showed - I feel he has definitely won this debate. Obama was too passive and I felt never truly challenged Romney.

I also think we need a stricter moderator for these debates. The current one might as well not even have been there.

[Will]

As a man voting for Obama, Romney definitely came out swinging and fighting and it showed - I feel he has definitely won this debate. Obama was too passive and I felt never truly challenged Romney.

I also think we need a stricter moderator for these debates. The current one might as well not even have been there.

Yeah, he was kind of a joke.  But Obama never really looked comfortable or found his voice.

[pyrostinger]

I'll tell you something that everybody can agree on: both guys were full of words.

[Revelation]

Obama spoke like he was on weed and was talking to the moderator. Romney spoke like he was on meth, and spoke more to and against the president.

[Teo Torriatte]

I've been watching MSNBC's coverage, and even they are admitting that Romney won the debate.

I am actually afraid to go over to Fox and see how they must be gloating.

Obama has two more debates and needs to do a whole lot better, or this could be a much closer race than we might have thought it would be.

[Callie Del Noire]

What I came out of this with was this.. Romney STILL won't put out anything concrete. It's all.. 'we'll work this out..' or 'I'll work this through with congress...'.

Watch as he waffles and dances and never concretely makes a statement.

[Teo Torriatte]

I agree. But Obama needs to not let him get away with it. He needs to be more aggressive, instead of trying too hard to remain presidential and likeable... and dare I say, professorial. He needs to treat these next two debates as if his job depends on them. Because, well, it does.

[gaggedLouise]

What I came out of this with was this.. Romney STILL won't put out anything concrete. It's all.. 'we'll work this out..' or 'I'll work this through with congress...'.

Watch as he waffles and dances and never concretely makes a statement.

Agree with you, and with Luna, but I think the debate format may have been a tad too restrictive, or making it too easy to play the evasive talk game. If debate time is too chopped up in small bits  it's hard to really force the other one to come clear about something without yourself having to appear very rough and, um, confrontational. And Obama probably didn't want to let Romney play the cool underdog. Then again, the moderator gave Romney some advantage.

[Teo Torriatte]

There was a moderator?

[Will]

There's really no excuse to be made for it - Obama was unprepared, anxious, and got trampled underfoot by a more aggressive Romney.  It wouldn't have mattered who the moderator was, or how long the candidates had to speak.  It's disappointing.  When did Obama suddenly fail at public speaking?  I thought that was his thing.

[Mr Self Destruct]

http://www.reagancoalition.com/articles/2012/20121003008-cnn-post-debate.html

Romney clearly won out over Obama, and really, is anyone surprised?  It's clear that the President can't even back up his own policies when pressed to, and without his teleprompter, he's nothing but an empty suit...or chair, in this case.

Mitt Romney is going to be our next President, and we can all finally get down to the work of fixing this economy and the damage that Obama has done.

[Stattick]

And Romney still won't to any details about any of his vague plans. He's all, "Vote for me, I have a plan to make jobs through... um... trust me. Vote for me, I have a plan to reduce the national debt through... um... trust me."

You can't pin him down on any damn thing. Well, can't pin him down on any of his plans at least. He told plenty of lies, and I hope they crucify him on the news for it.

[Teo Torriatte]

And Romney still won't to any details about any of his vague plans. He's all, "Vote for me, I have a plan to make jobs through... um... trust me. Vote for me, I have a plan to reduce the national debt through... um... trust me."

You can't pin him down on any damn thing. Well, can't pin him down on any of his plans at least. He told plenty of lies, and I hope they crucify him on the news for it.

They will. Well, the channels that don't start with F and end with X, anyway.

But... the problem is that Obama didn't take him to task when everyone was watching, in the debate. Far fewer people keep up with things outside of big events like the debates, so many people will not hear just how much of a snake Romney was being in the debate.

[Mr Self Destruct]

The clear leftist bias in this thread nevertheless astounds me. 

[Stattick]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/top-romney-adviser-states-will-have-to-cover-people-with-pre-existing-conditions-under-president-rom.php?ref=fpa

After the first presidential debate at the University of Denver in Colorado on Wednesday night, one of Mitt Romney’s top advisers acknowledged that, as a result Romney’s plan to repeal Obamacare, people with pre-existing medical conditions would likely be unable to purchase insurance.

The admission directly contradicts the GOP candidate’s claim during the debate that “pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan” — a contention Romney has repeated on the trail and that his campaign has repeatedly walked back.

So, less than 4 hours after the debate, Romney's campaign is already waffling on stuff he said on the debate! Ha! Hahahahahahahahaaahhahahaaa!!!!!!!! What a buffoon! What a clown!

See, in hindsight, Obama's debate strategy is genius. Just sit back, be calm, cool, and collected. Be presidential. Let the manic little man run his mouth off, tell his lies, and run all over the moderator. It won't make any difference. Romney can't stop being Romney, and he'll just start waffling faster than a Wafflehouse waffle-iron a few hours after the debate is over, and then everyone can see how much of a clown Romney is.

[Mr Self Destruct]

Are you choosing to ignore the results of the CNN poll that I posted the link to?  The one that clearly shows Romney trouncing the President in every single aspect of the debate?  I wonder how the liberal media will spin this into their favor, and how many of the Kool-Aid drinkers out there will try to deny Romney the clear victory he had tonight.

[Stattick]

Are you choosing to ignore the results of the CNN poll that I posted the link to?  The one that clearly shows Romney trouncing the President in every single aspect of the debate?  I wonder how the liberal media will spin this into their favor, and how many of the Kool-Aid drinkers out there will try to deny Romney the clear victory he had tonight.

You're kidding, right? A magnificent debate performance might give a candidate a bounce of 1 point in the polls, and those bounces usually don't last. If Romney managed to turn things around now, at what, 32 days from the election, it would be unprecedented, and something that would rewrite the book on how to run a campaign. But hey, keep sipping that GOP kool-aid. I hear they make that stuff from Glenn Beck's tears, the sweat of the disenfranchised, and that they flavor it with bootstraps.

[Mr Self Destruct]

Because the indoctrinated Obama worshipers like yourself refuse to admit this country is being destroyed. You accept the trampling of our Constitution like its not the crime that it is. But hey, keep up the name calling and finger pointing. November will prove me right.

[Teo Torriatte]

Let's try to keep this out of the personal realm?

I make no secret that I don't like Romney, but I like everyone here, no matter who they are going to vote for. (Unless Romney is on here, then no I don't like you, lol)

[Cyrano Johnson]

Romney can't stop being Romney, and he'll just start waffling faster than a Wafflehouse waffle-iron a few hours after the debate is over

The real take-away from the debate for me. I think Romney actually did successfully wrong-foot Obama, but he had to do lots and lots of dissembling to manage it. In consequence it's a Pyrrhic victory that leaves him wide open for a month of being hammered by the same kind of "flip-flopper" narrative that did Kerry in in 2004. No matter how much style you bring to the endeavour, when you find yourself running away from your own tax plan a month before the election, the "Would the real Mitt Romney please stand up?" ads practically write themselves. Especially when you consider that during that month, Romney's going to have to go in front of hardcore Tea Party audiences and convince them that he still believes many of the things he claimed tonight not to believe.

[Stattick]

Because the indoctrinated Obama worshipers like yourself refuse to admit this country is being destroyed. You accept the trampling of our Constitution like its not the crime that it is. But hey, keep up the name calling and finger pointing. November will prove me right.

I like Obama. But I don't worship him. I don't think he's the reincarnation of Buddha or anything like that. I also have some rather profound disagreements with some of his policies. But the policies that I disagree with him on are all things that I think the GOP would make worse at the moment (police state powers, indefinite detention of prisoners without trial, Patriot Act, etc). With the exception of the aforementioned issues, I'm pretty much in agreeance with most of Obama's policies, at least those I have any basis to judge. (I'll admit that what he does with The Fed Bank, The Prime Rate, banking regulations, and a lot of the economic stuff is just way above my head, so I don't consider myself to really have an informed opinion on most of that, other than knowing that trickle down economics don't work.) At the same time, I think that on the issues that I do agree with our president, that the Republicans would make things far worse. So, I presently don't see any major issues that the majority of the GOP are correct on. Maybe a few things like some police procedures and some gun laws (for instance, I strongly agree with the recent Supreme Court decision that struck down the Washington DC law that made it illegal for citizens to own or have a firearm in the city).

So, I while I agree with you that there are Constitutional issues that the president is in the wrong on, the only ones I'm aware of are privacy rights and freedom from unwarranted search and seizure (don't even get me going on the Patriot Act). What other Constitutional issues do you contend that the president is in the wrong on?