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7:43 Overall the debate was I think a dud. Not surprisingly that's because I think the debate topics were so narrowly focused.
7:36 Obama smoked Romney, like he used to with pot.
7:31 That's the best argument for a 2nd term Obama has yet made. For what it's worth the Florida Undecided Voters who are being insta-polled on CNN went off the charts with it. Romney's tanking.
7:23 btw, since 1917 got mentioned...in 1917 the country that was stealing intellectual property rights, counterfeiting, keeping their currency artificially low, with no labor laws/unions, mass environmental destruction....was the United States. The country that was complaining about that was Great Britain.
7:19 China = EVIL, ASIAN, BIG, SCARY. Nice use of the hand chart by Mitt.
7:09 I think Schieffer accidentally just said Obama bin Laden. The real (and still alive and at this moment quite animated) Obama made the first actual mention of taking care of soldiers with PTSD. I'll just mention the work of Drs. David Westwood and David Kuhl (members of the church where I work) for cutting edge therapies to heal soldiers here in Canada.
7:07 In little league there is a mercy rule when one team goes down 10 runs. This is getting ridiculous. #mercyrule
7:05 Now onto Af-Pak. Or is it Pak-Af. To give some credit to Romney his Pakistan answer is pretty decent except of course that is basically already the policy of Obama.
7:00 Obama calls Romney's 'apology' line as the biggest whopper of the campaign. It might be the biggest whopper of the campaign. But this is the biggest whopper I've ever seen:
6:55 Romney looks like a total ahole out here. Obama just wanted to punch Romney out and verbally tore him a new one (a 2nd ahole I guess). Wow.
6:52 Obama really shrewdly says that we are open to offering Iran a way to enter the international community and would welcome it. Romney is on about "American weakness." Romney is really failing.
6:50 If "I'm glad Governor Romney agrees with our policy" was a drinking line I'd be bombed by now. Obama slams him for basically agreeing with him but as he says "wanting to say it louder."
6:45 Obama just dropped a Battleship dig on Romney. Mr. Romney, I've sunk your battleship b#@!%. Also #lesshorsesandbayonets
6:42 Romney is looking really weak through this middle stretch.
6:41 Obama's answer on the military budget and larger budget was much much stronger than Romney.
6:39 Romney just brought up Medicaid? WTF is he doing?
6:36 If you think we need more military spending, you might want to check out this chart.
6:34 "The road to Greece." Can we dance it?
6:33 God I wish I were drinking.
6:28 Romney: Nowhere in the world is American power (influence?) stronger than it was four years ago? Say whaaaat? He also just said that people vote for peace not war (uh, not so much dude).
6:25 Obama's answer on Egypt is his best so far. He connecs the economic dreams of the young in Egypt to those of the US. He then says that we need to nation-build at home rather abroad and that US leadership can only be strong internationally when it is stronger domestically.
6:20 Ok, interesting. Obama is using Qaddafi to criticize Romney on Assad.
6:18 Syria. Basically no difference on this one. We're already on platitutde street. Can we get a Syriana clip?
6:15 There was basically no stuff around Libya. Romney stayed away from that one. Alec MacGillis was right.
6:11 Finally Obama is actually reading of the litany of times Rommey has been wrong, changed his mind to other wrong views, and confused things. They're both feeling a bit off at the beginning.
6:06 I'm not really sure what the hell either of them are really saying. Romney is talking about making the Muslim world better (I have no idea how?). Obama is trying some zingers.
6 pm: And here we go (I almost wrote ego). The audience are temporarily monks, "they have taken a vow of silence."
Pre-Debate: 5pm.
Tonight is the final debate between US President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The moderator is CBS newscaster (and host of Face the Nation) Bob Schieffer.
The topics are set as:
America's Role in the World
Our Longest War--Afghanistan and Pakistan
Red Lines--Iran and Israel
The Changing Middle East and The New Face of Terrorism: I
The Changing Middle East and The New Face of Terrorism: II
The Rise of China and Tomorrow's World
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I've got to work tomorrow so unfortunately I won't be live drinking. Natch.
As others have pointed out this is a ridiculous list given what it does not cover: e.g. Eurozone crisis, environmental global crisis/climate change, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, the legal and illegality of things like drones, targeted hits, and the reach of Presidential power...I could go on.
It's pretty much all Middle East (plus Southwest Asia) all the time. Aka Scary Muslims are coming to kill us all!!!.
Oh right and some scary Chinese at the end. Maybe they could run the Red Dawn remake trailer before that final portion of the debate just to really get the anti-Chinese fervor at full pitch.
Under the rubric of the changing face of The Middle East presumably we will get the inevitable questions around Libya, which Romney botched so badly at the last debate (but for some reason, I guess this one) thinks he can make some hay out of. We might also get a question about Lebanon, in the wake of protests and a high-level assassination. That could also lead into questions around Syria, particularly given the tensions with Turkey, a NATO ally.
Obama's job is basically to say:
I killed bin Laden and a bunch of al Qaeda baddies. I ended the war in Iraq. I've got a plan to end the war in Afghanistan. And Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan have no background in foreign policy and rely on George W. Bush neoconservatives as his foreign policy 'experts'.
I suppose Romney will try to look moderate and yet at the same time warmonger for his base. And just generally to try to do everything but admit what his real policies are.
