Raw Video: Watch President Obama's Al Smith dinner s... - YouTube

Raw Video: Watch President Obama's Al Smith dinner s... - YouTube: ""

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Mitt Romney Jokes and One Liners at Al Smith dinner with President Barack Obama - YouTube

Mitt Romney Jokes and One Liners at Al Smith dinner with President Barack Obama - YouTube: ""

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Townhall Debate Results

I'm not a pundit, and I have not listened to the post-debate news, but I have an opinion.
I sat in a mixed public audience at the Hammer Museum in West Los Angeles. I heard the mostly liberal audience applaud politely when they thought Obama scored and one woman, with a big mouth, who vocally chastised Romney whenever she felt he was wrong.
Otherwise, it was myself and my two friends, being extra-polite and keeping our mouths shut.
And I saw the CNN audience reaction graph. (see Luntz Focus Group results here)

So, here is what I saw:

Obama and Romney ran a close tie. Again, like the election, this is a close race.

A tie favors Obama. All he had to do was better his last performance.

BOTH candidates looked presidential.

When they got into it, I watched the CNN audience response slide into the negatives. Bantering is a negative. Politeness is a positive. So when anyone held back from comments, they won points with that undecided audience, especially among those women, who are the main target audience.

Obama did not hold back. He attacked Romney with claims that Romney was telling falsehoods. Each time he did, which was EVERY time he spoke, he went into the negative territory with women.

Obama and Romney had one job last night. It was simple. Convince undecided voters to cast their vote for that candidate. Obama failed. He once again, spoke ONLY to his base.

LIBYA

That, in a nutshell, will be the takeaway from this debate. The rest is blah, blah, blah.

Crowley handed it to Obama. "Didn't Secretary Clinton take full responsibility for that?" The moderator fed the president an "out" from the seriousness of this situation.

The President stood up with self-righteous anger, claiming that he was "friends" with the whole diplomatic corps. Sure he is! Those were his plumbs, handed out for good fund raising in the election four years ago. AND HE GOT HIS TOP FUNDRAISER KILLED!

It was the ONLY time I have EVER seen Mr. Obama register that deep-seated, self-righteous anger that is born of a conviction. The conviction, however, is based on his lie- that he did "all he could" to insure their safety. No way he did.

Self-righteous anger is the worst kind to reason with. There is a basis in truth, but it is smeared with a big story to build it into a wall of lies. And here we are again...

The WH is involved in a controversy of lies. This is about a coverup. It has progressed now to a coverup of a coverup. The WH and POTUS are trying to tell us that they didn't tell us what they told us.

The state department turned him down when he asked for security. They ignored 9/11. They blamed a video and threw that man in jail!

But the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the President of the United States, Barak Obama, went out and taped advertisements to run in foreign countries to apologize for a video that had NOTHING TO DO WITH LIBYA! Obama spoke to the United Nations and APOLOGIZED over and over again to the world about a video that had nothing to do with the attack!

They went out there to bolster up their lie. And we all know it. We saw it. You cannot tell a lie over and over and make it anything more than a lie. Especially when four people are dead!

Watergate, Whitewatergate and Benghazigate

The biggest difference in all these scandals here is that in Benghazi people were killed and their families want answers. So do the American people. "Dead" is a permanent condition.

It is only a matter of time before the videos from those terrorists start to surface. The Ambassador was dragged through the streets, tortured and sodomized by foreign objects. You and I know that there are videos of those savages performing that torture on this man. Its only a matter of time before those iPhone pics come out.

Results of the Debate?

All I can say is that the President may have won on points. He may have won because a tie is all he needed. But he opened the door to hell with Benghazi and Crowley, in her efforts to aid him, only gave leverage to the concerns of Americans across the country. He lied, people died. 

Next week, the debate is on foreign affairs. Whoooa! With his history with Netenyahu and Israel, and this scandal in Benghazi, I would not want to be him.

What I predict is that he will say he is winning the war on terrorism and act superior to Mitt because he knows so much more. It won't fly. He will say he killed OBL. So? Got out of Iraq. So? Drawdown in Afghanistan. So?

Can he say that America is more well-loved across the world because he is in office? No. He said that would happen, but he may be liked by other countries, but he is not respected by our enemies. I almost expect him to say, "Give me that flexibility and I will show you!" The flexibility he said he would have AFTER the election into a hot mike in Russia. . .

And this is where the rubber meets the road on Benghazi. We shall see.

Obama And Romney Lawyers Protest Debate Moderator Candy Crowley Expressed Intention To Violate Contract « Pat Dollard

Obama And Romney Lawyers Protest Debate Moderator Candy Crowley Expressed Intention To Violate Contract « Pat Dollard:

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Candy Crowley believes that the debate is about her; I'd be willing to bet that she also thinks it is her job to rescue her candidate (President Obama) from himself. After all, the poor guy is going to be absent a TelePrompTer.

The President has demonstrated that he suffers from a fatal dose of ego; that is, hubris, the stuff of Greek tragedies. The mighty fall prey to themselves through hubris...
And the President has taken a few days off his campaigning to study debating - but if a man is not teachable, a man cannot be taught. To be teachable, one has to recognize that they do not themselves, have all the information.

THAT, my dear friends, is going to be a challenge for this guy.

Imagine being the Obama debate coaching team! What a f-g nightmare!

Everyone knows working with entitlement junkies is a disaster. I cannot think of anyone who seems to be more entitled except maybe, Lindsay Lohan.

Anyhow, I am keeping my eyes on the moderator. Looks like both these guys are afraid she is going to color out of the lines!

UPDATE: Crowley did rescue Obama. Lead-in on Libya and cutting off Romney; giving him more time; insulting Romney's intelligence

What is in a debate?

Under normal circumstances few Americans watch the presidential circus. They just vote - or mostly, they do NOT vote. Few are involved, passionate or even interested enough to show up at the polls. But the first presidential debate drew over 67 million viewers and the Vice Presidential debate drew over 51 million. Why?

Hope or/and Change

Because this election year we are looking at a clear distinction in governing styles between Romney/Ryan and Obama/Biden. And because the electorate is about as unhappy and unconvinced as it can be that governance is anything more than spending our tax dollars on getting more votes with callous disregard for the consequences to hard-working Americans.

People were looking for Hope - the one thing they thought that Obama represented four years ago. That being said, he still has that icon around his neck, and for many, it will continue to ring. But for the disillusioned, the under or unemployed, those who have lost their homes or are in foreclosure, people who have seen their net worth drop by a quarter - many think this is the "new norm." Some - among the undecided, uninvolved and undeclared - are looking for a reason to hope. They watch the debates with an eye to the future, what's in it for me? or what's in it for my children? Do we see a road ahead with failed schools, poorly performing educators, bigger classrooms, shrunken Universities? Do we continue to see lawmakers vote state workers and themselves higher pay and benefits? Do we see more corporate handouts that fund unions and bosses, banks and Wall Street, with funds that end up in the pockets of CEOs and Union Leaders and leave the worker's in the hole? Do we continue to struggle in the maize of insurance companies, a situation that has gone from the best in the world to the most broken, with more people uninsured and health care more out reach than ever? What about the failed foreign policy that berates our ally Israel and elevates Muslims, who so viciously attacked us on 9/11 here and now, abroad? What of the endless lies and cover-ups - is the truth ever going to come?

And worse, what about this uncivil partisanship that rips the country apart, making whole areas of industry, states and cities where people cannot even state their political preference without facing political blacklisting? What happened to an open mind, civil discourse and compromise?

These Debates

What we hear in the press is that Romney won Round One. He was strong, persistent and totally unfazed by the President. His interruptions were polite but still, interruptions.

Biden came back and used that tactic with a vengeance! He never let Ryan get a full thought out and he had the help of the moderator, who also ripped on Ryan. Ryan did extremely well for two-on-one! BUT - he lost.

Both said a lot of things that the fact-checkers are not buying. Do Americans care? Not really. Only us political junkies rip apart the details of budget, medicare or Benghazi.

What matters most is how people PERCEIVE things - and how did they perceive the debate? Women who are not "true believers" (meaning, affiliated with a political party) by and large turned it off. Yelling and interrupting and rolling eyes and inappropriate laughter do NOT play well with people. It looks like bullying - because it is. Old Joe was establishing his Old Joe-ness credentials. He did well and he established that he is an old, mad, entrenched politician who thinks he DESERVES to be Vice President - and that this business of getting ELECTED- is just a waste of his time!

So, why did they watch in such large numbers?

I do not believe that it is because Americans are happy with the current administration and the direction that the country is going in. They are not. They are trying to find some minuscule reason to vote for either one or the other candidate in the hope that somehow, something will change.

What did this accomplish?

I do not think that many people were swayed either one way or the other, but it won't take a lot. I believe that Scott Rasmussen is correct. The famous pollster says that it is a "begrudging" switch, from one to the other in a close race - that made this so-called 'surge' for Mitt Romney.

The fact that I support Mitt Romney and that I have worked hard this year in many capacities does not make him the winner just coz they said it was so, so many times. Mitt Romney does NOT have a secure lead, and the race is still breathtakingly close.

Given that there are two debates still to go - I believe that they may indeed, this time, sway voters. Like the famous Nixon/Kennedy debate in 1960, this may be the most important thing.

The Libya Factor

The death of our Ambassador and three other Americans in the terrorist attack on the Embassy in Benghazi is really getting headway. Will it make a difference? Its possible. During the Nixon/McGovern campaign, Nixon won EVEN THOUGH WATERGATE WAS HAPPENING!
It was still small, but as a kid in High School growing up - I was using the issue of the missing minutes in the tape in speech tournaments the year before the November election. I worked for McGovern; I went door-to-door canvassing for him. People slammed the door in my 14-year-old face stating that Nixon was not guilty. He resigned a year later after being reelected in a landslide.

Maybe there are no parallels because we have the New Media vs. Old Media. Unfortunately, I think the New Media is not trusted by the majority and unless it is endorsed by the MSM, no one is listening.

And worse, there has to be tweeted, 5-second soundbyte to reach people. No one READS the paper, except old guys (like me); and most of us do not wait to watch the evening news.

October Surprises

In a tight race like this, October surprises are common things. I'm sure the Administration and its surrogate Super Pacs are doing their damnedest to find something that will stick to Romney-Ryan. And I know the same is true of the GOP ticket. I remember when Bruce Herschensohn ran against California State Senator Barbara Boxer, a woman who should never be allowed to speak or hold public office - The race was so close - and an operative accused Herschensohn of frequenting strip clubs. He lost. That's all it took. And of course, GOP candidates are held to higher standards. Who cares if someone goes to a strip club? The inflamed electorate, after the press gets to them. The candidate had made one visit on a double date with his girlfriend because the other couple had insisted. The other couple was working for Boxer... And they took pictures.

This election is going to be fraught with overtones of election fraud in every area, be it 'same-day registration," online registration, voter ID requirements - Its going to be horrendous. I have joined the Election Integrity Project to poll watch and to do the hard work of validating ballots after the election. I know I will be slammed by the press for it, but I don't care. This is the most precious privilege of a Democratic society, and I aim to protect it.

Contrary to the media-induced fog, the truth is that most fraud occurs in Democratic-controlled districts, and represents entrenched political interests, be it he Rainbow Coalition, ACORN or La Raza. Anyone who has read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals understands how this is done and why there is such a full-court press against anyone who is a whistleblower. Think "Lance Armstrong doping scandal," and you will see what we are up against. Entrenched political machines and entrenched politicians that "own" whole districts...

Conclusions

What will happen? Don't get complacent. Keep moving it forward, because this is a nail biter. Which

Think the fourth quarter of a tight football game. USC vs. Notre Dame. Its 21-21 and Notre Dame has the ball. They fumble. USC gets it on the 40 yard line. Are they gonna run it or kick it? They run it. Third down. One yard to go, they fumble. Here we are.