Not one example of how Obama previously has lied during a debate to back up this vague statement about future events. Mitt's crystal ball must be cloudy today.

to wax profound on all of Mitt's little digressions from reality, his projection, and maybe that bit about Mormons being OK with lies as long as they serve God's (i.e the Church's) purposes. And then of course the White Horse prophecy.

remember three are pointing in your direction

Fuck this pathological LIAR

other violent thieves.

Romney has nothing else.

If he does, though, expect Obama to serve him Mitt-ass flambe with Fudd sauce.


In 1980 "zingers" were just not the style for presidential debates. No matter what else went on, that wasn't considered appropriate in political/press circles. But Reagan ignored them and played to his real audience, the people watching on television.

As an actor and public speaker Reagan had plenty of experience in presenting himself to an audience and "interacting" with them even when doing so remotely (on camera or an audio recording). His reputation as "The Great Communicator" may be overblown by his fanclub, but it wasn't pulled from thin air, either.

On top of that, in 1980 Reagan had a purloined copy of Carter's debate briefing book.* He knew the things Carter planned to bring up, lines of argument, etc. Just what he needed to plan in advance ways of hitting Carter hard, to press an advantage or defuse a strong point by Carter. All he had to do was wait for a good moment to deploy his line.

Romney has no such advantage in style, experience, or inside information, and in fact he's telegraphing his intent. Since every politician since Reagan has been angling to have their own "there you go again" moment, counters to that are a bit more developed than they were in 1980. And neither Obama nor his team are dumb enough to ignore that.

If Mitt really tries to use that line, my guess is that he'll end up wishing his pants had fallen down instead. Or at least his staffers will, since Mitt's too tone-deaf to know to be embarrassed.


*The Debate book story sometimes gets garbled in retelling. George Will did not steal it. That was done by some other Reagan sympathizer with White House access. What Will did is participate in Reagan's prep work (he played the Carter part in practice sessions). Then, after the debate, he sung the praises of Reagan's performance without disclosing either the purloined playbook or his direct participation with the Reagan campaign. Will was a known conservative advocate so no one was surprised at his praise for Reagan, but he was still in a position where he was commenting as a journalist and journalistic ethics would be to disclose those not-insignificant facts.

I smell a landslide.

don't answer the questions, just go into a pre-prepared speech.