I was dreading the questions of these purportedly undecided voters. I've heard them at previous debates, and sometimes they are just dreadful. Last night, with a couple of exceptions, I thought the questions were really well considered, fair, and aimed at really opening up discussion, allowing the candidates to make their points.

The "how would you be different from G W Bush" question was a stroke of brilliance, imo. Romney sort of dodged it, but Obama was able to get a real zinger in there!

She screened the questions and probably coached the questioners. I thought they were rather pointed questions, each carefully planned to press the first speaker in an area that he would rather not talk about, and therefore made for a very balanced evening.

If there was any bias, it was in saving the knockout question for the last one, which very much worked to Obama's favor. I bet Obama could hardly believe his good fortune when he heard that last question read to Romney.

The question itself was an empty vessel, allowing Obama to easily transition to a strong closing statement.

What do you believe is the biggest misperception that the American people have about you as a man and a candidate? Using specific examples, can you take this opportunity to debunk that misperception and set us straight?

Obama was probably considering playing the 47% card anyway, but Romney sealed the deal when he went with:

I care about 100 percent of the American people. I want 100
percent of the American people to have a bright and prosperous future.
I care about our kids.

One of several big blunders by Romney during this debate.

he kept giving Candy "the hand" when she was talking like: stifle yourself, woman!
There is a difference between commanding and domineering, and the republicans still haven't learned the difference.

CROWLEY: Let me get the governor in here, Mr. President. Let's speak to, if you could...

ROMNEY: Yes.

CROWLEY: ...the idea of self-deportation?

ROMNEY: No, let - let - let me go back and speak to the points that the president made and - and - and let's get them correct. I did not say that the Arizona law was a model for the nation in that aspect. I said that the E-Verify portion of the Arizona law, which is - which is the portion of the law which says that employers could be able to determine whether someone is here illegally or not illegally, that that was a model for the nation. That's number one.

================

It doesn't come through so much in the transcript, but his tone of voice was very dismissive -- a real prick. He could have made that exact same point without being a jerk, without insulting the moderator. After all, the question was still on immigration (self-deportation) and he easily could have included his comments about the Arizona law into that answer.

Instead he reverted to his natural one-percenter disposition. Did that factor into Crowley's treatment of him later in the debate? If he had not tried to cut her legs out from under her, would have have fact-checked him on the Rose Garden comment? We'll never know, but he failed to appreciate the considerable power the moderator held in that situation.

Romney isn't nearly as smart as some people want us to believe.

on her job last night IMO.

and choosing which questions would be aired.

but she did as good a job as anyone in any debate in that capacity, I think.

I wish she wasn't a CNN/Repug turd like she is, because she has a lot of talent - too bad she uses her powers for evil instead of good.

**** him.

He said that Flip-Flopper ignored the agreed-upon debate rules as a sign that he was "above" rules and that rules were for "the little people". Reflecting the theme of Hayes last book....

I've been reading his columns since about '83 and it's been like that all along.

Does he mean televised debates? He should have said that then. Poor boy's losing it. He needs to go stare at his manly baseball card collection.