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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Liveblog: Debate the Second

The next pivotal episode of “Who Wants to Be a President?” is about to begin:


Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy

Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (Tickets)

Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates

Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney

Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

Given the stakes and a second opportunity for the media to change the course of the election with subjective scoring this should prove riveting.


150 comments

  1. Shaun Appleby

    Doing the same thing again; he’s a moderate Republican in all but actual policy.  Why did we expect any different?

  2. Shaun Appleby

    Locked into bad-mouthing the economy.  Nobody is getting his parsing on Detroit and bankruptcy; flatlined.

  3. Shaun Appleby

    Whenever he badmouths the Obama administration.  He sounds petty when painting Obama as a greenie.  “Mr. Coal?”  Seriously.  Romney is having mixed success then pretending to be about energy independence.

  4. fogiv

    from this lady with kids in school…

    the obama response will measure on the richter scale

    5….4….3….2….

  5. Shaun Appleby

    Is making this tax thing sound confusing.  If Obama can simplify the narrative he’ll win this vital round.

  6. Shaun Appleby

    Did he say “foreign?”  He’s rattled, he doesn’t have a compelling narrative, just a quilt of sound bites.  He’s confusing.

  7. Kysen

    and stop letting Romney have the last word on every question.

    This was supposed to be a Town Hall..not a Candy Crowley moderated debate with a couple of questions.

    (BTW…Romney is A DICK)

  8. Shaun Appleby

    Doesn’t care about the past four years, just the next.  Sorry Romney, that whole speech just amounts to talking down about America.

  9. Kysen

    Fucking HATE that….they just cannot bring themselves to say DemocratIC.

    Makes me want to jackslap ’em…to a one.

    The only positive to it is that it gives me a pretty early indication that I don’t need to take the speaker seriously.

  10. Kysen

    Looks like Libya is going to be the last topic….and that Romney will likely have the last word on it.

    That sucks.

  11. HappyinVT

    happened:

    1 retweets

    jesseltaylor 10:15pm via Web

    Barack Obama would flip off Mitt Romney right now if he could.

  12. Kysen

    but that is because both sides came together…we need both sides to come together.”

    So……Romney wants a bi-partisan bill banning assault weapons?

    He’s wigglin’ like a worm on the end of a hook…

  13. HappyinVT

    ESQPolitics 10:29pm via Web

    I think “the rate of regulation” is a stat Willard got from the research of Dr. Otto Yerass, #debate.

  14. HappyinVT

    DanaHoule 10:35pm via TweetDeck

    RT @dondrennon: I think the Obama debate prep team will get laid tonight.

  15. Shaun Appleby

    By saying it was offensive to challenge his integrity?  At least the Democratic talking head is pushing back strongly.

  16. He’s going a bit overboard the other direction – but I agree with him on the second Libya response, the only zinger moment which will play and play

    10.16 pm. Wow. President Obama just eviscerated Romney. As an alpha male. It’s hard to convey genuine offense without seeming aggressive. But Obama made Romney look cheap and political over a tragedy like Benghazi. But I’m not sure what the Rose Garden transcript actually says. We’ll find out.

  17. Shaun Appleby

    Got themselves into a proper tongue twisting competition over who won.  Everyone else seems pretty clear Obama won by TKO.

  18. virginislandsguy

    In another diary, I predicted this:

    Second Debate

    Obama – A- for plus energy, engagement, forum, media setup, possible minus for moderator and response Benghazi coverup

    Romney – B- for minus forum, failed fake empathy, lack of practice, media setup, possible plus for moderator

    So Obama gets an A because Crowley done good and Benghazi, rather than a minus became a plus.

    Romney gets a C because, again, Crowley done good and Benghazi, surprisingly was a minus.

    After this, I’m going to throw some (for me) serious change at Intrade. There is an arbitration/hedging opportunity having to do with the House that could pay 25-1 or even.

  19. The Benghazi issue was going to be the killer line of attack for Romney in the next/last debate; you could see him salivating at the opening to beta-test it tonight, to crap all over the Apologist-in-Chief weakling weasel.

    And then Obama not only blunted it, but turned it against Mitt, used it to expose him as crassly opportunistic, contemptibly rash in his haste to exploit national tragedy for personal gain — oh, yeah, and flat-out wrong about basic facts.

    I daresay the GOP will keep hammering away at this, but it will be a hollow effort; their standard-bearer flopped and failed, they know it no matter how they try to spin away the pain, and he’s not going to do any better in the foreign policy debate, at best; at worst, he’ll look even more incoherently desperate, while Obama looks every inch the in-charge, competent, resolute Commander in Chief that the country needs.  

  20. rfahey22

    Very satisfying.  With respect to Libya, Mitt’s a goddamn moron, for two reasons: (1) in this country, you can always blunt a national security-type criticism with moral outrage (whether real or feigned) – it always worked for Bush and it will work for Obama, and (2) it’s always a mistake to broadcast your strategy ahead of time.

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