I didn't think I could have heard it right...I was multitasking and I thought for a minute my brain has short-circuited.

Romney had followed that "only what you think is important" comment with "I had a speech yesterday where I discussed Afghanistan".

The problem is, MSNBC checked that speech from "yesterday" and he had all of two short sentences about Afghanistan. Something pretty generic too, like "we're involved in a war in Afghanistan", andf not much else

I watched the speech...oddly enough, if my mind recalls correctly, he might have been speaking to VETS while he said it.

So like a good businessman, he doesn't care for which or what doesn't give him a profit.

Grrrrrrrr!

I did a double take when I heard it, but that is EXACTLY what he said.

for me, I am running for president". Just on the same line. The man is cluess.

the Dems won't have to try to box him in. He'll do it all by himself.

If you saw or read Game Change, they recount that Palin was so bad in debate prep that they decided to just give her a couple dozen answers and had her memorize them. They knew, roughly, what the questions would be.

Romney will do the same thing. He'll memorize some answers and pablum and just mix it up enough to fill the time.

Where he is bad is when he ad libs. He thinks he has a favorable setting with Fox news so when they ask him questions he doesn't like he gets pissy (like he did today) and says stupid stuff.

Won't happen in the debate. IMHO.

Those hollow answers don't answer attacks very well.

I think Obama is going to eat him up like he is chicken dinner.

his milkshake.

he has ignored the advice he has been given previously during his campaign. He's used to 'running the show', telling others what to do and doesn't take kindly to being told what to do himself.

I'm hoping he tries to make a $10K bet with the President like he did with Perry. That didn't go over well, but he refuses to admit past mistakes and just doubles down. Hey, $20K bet!

if he feels goaded and that has been, without exception, a disaster.

Palin was more self assured than Mitt is, or at least her persona is, but Mitt is smarter. If they could polish that turn Palin and get her through a debate, they can do it to Romney too.

Out best ammunition to use against Mitt is going to come from interviews, just like it did with Palin. Remember, "what papers did you read" "what supreme court decision do you disagree with" "do you agree with the Bush doctrine" "I can see Russia from my house/state"? All came from two interviews. I can't think of a memorable line from Palin during the debate. She was destroyed in her interviews, not in her debate.

The debates will not turn the tide. Hope and pray Mitt keeps giving interviews, and that Ann does too. Or that they clam up so tight the media gets pissed. I'm not banking on any swing from the debates.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not pessimistic about the election. It's just that I think its a ground game/get out the vote. We gotta make sure everyone gets to the polls and gets to vote.

a valid comparison. Palin was debating Joe Biden who did not go on full attack mode with her knowing he would be portrayed as bullying a woman so she got off VERY easy and still made a mess of it, imo.

Certainly Romney's own words are his biggest weakness, that and his secretiveness, both of which, when he is questioned on them, puts him into a defensive mode and when that happens, he tends to go 'off message' and ad libs, ad libs which tend to create even bigger problems for him.

I totally agree it is, in the final analysis, the ground game/get out the vote that will ensure a win but the debates do play a part in influencing the 2 - 5% that are undecided, imo.

Obama is going to be able to hit hard and cruely to romney and I think the public is going to approve in this instance. Holding a liar to his words is fair game.

Just look at his gaffes so far. He hasn't a clue.

went something like.. "hey mitt, if you don't like the cuts stay away from the propeller."!

I am sure that just makes our Troops feel great to know he doesn't give a damn to even think about them. I bet in Rmoney's mind he sees our Brave Soldiers as little plastic game pieces to move across a checkerboard only if he was in command he would be as stupid as to just keep jumping his own pieces.

He always seems to have this insincere chuckle when he's being asked to talk about something he doesn't think he should have to talk about. It's creepy.

I thought I remembered him doing just that but watched the video clip to make sure and, yep, he made a bad joke, did the creepy chuckle and then gave the worst possible answer.

That chuckle IS creepy and I think you're right it is a 'tell'.

...and that is definitely a tell, isn't it? It sort of says, "I'm doing my best to seem outwardly affable, but I am a smoldering cauldron of rage on the inside." Or something like that.

he becomes both angry and defensive which results in the dismissive chuckle and an arrogant, inappropriate answer. He has done this time and time again. A definite tell.

hee
hee
hee

How could he not be prepared for it?

I couldn't believe it until I watched the video earlier today...my friends still in the Army currently deployed won't like this bit of news at all !!

Poorly educated workforce, infrastructure in ruins, bombs going off all the time - where's the profit potential?

Besides, we're revving up to invade Syria and nuke Iran under the Willard regime.

I haven't been this scared of a candidate since Goldwater.

Mitt laid low waiting for the jobs report so he could pounce with his lies. He started the day spewing cheap talking points about jobs and touting numbers unsubstantiated by anything he has offered in the way of policy. Actually, his policies are a secret.

Mitt ends the day on the defensive because in defense of omitting any reference to the troops serving in harms way in Afghanistan, he states he did so because our troops didn't make the cut of the "laundry list" of "important" things that he needed to mention in his speech.

Mitt, get off the stage!

surely some generation has a better claim to that?

it would completely kill that candidate's chance at winning the election. Amazing how much of a pass the Republicans get on this particular topic.