Debate Debacle

I was, frankly, shocked to hear, immediately after the debate on Wednesday, that Mitt Romney had obviously won, hands down. And this came from people on MSNBC, Charlie Rose and, later, Jon Stewart. But a quick little poll among my own friends gave me a much-needed reality check. As usual, the nation saw two quite different debates. But very few on my side in the public arena saw the same one my friends and I watched.

The Obama I saw seemed to be having trouble figuring out just where and how effectively to step into the pile of bullshit that was accumulating at diarrhetic speed - before deciding to stand back and let Romney bury himself in it rather than get all in a sweat trying to shovel faster than it was being pitched.

Here are a few shovelfuls I noticed right off hand. And that was before the fact checkers weighed in:

We've got to get those dollars back to the states and go to the workers so they can create their own pathways to get in the training they need for jobs that will really help them.

This presumes that the states will, indeed, so allocate those dollars when many states run by Republican governors and legislatures are ideologically opposed to such allocation. But the most telling statement is about workers creating "their own pathways." Sounds good, but I remember him saying "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." So I don't think he intends that they get any extra help at all.

I also lower deductions and credits and exemptions

Did you assume he meant loopholes for large corporations? Perhaps he means those as well, although I would want to hear some specifics. What I remembered was this: Lots and lots of middle class folks take deductions (medical expenses, for example), claim exemptions (some veterans, for example), and qualify for tax credits (earned income? child care? tuition?). Will those also be lowered or eliminated?

On government land, your [Obama's] administration has cut the number of permits and licenses in half. If I'm president, I'll double them, and also get the -- the oil from offshore and Alaska. And I'll bring that pipeline in from Canada.

What government land? Yosemite? Yellowstone? The ANWR? And what kind of regulations, permits and safety protocols will you put in place for offshore drilling or cross-country pipelines?

You notice, I haven't even mentioned Big Bird yet.

I'll get incomes up again...I will create -- help create 12 million new jobs in this country with rising incomes.

How?

You're going to see health premiums go up by some $2,500 per family.

Why?

I will ... get America's middle class working again.

When?

Romney, inexplicably, seems to have struck many pundits as "energetic, engaged." He looked more to me like some over-excited window-peeper, with his oily, smirky smile. If I knew nothing about him at all and saw only that video with no sound, I would still say "Ick."