Obama
was certainly stronger in this debate than the last time out. Of course he did
so bad the last time that it didn’t take much to see improvement. But his
solution to “be stronger” was pathetic. He talked louder; he lied even more and interrupted more. But he
also had help. Without Candy Crowley’s repeated interruptions of Romney, she
interrupted Romney 28 times to just nine for Obama, and without her inability
to let Romney respond to some of the outright lies of Obama, it made Obama look
way better off than he really was. The bottom line is that Romney stuck to the
facts, stuck to his guns, didn’t really lose his cool and won this debate
despite yet another moderator out to get him. Some of the key takeaways:
1.
Obama ducked two
huge direct questions from Romney during the debate and Crowley helped him do
it.
A question about energy policy came up
early in the debate and Romney turned to Obama and asked him how far down new
drilling permits had fallen under his administration. Rather than answer the
question, Obama went to some BS talking point about how we were drilling more
domestically under him than before. Regardless of the truth that is or isn’t
behind that statement, that wasn’t the question! Fact: New drilling permits are
down 62 percent under Obama. That’s not the way to get energy independent.
The next question Obama ducked was about
investing in China. After Obama yet again accused Romney of investing in
companies that outsource jobs to China, Romney asked Obama was kind of
investments are in his pension. Obama’s pension apparently includes Chinese
investments. Rather than answer, Obama made a snarky comment about how Romney’s
pension was bigger, another attempt
at playing class warfare rather than getting serious about this election. Obama
then turned and looked right at Crowley, all the sudden decided this pension
discussion was off topic. He begged Candy to move on from the topic, it looked
and sounded completely pathetic.
2.
Romney finally
elaborated some on what he means by “China is cheating”.
On a question about why companies have
been outsourcing jobs to China, especially a big name company like Apple,
Romney finally explained what he means when he runs ads that say “China is a
cheater”. He said that China artificially holds down the value of its currency
to make things cheaper, among other things. He said that China steals U.S.
patents and technology, as evidenced by the knock-off Apple stores that have
sprung up in the country recently. Those ads finally make sense to me.
3.
Obama outright
lied about how Arizona S.B. 1070 works.
Obama stood on stage last night
following a question on illegal immigration and told the entire country that
S.B. 1070 allows police to ask for someone’s papers if they just suspect that
the person may be an illegal alien. That is not how the bill works! For those
of us who have actually read and understand the bill, we all know that a person
must be stopped for committing an actual crime first. Once the police have
stopped the person for an actual crime, then they can ask for papers to prove
identification if they have reasonable belief the person may be an illegal.
4.
Answers on
contraception should give Romney a boost.
Romney said last night that he does not
want to cut access to contraception, birth control, etc. if he is elected
president. He is not going to let his personal religious beliefs affect the
government, which is smart and sensible. Of course Obama countered with his
overused rebuttal that Romney wants to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. As
I’ve previously said, Planned Parenthood is essentially a PAC; it donates to
political campaigns and makes campaign commercials. As such, Planned Parenthood
does not deserve federal funding! No group which actively campaigns for one
candidate or against another deserves federal funds. Planned Parenthood isn’t
the only group like this, they are just the most well known. The group has
plenty of other sources it can turn to for funding besides the federal government;
ironically Susan G. Komen is among them.
5.
Obama made
himself look stupid by continuing to cling to his fantasy Romney tax cuts for
the rich.
It is well proven by this point that
Romney’s tax plan is revenue neutral without raising taxes on anyone. It allows
for tax cuts for everyone in America. Six studies have now shown this. Yet
Obama said three times in the first debate and at least twice on Tuesday that
“the governor wants to give the rich a $5 trillion tax cut and raise taxes on the
middle class!” and various restatements of that. The one study Obama keeps
referencing in debates and in his commercials even shows Romney’s plan to be
revenue neutral. Just last week the authors of this study told the Weekly Standard that Obama was misusing
their study. They said that Romney’s plan works with no new taxes. Yet Obama
claims they said Romney would need to raise them. It’s time for Obama to shut
up on this one, but we all know he won’t. Look to see him bring it up again
Monday.
6. Obama YET AGAIN took credit for ending the Iraq War and for killing Bin Laden.
Look, I’ve beaten this one to death in
multiple blogs already and so have so many others in the credible media. Of
course no one on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, or any of the networks seems to be too keen
on pointing out that Obama cannot take credit for either of these things.
7. Romney and his schools claim.
Now I’ve picked up on this, and so have
many of my friends, but that’s probably just because we’re all from Maryland
ourselves. Romney has claimed in both debates so far that Massachusetts has the
best schools in the nation. This title actually belongs to Maryland and has for
the past four years running. But hey, every candidate wants to make himself look
as good as possible and I’m sure that at some point every governor claims to
oversee the best school system in the nation. Just like I’m sure every governor
has at one point said their SAT scores are above the national average, a
statistical impossibility. And if that’s my only major pick about Romney, I
think we’re in good hands.
Jimmy Williams
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