isn't going to work.

Almost no one will. Only one person on that stage looked like a President. The other looked like a smirking, condescending, disrespectful asshole, even with the sound off. America may be filled with dumb fucks, but Obama's strategy has already worked and last night did not change that.

There certainly weren't enough to save Romney, just enough to make it easier for republicans to steal the election electronically.

all i know is Obama lost the debate last night, and he never should have.

It was all in his control.

He was defensive. He didn't have to attack, he just had to remember some simple lines to point out the hypocrisies of the Mittens.

We're both voting for him.

But still feel, we should point out when something isn't right and might put a win for us in jeopardy.

Your view of the debate mirrors mine in my posts on Huffington Post.

I am so mad at Obama. He had the eyes & ears of 60 million Americans and he BLEW it BIG TIME !!!

As the debate progressed and Obama kept staring at his podium, the pit in my stomach started growling, "Why is he doing this. Is he trying to lose the Presidency on purpose or is he SO uncomfortable leading the race that he had to sabotage his own campaign?

Obama always had our votes. It is the dumbfucks votes that were needed and he BLEW IT !!!!!

trying to keep track of Romney's lies. And Romney's constant attempts to lock eyes with Obama was a VERY CLEAR intimidation tactic. Obama wasn't playing. He was taking notes and listening and THINKING while Romney spouted off, and when it was his turn to speak, he looked up and addressed the moderator or the camera (which is what you're supposed to DO on Television--engage the viewer).

Ridiculous. Some people are saying Obama was being too condescending, others, like you, flying-skeleton, say he was being cower--you can't BOTH be right. The truth is in the middle: Obama was actively listening, planning his strategy, and not playing into Romney's mind games.

PEOPLE WHO TALK ABOUT THE DEBATES INFLUENCE OTHERS! I really hope we're not all fucking HAND WRINGING around the water cooler today because then WE might convince some undecideds who, like me, to didn't think Obama did that badly, that he lost handily!

PULL YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!!!

I am saying that if he performs the way he did last night in the next two debates, it is not a winning strategy.

That is all.

You think he should remain the same, make no adjustments?

Some will be satisfied with nothing less than blood on the floor and an angry, in-your-face Obama. Angry Obama would be a costly mistake.

Saying he had a bad night and should have done better, is helpful.

Saying he did everything right and everyone else (most people) who believes differently is wrong, is not helpful.

He didn't have to be angry, he could have innocently pointed out that he saved 716B in medicare costs, and that is wasn't a cut!

He could have pointed out that Romney, or at least ask, if Romney was going to do away with the mortgage credit. And what that would mean to people.

He got them from cutting out Medicare fraud, brought up the Cleveland clinic, where doctors got ONE TEST to go from, instead of a series of overlapping tests, saving money.

He also stated that millions of seniors who were paying as much as 50% more for a special add-on to Medicare, but not getting better coverage or better results, were placed in the standard, less-costly MediCare.

except, I hope, the Pres' prep team

Otherwise, I'll need to move to New Zealand or something.

right. I have a large diabetic website I've had since 1996. I heard from a lot of them last night and this morning. Almost all like Obama and as of now will vote for him. But I got a lot of comments like "How come he wasn't more forceful?" "Why didn't he mention the 47 per cent thing?" "Was he tired?" Stuff like that. Myself, I think his handlers went with a low-key strategy that would depend upon an educated alert audience. Biden's debate will now take on a much more important role, imo.

has to fall to level of those "dumb f....s." Independent voters can see through Robme's hysteria and lies last night. Anyone who is undecided by these two totally different candidates at the time of this debate is not too intelligent.

It resulted in DISASTER with a Bush in the Whitehouse ......... TWICE !!!!!!!! @$%%###%&&%$##$%

John Q Public believes reality TV is real. Obama needs to punch back hard next time!

I'm afraid, as the other poster said, a lot of voters, undecideds in particular, might respond better to Romney's tactic. How one remains undecided up to this point is beyond me in the first place.

I remember the story about Adlai Stevenson, where a supporter at a rally once shouted to him, "We love you, Senator. You're going to get the vote of every intelligent American." Stevenson's response, "That's not enough. I need a MAJORITY."

Never underestimate the amount of STUPID in the U.S.

nothing has changed. Romney has been doing that this entire campaign. Why does anyone suddenly think it's going to be a successful strategy?

I mean, the guy stood there and rattled off not only lies, but also the most unpopular positions he has embraced. Repealing Obamacare? Did he forget his own running mate was booed by seniors?

and his Big Bird Destruction? If we had any on our side at all, they'd have done that and all the buzz would be about Rmoney's flip flops and lies. Well at least Big Bird did Rmoney in all by itself.

That is the problem.

I still think he's going to win, but he has made it a bit more difficult with his performance last night.

It was on the economy! It should have been a slam dunk against the corporate hack.

Instead of going on about the President not doing it, which he cannot (he has to appear civilized) THEY could have done it! They could have chosen to ream RMONEY, not Obama. But it is interesting they choose to pass judgment on Obama rather than help in any way. Rush and Hannity you can bet would have done the opposite.

Obama needed to make his own case.

Would you like it if they did that for Romney?

Romney won the debate, plain and simple, in this day and age, in this political environment.

Romney did not win the election.

So, Obama has to show up for the next debate more prepared. That's how it's done.

The news today, is that his debate performance was pretty bad. That's news I guess.

They don't luxuriate in "he must be perfect and make his own case." They do not depend passively on Rmoney to do it all. That's how someone who is anti-choice, anti-global warming, likes to fire people, outsourced jobs, won't show all of his tax returns, has accounts in the Caymans, thinks marriage is between a man and a woman only, has any chance at all.

will be that Obama performed badly.

it's news. They have to report it.

I hope Obama is hearing it, because if he felt he did good, like some here do, I am not looking forward to the next debate.

as has been said countless times, all the media needed was for Romney not to sh*t himself and he would be proclaimed the winner. You were living in fantasy land if you thought the media wouldn't want to keep this a horserace by embracing Obama under any circumstance. Romney was going to get a victory last night as far as the M$M was concerned. And the best they can do is say Obama looked tired (He runs the f*ckin' free world). MUCH better than "OH NOEZ, SCARY ANGRY BLACK MAN!!!!!!!"

Sincerely
CALM THE FUCK DOWN.

not the one he wishes he had.

Because a lot of what is being suggested for him would give the M$M even more. However, there is no reason not to support him. You're agreeing he has no media on his side. Then quit judging him and be a help.

People go on about Citizens United and the right having money. the right has the media too. That means we have to work harder, not sit by much more passively than the right would and just complain that the candidates could not do it by themselves.

is fodder for the pundits and fact-checkers to bat around like a shuttlecock. Body language - that's what made me groan. Watch it again - this time with the sound off. Mitt held his ugly mug up ALL the time - whether you like looking at it or not. But the times he was countering the president, the president was looking down - eyes not visible to the camera - sometimes slightly shaking his head in denial of things Rmoney was saying. During those pregnant moments, I got the visual message that Obama was being scolded by Mittens and was hanging his head in shame - like a kid that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I sure hope his advisers SEE that and coach him to keep his head up at all times.
What these two utter on stage - every word is important. But physical posture and stance also says volumes. What I >saw< was a guy who looked like the same guy that's gone - hat in hand - to congress to grovel WAY TOO MANY times.

I wasn't going out of my way to see it that way.

Rmoney was smirking the whole time he listened.

Obama looked a couple times like he was trying not to laugh.

What some don't seem to understand is that no matter what either candidate did, Romney was going to "win" this one, because the media needed him to win. They can't have their horse race and its associated ratings without them. Mitt won only because they declared him as such. If they were objective, he would not only have lost, he would have been disqualified for ignoring the debate rules. But, they're not objective.

They would have adjusted their reactions accordingly had the polls before been different.

For that reason, there is no reason to give them credibility and for people to adopt their opinions.

However, I think the ads coming out now after the debate should call Robme on all his lies. That still makes me wish Obama had just casually mentioned that what Robme was saying didn't "ring true." He didn't have to be mean - just honest. It was a big disappointment.

This must be a command from the top but Big Ed and Tweety didn't help mitigate against the shit stirring

I thought Chris Matthews was going to cry when he was discussing the debate, and Ed seemed completely dumbfounded by Obama not bringing up Romney's lies.

..“Pundits are calling out Obama for not calling out Romney's lies, BUT NOT ROMNEY FOR THE LYING"

These people are useless and we need to stop being fans of them and letting them decide how we see things. They are not on our side, period.

Since he's been lambasting Obama since last night.

That whole MSNBC crew was having a meltdown. Tweety, OMG.

to make Obama look weak - knowing that the president has more class than he does and wouldn't stoop to being a hysterical, manic idiot spewing lies.

Sad, but true.

I'm very worried....

They can't change a thing because they don't vote.

And here's a clue - the loud, stupid ones who ARE registered to vote won't be voting for the president

The people that you think you've cowed by yelling at them into accepting your political point-of-view.

They get into the voting booth and say to themselves, "Fuck that guy, Mitt is a stinking turd, I'm voting for Obama."

Its not the President's job to call a known liar, a liar.

There are some truly stupid people in this country.

This was our first real look at Romney under pressure.

He reminded me of Nixon sweating. Romney was hyper and hyperventilating and clearly agitated.

Obama just let everyone focus on Mitt. Campaign ads to follow.

I think it was P.T. Barnum who said " nobody ever got poor by over-estimating the intelligence of the average man", or something to that effect.

"well", ahem, it worked when Kerry depended on the "intelligence" of Americans instead of going after Bush's lies, distortions and ignorant attacks. Just sayin'.