Cartoon of the day

Big Bird, binders of women, bayonets and horses: Was anything left out?

Second debate between Obama and Romney

Annual Dinner

At the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York City on Thursday Mitt Romney had some good Zingers:

“it’s nice to finally relax and wear what Ann and I wear around the house.”

He wished that the president had brought Vice President Joe Biden “because he’ll laugh at anything.”

“In the spirit of Sesame Street, the president’s remarks tonight are brought to you by the letter ‘O’ and the number 16 trillion.”

 Pointing out that both candidates have people they rely heavily on. “I have my beautiful wife, Ann, he’s got Bill Clinton,” Romney joked.

“I never suggest that the press is biased. I recognize they have their job to do and I have a job to do. My job is to lay out a positive vision for the country, and their job is to make sure no one else finds out about it,” he joked.

He jokingly predicted Friday’s headlines about the charity dinner would read something like, “Obama Embraced by Catholics, Romney Dines With Rich People.”

Obama actually believed he won the first debate

When I read this article I was stunned.  And it made my opinion of Obama even lower.  My first thought was "Who does he think he is?"

• Obama believes he'd got the better of Romney as he walked off stage to the dismay of his aides, according to a Democrat close to the campaign
• The President failed to prepare properly, opting instead to visit the Hoover Dam the day before the showdown
• Democrat claims he was so disdainful of Romney that he didn't think he needed to even engage with him
• Had one-liners on 47% prepared but chose not to use them

When President Barack Obama stepped off the stage in Denver last week the 60 million Americans watching the debate against Mitt Romney already knew it had been a disaster for him.
But what nobody knew, until now, was that Obama believed he had actually won.
In an extraordinary insight into the events leading up to the 90 minute showdown which changed the face of the election, a Democrat close to the Obama campaign today reveals that the President also did not take his debate preparation seriously, ignored the advice of senior aides and ignored one-liners that had been prepared to wound Romney.
The Democrat said that Obama's inner circle was dismayed at the 'disaster' and that he believed the central problem was that the President was so disdainful of Romney that he didn't believe he needed to engage with him.
'President Obama made it clear he wanted to be doing anything else - anything - but debate prep,' the Democrat said. 'He kept breaking off whenever he got the opportunity and never really focused on the event.
'He went into the debate armed with a number of one-liners to throw at Romney, including at least two about Romney not caring about 47 per cent of the country. But he decided not to use them.'
The Democrat, who is aligned with the Obama campaign and has been an unofficial adviser on occasions, said that David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, was stunned that the President left the stage feeling that he had won the debate.
'To his credit, the President believes that debates are about substance rather than performance. He felt that his argument about the direction this country should take was much stronger than Romney's. Unfortunately, that's not the way modern debates work.'
During his debate preparation in Henderson, Nevada, Obama broke off to visit a campaign field office. There, he joked with a volunteer about how his advisers were 'keeping me indoors all the time' to practice. 'It's a drag. They're making me do my homework.'
Obama also decided to take a break to visit the Hoover Dam. 'Its spectacular, and I've never seen it before,' he told reporters during the visit, which came about because an aide had mentioned the dam was nearby. I said, 'Well, we've got to go check it out".'
Even before the debate, some advisers were worried that Obama, who had been distracted and detached during some of the sessions in which Senator John Kerry had played Romney, would have an off night.
But in his closing statement in Denver, Obama said that it had been 'a terrific debate and I very much appreciate it' - an upbeat comment that reflected his view that he had at the very least held his own against Romney.
But he then delivered a line that bemused his advisers: 'You know, four years ago, I said that I'm not a perfect man and I wouldn't be a perfect president. And that's probably a promise that Governor Romney thinks I've kept.'
The Democrat said: 'It was as bad as "likeable enough". The President thought he was being bitingly sarcastic about what he saw as Romney's overly-aggressive performance. But to your swing voter it was as if he was waving the white flag of surrender.' 
His 'likeable enough' allusion was a reference to a Democratic primary debate in 2008 when Obama had said to his rival Hillary Clinton: 'You're likeable enough, Hillary'. At the time, Obama felt he was being light-hearted and casual but viewers saw it as Obama being arrogant and condescending.

The Democrat would not reveal what the attack lines were that Obama failed to deliver 'because we may well see the Vice President using them against Ryan'.

Vice President Joe Biden faces Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, in a debate in Danville, Kentucky on Thursday. It will be the only time the two men - one of who was born in 1942, the other in 1970 - will debate.
Biden, 69, is vastly more experienced that the 42-year-old Ryan. The Obama campaign is counting on him to vigorously attack the Romney-Ryan ticket in a way that the President did not.
Although it took Obama more than 24 hours, the Democrat said, to concede that Romney had soundly beaten him, the President's aides realised immediately they had a major problem.
Almost immediately, the campaign's central message that Romney was a captive of the hard-Right wing of his party was shifted to portraying him as a flip-flopper.
At the same time, the campaign decided to accuse Romney of lying in the debate and also sought to highlight his comments about cutting public funding of the PBS network by making hay with the republican's quip that 'I love Big Bird'.
The Romney campaign believes that the result has been disjointed and reeks of panic.
On a press conference call the day after the debate, Axelrod said the campaign would take 'a hard look' at what had happened and would 'make some judgements about where to draw the lines in these debates and how to use our time'.
He is understood to have taken charge of debate preparation and be planning on longer, more streamlined sessions with fewer people present.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215173/Obama-believed-beaten-Romney-Denver-debate-ignoring-advice-aides.html

Debate between Obama and Romney

I was flying on an airplane while the debate was going on between Romney and Obama.  I was praying very hard that Romney would do a great job.  As we were driving home we were listening to a liberal talk show and we heard them say that Mitt Romney won the debate.  We were very excited.  It was interesting listening to them talk about some of the sound bites.  I was anxious to listen to it for myself which I did the next morning.  But the most interesting thing was what the media was saying about it all.  Romney definitely won according to the CNN poll that night.  67% for Romney to 25%. Then there were the democrats who were trying to explain why Obama did so badly.

Bill Maher, who donated 1 million to Obama's campaige tweeted after the debate, "i can't believe i'm saying this, but Obama looks like he DOES need a teleprompter."  and he also said "Looked like he took my million and spent it all on weed."

"Where was Obama tonight?!" Chris Mathews cried

Al Gore said on Current TV "I'm going to say something controversial here, Obama arrived in Denver at 2 p.m. today, just a few hours before the debate started. Romney did his debate prep in Denver. When you go to 5,000 feet, and you only have a few hours to adjust, I don't know ..." 

Brit Hume's take on the debate (It is exactly how I thought when I saw the debate)  “This idea that Romney won the debate because Obama basically didn’t show up – I don’t buy that. The Barack Obama I heard on that debate stage was the Barack Obama I’ve been listening to now for four years. He sounded very much like himself. I don’t think he was terribly bad, I think he has a very weak case… The president is saddled with weak circumstances and therefore a weak case. And it is not surprising to me that he didn’t argue it very well. The other thing is, despite this reputation of being this world class orator, well maybe he is with a set piece speech. But there is not much evidence in the past that he was a great debater. So I don’t think this thing was as big a shock as supporters on the left feel. I think they thought he was 10 feet tall. He’s not 10 feet tall. He never has been.“ 

Another Cartoon using the chair.

Obama and the UN

This year Obama made the decision not to meet with any of the world leaders while they were in New York for the United Nations General  Assembly.   The last time they they were here, he met with alot of world leaders.  This year he said that his schedule did not allow it.  His press secretary said he can talk to them on the phone anytime.  But it was interesting that he had the time to go on The View and do more fundraisers!!  What kind of president do we have?   Here is a cartoon that made me laugh!

 

Obama believes in Redistribution

Here is Barak Obama speaking in 1998 about redistribution and giving everyone a fair shot.

"What that means then is that as we try to resuscitate this notion that we’re all in this thing together, leave nobody behind, we do have to be innovative and thinking what are the delivery systems that are actually effective and meet people where they live. And my suggestion, I guess would be that the trick, and this is one of the few areas where I think there are technical issues that have to be dealt with as opposed to just political issues. I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure everybody’s got a shot."

Katrina Trinko, a journalist, noted, "The theme isn’t that much different from what he’s constantly saying on the stump, talking about giving everyone fair shots and how the rich should pay more in taxes. But he is careful now to not say “redistribution.” "