Rumors of an Obama Debate Win Have been Greatly Exagerated

Rush Limbaugh said it on his show yesterday (October 16, 2012):

If Obama shows up tonight and successfully breathes, he's going to be declared the winner tomorrow.

Rush was correct. Obama showed up and didn't flounder. He at least managed his talking points. He even had a few good rhetorical decisions. (The one that made me say "SONOFA!" was waiting to bring up the 47% non-story until Romney couldn't respond, using his final statement in the debate.)


What Obama didn't do was he didn't successfully present Romney as a a bad candidate or, more importantly, himself as a good one. At all. He told more tales about "increasing oil production," but Governor Romney pointed out (and Obama ducked the question) that it was entirely on private lands, which the government has zero say over.  He lied about the Libya crisis and refused to answer the direct question asked by a voter of what happened. He just blamed Romney for giving a statement.

The Drive-By Media is predictably hammering Romney's strength in the debate. Their spin is "Romney was a bully" or he was "disrespectful." These are the same people who glossed over Joe Biden being a legitimate bully a week ago, by the way. If you doubt media bias, pay attention to the difference between how Biden's legitimate bullying was presented vs. Romney refusing to let Obama lie. They are telling you what you saw, but let's stop and think about what we ACTUALLY saw, shall we?

What we actually saw was President Obama having to lie to cover his tracks or just ignore questions. For example, why is he telling a college student who has asked about his job prospects after college about increased manufacturing jobs. (Please tell me the President realizes that the goal of a college degree is not to be a knob turner at a factory.) He also refused to answer Governor Romney's point about his "increased drilling" coming not from public lands but private lands.

I also still heard stammering and stuttering from the President in a lot of the debate. He wasn't quite as bad as last time. But he still was searching for the truth throughout the debate. The only thing is he seemed LESS ridiculously incompetent, so he looked better by comparison. Like Rush said, it's all about exceeding expectations.

So what precisely happened, in terms of this debate? Well, I'll tell you. I watched a Frank Lunz focus group from Nevada after the debate.  The lion's share of the people in the group were Obama voters in 2008. The lion's share of those same people said they had now decided to vote for Mitt Romney.

Friends, here's what really happened at the debate: Obama couldn't answer legitimate questions. He couldn't answer Governor Romney's legitimate questions. The Drive-By Media is telling us that Obama "won on points." Let's make pretend that it matters if someone "wins on points" in a debate. Debates are not reflected on points. This isn't high school Debate Team. This is a Presidential Election.

Obama did not move the meter. Even if the Drive-By Media brings out skewed polls that claim it did, trust me, it won't matter on Election Day.  Mitt Romney is about to win the Presidency in three weeks. And that's what really matters.

Mitt Romney Wins Debate By Several Touchdowns

Last night, Mitt Romney absolutely flattened President Obama in the debate like a cartoon character under a steamroller. It was like watching Abraham Lincoln debate Milton Waddams. OK, I exaggerate a little. But I was continually waiting for President Obama to go search for his stapler.

Mitt was on point. He was packed with facts. He was charismatic. He called Obama out on his blatant lies at one point, and did it so tactfully that President Obama could barely respond. He also took the wind right out of President Obama's sails by bringing up and disarming the President's best retorts on issues like Obamacare (and Romneycare) and what the President was about to say (falsely) about Governor Romney's tax plans. It reminded me of Harvey Dent taking the gun from the mobster in Dark Knight, except of Dent had seen the gun in the mobster's coat and taken it before he even pulled it out.

Mitt was, frankly, brilliant.  You know how I know? Because the Drive-By Media is in pure, unadulterated spin mode now. They are saying Romney won by lying. They are saying "it doesn't matter because Obama's still leading in the polls" (in fantasy world with a +8% Democrat turnout, mind you). They are on full blown defense. Their candidate just showed up and was incompetent in a debate. So much for being such a great rhetorician, right? I guess Obama just missed his teleprompter.

So let's talk about President Obama, shall we?  Remember how I said all through the primaries that Foghorn Leghorn could beat Obama in this election? (I still believe that, just like I still firmly believe we will win on November 6th). Well it sounded to me like Foghorn Leghorn showed up to debate in place of Barack Obama. A whole lot of rambling. A whole lot of stuff made up on the spot (which Foghorn Leghorn was fond of doing, as well, by the way).

Friends, the Drive-By Media is going to tell you a different story. They aren't claiming Obama won the debate, because frankly, that's like saying Picket's Charge went really well for the Confederacy.  Fact is the Left does not know what hit them. President Obama made Jimmy Carter's 1980 debate performance look strong. They don't know what to do, friends!

They're going to double down on skewed polls, that I can guarantee. They are going to talk about how debates don't matter. But debates do matter. President Obama had to go toe to toe with Mitt Romney last night. As conservative columnist David Limbaugh said on Twitter during the debate: "So far it's a boxing analogy -- O is flailing away blindly without even seeing his target much less hitting it. Mitt's blocking & punching."

That's how the debate went. Obama flailed, Romney kept hitting him and hitting him and flat out won. In the end, do you want to know how Mitt won? He did precisely what I've told you he needed to do: He effectively communicated conservatism. Bottom line: If the same Mitt Romney keeps showing up for the next 33 days, Barack Obama does not have a chance. Game on.