The President has a lot of work to do, before debates 2 and 3... A LOT!!!

The man was utterly and triumphantly belligerent!! Is that how he'd treat foreign leaders? I think we know the answer to that. I get a very sick feeling when even for a second I contemplate that thief going anywhere near the Oval Office. I can just see him rubbing his hands together and smacking his lips at the prospect.

Remember the Summer Olympics and all the screw-ups he made? He raised quite a ruckus and embarrassed our country half to death.

very scary

And I hope it goes back to roughing up the kid who had the nerve to wear his hair long all the way through the first debate. There are so many things that, unless someone is keeping track, some of the gems might fall through the cracks. And we just can't have that.

Romney won this debate, but we haven't had a real game changing debate in decades.

Romney is now running as a liberal Republican. That changes the entire race.

Will he attract more moderates or has he just royally screwed himself with the teabaggers? OR when he out on the campaign trail with Ryan tomorrow, will everything he said tonight simply be etch-a-sketched away?

Romney has escalated his flip-flopping and backtracking to a new level and presented a platform that his base should be shocked at. How much that registers will be up to the press and general word of mouth.

which probably threw President Obama off a bit as well. One might even say that Mitt pulled a Palin and has "gone rogue" on the freepers. Wonder if they will notice or just care that it looks like Mitt beat President Obama like a drum.

I heard from Republicans that they were worried about his performance.

He never brought up the 47% comment. He never brought up Bain. He sort of started to bring up outsourcing but then dropped it. He was on defense most of the time.

In football terms, this was a fumble by the President. It doesnt mean he's lost the game. But Romney might have halted Obama's momentum. Biden now needs to at least hold his own against Ryan, and Obama needs to do very well in debate #2.

Which of course means Republicans will be even more empowered to not work with Obama in a 2nd term. I dont want a squeaker, I want a landslide.

The incumbent is always at a disadvantage...

In a 90-minute debate, it's impossible to explain everything that has happened during the past 4 years, explain every decision, justify every (in)action. He doesn't have time to explain that Republicans spent tons of time in Congress obstructing him. He doesn't have time to explain that he met with and worked with Republicans as much as humanly possible to get a bipartisan healthcare reform plan passed in Congress. All Romney has to do is launch attacks and downplay any progress.