Obama wins debate as gloves come off and punches thrown -- President strong on Libya and women but Romney hung tough
By: Patrick Roberts | Published Friday, December 21, 2012, 8:23 PM | Updated Friday, December 21, 2012, 8:23 PM
President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney participate in the second presidential debate at Hofstra University (Credit: ABC)
The gloves came off in the second presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, and it was clear after 90-plus minutes that each man actively disliked the other.
Unlike the first debate, there was no knockout punch, despite the fact that a lot more blows were thrown, but Obama will be happier that he finally went toe to toe with Romney, unlike his insipid performance in the first debate.
Obama won the debate on several key issues and the CNN poll showing a 46 per cent than 39 per cent for Obama was about right.
On Libya, Obama had his best moment of the debate, one that drew applause from the audience when he accused Romney of playing politics with the tragedy of our ambassador and three of his aides who were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi last month.
Conservative bloggers were hoping all night that the Libya question would be raised, but when it was, Romney fluffed it, giving an incorrect version of what the president said in the White House Rose Garden the day after the attack.
Obama’s other best moments were on women’s issues and also strangely linked to foreign policy when he talked about ending the war in Iraq, killing Osama bin Laden, and drawing down our troops in Afghanistan.
Romney’s strong moments came when he listed a litany of broken promises Obama made before he became president, but failed to keep after taking office.
Overall, however, Romney seemed far less at ease than he was in the first debate, and it seemed clear that the town hall format didn’t suit him as well as lining up at a lectern CEO style without intervention from an audience.
The question remains whether last night’s debate will move the needle for Obama even a point or two in what has become an extremely tight election.
Democrats have a better ground game than Republicans. Obama had no primary challenger, and the Democrats were able to marshal their forces across the country and focus on issues like early voting and absentee ballots which experts say are trending in their direction.
But Obama’s biggest fear must be that enough Americans will decide that it is time for a change, and that Romney has performed sufficiently well to trust him with that change.
If that occurs, a great debate performance may not change enough minds.
With 21 days to go until Election Day, the odds still favor Obama because of the Electoral College math and the fact that he continues to hold slight but consistent leads in key states like Ohio.
There was a sense before this debate that momentum had shifted significantly to Romney.
Afterwards it was clear that most observers believe that Obama did enough to stop that slide. But it would be a brave person to call this election with under three weeks to go.
There are still mistakes to be made, accusations to take flight, and who knows, maybe even another October surprise.
Please note Obama's plan to extend the Bush tax rates for those making less than $250,000 is only for one year. Makes you wonder why it's not permanent. Perhaps because that's where all the money is. If the government took everything from the wealthy it would be peanuts compared to what they can get from the middle class. As a middle class American that concerns me.
joanxis | Oct 22, 2012, 06:51 PM EDT
BrianO, Men aren't the only ones who work 2 and 3 jobs. I worked 3 jobs for quite a few years because I couldn't make it on a teacher's salary. And I didn't work in the summer. I worked 3 jobs all at the same time. Just wanted you to know.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:04 PM EDT
Ephraim , divide and conquer, face citizen against citizen. Make people hate. I believe in the individual. I do not hate a person for success. I do not spit on a person for being poor. I would prefer a poor man rise to a better place than to attack a man for his success. I sold product to make a living, the biggest and most frustrating part of my work was dealing with the state and federal bureaucracies, makes it harder and harder for one person businesses to make a decent wage.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 09:38 PM EDT
eiriamach - I worry that he does not even understand the fairy tale of the trickle-down machine beloved of the GOP. He swears his 20% tax rate reduction will be balanced by excising deductions leaving the 1% paying the same in taxes. If these lords of job creation are left without new money, what will they invest to create all the new jobs he promises. OOPS! Magical Mitt the Mendacious needs to go back to robbing pensions and leave the math to his friend Ryan. His 0% on capital gains would give the 1% lots of dollars with which to prime their mythical machine.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 09:21 PM EDT
BrianO - And one of those "few reasons" is "to promote the general welfare." Note that is the "GENERAL WELFARE" not the welfare of the 1% who are doing quite well with out the government's help. My point is that while the GOP tries to make folks think that the tax burden has been increasing, for the 1%, it has drastically decreased. Their decrease has been dramatically greater than in lower brackets. Just a bone now and then to keep the masses quiet while their economy is stolen.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:20 AM EDT
Ephraim, it's true over the years more or less of a persons wealth has been confiscated by government. As I continue to talk to a wall, I remind you that government produces no income it only distributes confiscated income from it's citizens. Some confiscate more or less. To your list of rates please list deductions and exemptions for the period to get a net number. My only concession is that their are a few reasons for the confiscation of the citizens money, they are written in the Constitution of the US, that is the contract we are bound by, all else is theft.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:11 AM EDT
Eiriamach, it is true with more and more of the middle classes money taken by taxation and regulation it requires 2 parents to work. The children are left to be raised by some third party, not mothers or fathers. The socialist model loves this, attack the family, attack religion. Nice way to change the subject, maternal instincts do exist, parents make sacrifices to raise their children. Men tend to work longer hours, take second and third jobs to provide for their families. If you want to tell me men and women are exactly the same then you are right. I submit that women and men are different. Maybe someday in your utopia men will be impregnated, give birth, and have that special bond with their children. On a personal note, my 3 children never spent a day in daycare, my wife and I both worked, It was chaotic but well worth it as they have grown into good citizens, they know the Constitution, and attend mass.
eiriamach | Oct 19, 2012, 07:32 AM EDT
BrianO is trying to help the GOP legitimize paying women less. He writes, "a great number of women leave the workforce to raise their families, you know being a mother." Very few women besides Ann Romney have that luxury! Businesses will value women's work equally when FATHERS value domestic work equally. There's nothing stopping a man from taking 3 months' family leave when a new baby arrives! If each spouse can afford a leave, the child will have the benefit of bonding with father and mother before entering day care and school. Not since the 1960s has the traditional gender-role thinking of child care and homemaking being "women's work" made sense to anyone. Come into the 21st century and do your half, BrianO.
eiriamach | Oct 19, 2012, 07:18 AM EDT
That's scary Ephraim, for the folks whom Mitt calls job creators. He says you shouldn't frighten them with threats of higher taxes. Mitt sells himself as the Great Job Creator. His favorite line is "Government doesn't create jobs!" So why is he running for the top government job? He belongs in the private sector, where, he promises, the one percent will create jobs for everyone else-- if we don't tax their dividends and capital gains (leaving most of their income tax-free). Why should we believe him? Well, he did spend decades creating jobs in the private sector -- jobs in India, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other cheap-labor areas. His profit-leeching firm, Bain Capital, sent 750 jobs from GS Steel of Kansas City out of the USA; Bain soaked DDi Corporation, Dade Intern'l, and KB toys for a net loss of more than 5,000 American jobs. Other Bain deals sent entire businesses out of the country, like Experian, which he sold to a British firm at a $600 Million profit for Bain investors. He knows how to make money for sure, but not to help the govt and not to re-employ American workers.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:22 AM EDT
Or maybe a top rate of 90% like it was post WWII would be more appropriate!
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:18 AM EDT
BrianO - How about these rates from 1964:
(Marginal Tax Brackets Married Filing Jointly) Tax.Rate..Over...............But.Not.Over
47.5%...$260,570.................$289,522
50.5%...$289,522.................$318,474
53.5%...$318,474.................$376,379
56.0%...$376,379.................$463,235
58.5%...$463,235.................$550,092
61.0%...$550,092.................$636,949
63.5%...$636,949.................$723,805
66.0%...$723,805.................$868,566
68.5%...$868,566...............$1,013,327
71.0%...$1,013,327.............$1,158,088
73.5%...$1,158,088.............$1,302,849
75.0%...$1,302,849.............$1,447,610
76.5%...$1,447,610.............$2,895,221
77.0%...$2,895,221......................-
How's that for scary, Clinton/Obama's 39% for the over $250,000 crowd seems pretty tame by comparison. If we went back to those rates, maybe our economy could repatriate some of the commonwealth stolen from the 99% during the Cheney/Bush years by the 1%.
seanomelb | Oct 18, 2012, 06:32 PM EDT
All two of them Stiofan,
conorsmom | Oct 18, 2012, 03:51 PM EDT
Hey jetsnoone were you wearing your white cape and hood while you typed your message?
Be very careful of how Mittens whats to create jobes! Can anyone say "Drill baby, Drill"? He will deregulate EVERYTHING he can get his hands on and make us even a bigger mess than we are now!
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 01:48 PM EDT
Sorry Eiriamach I didn't see you other post.
The labor of citizens pay for all the agency's you listed. Think how much good could be accomplished if citizens didn't have to pay for all these bureaucracies. but stick with the "I'm from the government and I'm here to help approach.
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 01:44 PM EDT
Was that expensive or expansive. Another stat that can be manipulated, but why is it that women on average make less? Could it be that a great number of women leave the workforce to raise their families, you know being a mother. More women tend to leave the corporate world than men do. This work doesn't seem to count to the left as being valuable, and a number cannot be applied to it. But go ahead use the alphabet soup that is the government to sue business and hurt all. You believe in litigation and punishment, lower the bar for all.
olovely | Oct 18, 2012, 12:35 PM EDT
Obama is going to be re-elected. Only the most deluded Tea Party relics think otherwise now. Romeny's binders full of women is about to sink him.
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 12:05 PM EDT
BrianO, I didn't mention the EEOC and other anti-discrimination enforcement agencies together with the federal court system, which make it possible for me and others like me to earn our 77 percent of what you and others like you earn (the average male income). These try to protect you from liability as they help protect my (unequal) income, so I'll add them to your list of "defense, border control, and interstate commerce" as absolutely essential to justice. You're delusional about being able to succeed without the work of expensive government agencies.
Searlit | Oct 18, 2012, 11:57 AM EDT
Great post McNamara31!
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 11:53 AM EDT
A set of government agencies and government-supported institutions, such as schools and hospitals with government grants, agencies like FDA, HHS, NLRB, SEC, and FDIC and other fed insurance agencies, US embassies working with foreign governments, etc., etc. all allowed you and enabled you to acquire your wealth, BrianO, and the effort of hard-working employees supplied the actual work required! We're all in this economy together, except that those at the bottom are currently picking up the tab for those at the top, as the Bush-era statistics clearly show.
McNamara31 | Oct 18, 2012, 11:34 AM EDT
For all who actually watched the presidential debates(and GOP primaries)I ask one question: Do you want a president or do you want an arrogant Gordon Gekko who rolls over your every word like you don't exist? If you turn off FOX for a day, you will find: the stock market which feeds our 401K's and pension plans has doubled since Obama took office. People with pre-existing conditions (nearly everyone over 50) have medical insurance, unemployment has steadily decreased, we're out of Iraq and leaving Afghanistan,the American car industry and feeder companies were saved. The other guy told the car industry "to fail", will end medicare and replace it with a voucher program so your 80 year old grandmother will have to "shop" for medical insurance yearly (how's that for a secure feeling)and as for wars, he's right in their with Bibi perched to start WW3 with Iran. I wonder if he'll put the trillions cost on credit cards like GWB did?
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 11:19 AM EDT
To the point of who is robbing who? All the income a person makes is his or hers. They earned it. It is their money. You can not rob something that is already yours. If a person makes $1 and allows .25 to go to government, he has given 25% of his property to the government leaving him with 75% of his property. Government is a necessary entity that produces nothing in income.
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 11:13 AM EDT
eiriamach, I know you think other peoples money should be confiscated to be used by your heroes. Many of these vilified Rich contribute greatly to charities that they believe in. How would you feel if instead of you being able to contribute your money to causes you supported, I instead took those funds and mandated they go to the NRA. Today these people who as a gruop pay the majority of taxes and contribute to charity, watch their funds supporting things they are morally against. I know you hate the limitations of the Constitution, but except for defense, border control, and interstate commerce, all of we citizens of The US should not be forced to support anything else.
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 09:53 AM EDT
I should add that as Allison Linn of NBC News reports, "More than 35,000 people who had income of more than $200,000 in 2009 paid no federal income taxes that year, according to a new report from the Internal Revenue Service."
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 09:44 AM EDT
BrianO asks, "What does fair share [of taxes] mean?" Brian thinks the poor are robbing the rich through the IRS! Just the opposite has happened since the Bush tax cuts, while we've waited for the promised blessings of the cuts to trickle down to incomes under $200,000. In 2001, average gross income was $57,592, nearly $4,000 less than in 2000. The next year, it fell by $6,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars, to $55,513, and again fell nearly as much in 2003. It rose slightly 2006-07 until, by 2008-- the last year of the GW Bush presidency-- it reached $58,005, which was $3,512 less in inflation-adjusted dollars than the previous year. During those 8 years, revenue collected by the IRS fell from $1,225,955 in 2000, to $1,081,295 in 2008-- a decrease of 11.8%-- even though the number of taxpayers increased by 10.1%. Total loss in incomes during the Bush years was $2,743,744,047,735 -- close to 3 Trillion Dollars! (IRS Statistics of Income Table 1.4, inflation adjustment David Cay Johnston) Results of Bush tax cuts: NO economic growth, a record number of Americans in poverty, and decreases in incomes below $200,000: In 1998, 1,467 of those with $200,000 or more paid Zero Income Tax, and by 2008, 22,256 of them paid Zero! Who's been robbing whom???
jetsnoone | Oct 18, 2012, 07:37 AM EDT
at the beginning of Obama's term he set out to destroy the white middle class so as to get them hooked on socialism.....but Americans want to work and don't want their heads taxed off... The communists greatest tool, the destruction of Catholicism, came too late in his term, so perhaps we can get this mutt to retire. The Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima and warned us all not to imitate the mistakes of Russia (communism) and idiots like seagreen ignore here.....
seagreen | Oct 18, 2012, 06:18 AM EDT
People on social security voting for Romney/Ryan are masochists.
Privitizing social security!!!! "getting control of peoples money that know nothing of the stock market"
seagreen | Oct 18, 2012, 01:58 AM EDT
What does fair share mean? By fair share do you mean all income made by the rich? If so that would not solve the problem, and would kill the golden goose. In a free society it is the initiative and hardwork of the people that makes the difference. leave the money in the private sector and jobs will grow and all will be prosperous. Believe that you can steal other peoples money to supplement your income, is a fairytale. Those people being stolen from will either leave or produce less. This president drives a wedge between we citizens of the USA, divide and conquer, belittle and guilt, a small, nasty cold man.
IrishAndProud | Oct 18, 2012, 01:34 AM EDT
I might also add: isn’t it interesting that of all the posters (and columnists) on Irish Central, those who openly, verbally HATE the United States of America the most intensely also back Barack Hussein Obama the most ardently? Perhaps by the most astronomical mathematics it’s just coincidence; nevertheless, it does tend to affirm what the American majority have long-since realized about this strange man Obama and his supporters...and is quite notable. So, my personal thanks for the affirmation.
IrishAndProud | Oct 17, 2012, 10:30 PM EDT
I might also add: isn’t it interesting that of all the posters (and columnists) on Irish Central, those who openly, verbally HATE the United States of America the most intensely also back Barack Hussein Obama the most ardently? Perhaps by the most astronomical mathematics it’s just coincidence; nevertheless, it does tend to affirm what the American majority have long-since realized about this strange man Obama and his supporters...and is quite notable. So, my personal thanks for the affirmation.
pilib04 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:24 PM EDT
Stiofain, I'm on Social Security and Medicare and I already voted for President Obama, Offaly's favorite son!
Smyrnian | Oct 17, 2012, 09:14 PM EDT
BigDaddy - your breathless and incoherent rant has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of my posting. Slow down, take a deep breath, relax a bit and be cool. Take it easy, man.
Stiofain | Oct 17, 2012, 08:59 PM EDT
Sean: How about the people on Social Security and Medicare who are voting for Romney/Ryan.
BigDaddy | Oct 17, 2012, 08:54 PM EDT
Smyrnian...Why is it that people who support the corporate backed Romney must cry like little girls with skinned knees when they don't get what they believe they are entitled to? I don't remember reading this BS after the last debate when the "liberals" claimed that Romney won. If you and your ideas are so superior, why must you cheat to win? I believe that the Leo Strauss philosophy practiced by the corporate masters is as weak as the economic theory of Milton Friedman. If you don't know what I am talking about, you should because that is what is determining your life these days. Oh yeah, that and your free choice.
seanomelb | Oct 17, 2012, 07:26 PM EDT
rpbrown I have written on IC blogs on this very subject for some months now. How can middle class GOP voters vote to give themselves a tax rise and give the uber rich a tax cut??it beggars belief.Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.But not to worry the NRA will facilitate the shooting.
conorsmom | Oct 17, 2012, 07:09 PM EDT
Micky74007- I have read a lot of CRAP regarding this article, but you have made me embarrassed to be an Irish American!! A black faced pinnocle? First of all don't really know what word you were trying to spell? Really? Maybe you should watch a little more of big bird learn to spell and become an adult and stop wishing for a fake bazilionair like Mitts to fix all YOUR problems..
IrishAndProud | Oct 17, 2012, 06:27 PM EDT
Obama needed an outright WIN on this debate to make up for his last one, but aside from those who backed Obama anyway the best I've seen for Obama is that it was a draw...and since he's the one who's been in power the last four years the burden was on him to not only win the debate but to do so by pointing to his record thus far, AND tell us what he wants for the next four years, also. He did neither. All he could do was attack Romney, and nothing else...and at best he drew even, on that. Perhaps that's why today Gallup has him even FURTHER behind Romney (51-45) than yesterday. Obama continues to plummet...and with the economy as it is, you cannot suddenly, magically get ahead of Romney by both ignoring the economy and attacking Romney. That doesn't work. Romney won the first debate, and held his own, last night...disproving the ficticious persona that Obama had tried to craft, of him. Obama's people may try to pretend otherwise, but the man is going down. He cannot win, with things as they are. It is politically impossible, my friends...and that's a wee bit bigger than me; that's reality.
jetsnoone | Oct 17, 2012, 06:26 PM EDT
rpbrown: Obama is an anti-American, anti-Catholic communist....communism is evil, just read about what the Blessed Mother said at Fatima.....let's send your Moslem friend on a long vacation to Hawaii...
rpbrown | Oct 17, 2012, 06:19 PM EDT
I really do not understand how so many people who are middle class are against our current president. He worked to make sure you will no longer be denied healthcare for pre-existing conditions, he wants to tax the wealthy their fair share (which they haven't been), he is steadily working to improve trade agreements, he's protecting our environment more than our last president and he wishes for all americans to have equal rights. I think the real reason why people like Mitt Romney is that they don't like hard work. Mitt Romney tells pretty lies and it's easier to think if they just elect him and sit back for four years America will be saved. GETTING OUT OF OUR PROBLEMS NOW TAKES TIME AND HARD WORK, DON'T BUY ROMNEY'S SNAKE OIL THAT HE CAN FIX ALL OF THEM OVERNIGHT WITH SOME PHONEY RE-WRITING OF THE TAX CODE. Which by the way, he says he will have tax cuts for the wealthy adjusted by the closing of tax loopholes and adjustments, but what will happen is the cuts will happen and the loophole cuts won't. STOP THIS MADNESS! RE-ELECT OUR PRESIDENT WHO HAS SHOWN HE IS COMMITTED TO MAKING CHANGES AND THEN RIDE HIM AND CONGRESS HARD FOR FOUR YEARS TO MAKE SURE THEY DO!
Smyrnian | Oct 17, 2012, 06:16 PM EDT
Irish Central is simply a blog. It should start all headlines and every paragraph with the statement "in the liberal opinion of Irish Central". That would clarify things for the average reader who thinks he/she is actually reading news.
Canal Rat | Oct 17, 2012, 06:11 PM EDT
The President strong on Libya? If Bush had sent out his minions to say for 2 weeks that to the "best of our knowledge" the attack was a spontaneous protest in response to a film, the media would be eating him ALIVE.
PiperMac52 | Oct 17, 2012, 05:57 PM EDT
Now that is a subjective opinion if ever there was one. I and many others do not see it that way. Obama spent the time attacking Romney and trying to defend his dismal record. He gave NO specifics as to what he will do differently in the next four years to get us out of the greatest economic slump since the great depression.
seanomelb | Oct 17, 2012, 05:35 PM EDT
A box of tissues for all the usual teabaggers naysayers on IC today!! Romney stuffed it his "no detail" policies area big lie.Obama gave "etch and Sketch" a lesson in consistency of policy debate.
ceceann | Oct 17, 2012, 04:15 PM EDT
I found it interesting that the President knows what is in Romney's Blind Trust(no one but the Trustee should know this) but claims not to know what his own investment/pension plan holds. Why should I care more about how Romney handles his own money than how the President handles his and ours? No wonder the Nation's finances are in such a mess.
irishamerica46 | Oct 17, 2012, 03:57 PM EDT
"Candy" appears to be on the White House payroll.Obama never called it a terrorist attack that killed that poor Ambassador.He went off to Las Vegas to politic.Now Hilliary takes the blame the day of the debate. Go figure!They need unbiased moderators. Candy was a joke with a big mouth who never shut up!
Gearoid4 | Oct 17, 2012, 03:48 PM EDT
Obama did make a better showing during the second round of the 3 scheduled presidential campaign debates, but not enough to put the election beyond doubt. Romney held his nerve despite the vigorous barrage unleashed on him by his opponent, and came out relatively unscathed. Despite one gaffe concerning his erroneous claim that it took Obama 2 weeks to acknowledge the recent terror attack on Libya, Romney landed some decent punches concerning the inept handling of the current administration of the US economy. As Obama's predecessor and mentor, Bill Clinton famously stated.."It's the economy, stupid!"
anglo-norman | Oct 17, 2012, 03:22 PM EDT
Again Irish Central shows it's bias. Crowley was a disgrace. I voted for that bluffer Obama the last time but no way is he getting my vote this time. He lied his ass off in the 2008 campaign & we are paying for it.
BippyBellito | Oct 17, 2012, 03:18 PM EDT
Obama looked like The Little Boy out for the first time in his Big Boy Pants and not sure how they are supposed to work. to claim he "won" the debate is farcisical. The U.S. cannot handle 4 more years of this incompetent traitor.
micky74007 | Oct 17, 2012, 03:06 PM EDT
You people just keep watching seseme street.
Real Americans want an adult in the white house, not a black face pinnocle.
DaddyMac22 | Oct 17, 2012, 02:42 PM EDT
Obama 1/2 favourite to win the election. Meaning, hot favourite. I can't wait to see the look on all the Mitty fans in here when Obama sweeps him aside come NOV. Basically everyone bar the 1% and plain idiots have been marginalised by Mitty, and will vote against him.
stanchaz | Oct 17, 2012, 01:55 PM EDT
The real Romney is an opportunist who will say anything to get himself and his rich cronies into power. He just keeps shape-shifting and flipping and flopping and hiding ...and lying?
And THEN- watch out!
Mitt, you can fool some of the people some of the time...but we see thru your rich man lies and schemes.
But don't worry Mitt....you- the Big Flipper- will ALWAYs have a job at the International House of Pancakes :-)
And the people will re-elect Mr. Obama....
MegK311 | Oct 17, 2012, 01:41 PM EDT
Crowley was a terrible moderator. She kept interruptibg Romney and at one time she entered the debate to help Obama out. She also allowed Obama more mintute. It was very obvious which side she was on. Obama lied and I am sure as the fact checkers go over the debate the true answers will be released. I saw nor heard anything last night to change my vote. Romney is my man.
sgfoster1968 | Oct 17, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT
'President strong on Libya'??? Who are these pseudo-reporters anyway? Obama was on the defensive the entire time. He never elaborated on anything only generalized. Romney came across as more knowledgeable, more informed on foreign policy, and more passionate. At BEST, this debate was a draw...and that's with Mamma Cass' help!
TheNetherlands | Oct 17, 2012, 01:20 PM EDT
We cannot afford to allow the selfish lead the selfish in our country with a bought and paid for by the billionaire's corporate puppet with mitt. God Bless Our President Obama! Another Patriotic American Voting for President Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!! We the American People love Our Prez!!!
AnneChambersUSA | Oct 17, 2012, 01:04 PM EDT
Moderator Candy Crowley of CNN now admits she was wrong. Romney was RIGHT that Obama never called the murders in Libya a terrorist attack. Obama took two weeks of blaming a fake video before he finally called the murders an actual terrorist attack. We all saw it and know the truth! Do you think she intervened in the debate and erred by accident or was she trying to help the President? HMM? We need a President who leads from the front not from behind. GO MITT!!
Nicomax | Oct 17, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT
BHO was on his game from the start, Mitt looked a bit haggard, and was repetitive. BHO's best punch was pointing out that Mitt was far to right of Bush on social issues, just after Mitt said he disagreed with almost everything Bush did in 8 years.
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 12:48 PM EDT
@jflanagan, not only did A123 file bancruptcy, but the executives gave themselves 20% raises before they filed, I believe the Ceo for this green company that Obama supports made $300,000/yr upgraded to $360,000/yr all backed by taxpayer money, another loser backed by obama.
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 12:33 PM EDT
@eiriamach, it's hard to know what this regime allows you to say before being accused of being racist, so far if you question obamas agenda you are racist, point out he plays a lot of golf, you are racist, question entitlements, you are racist. it goes on and on, so O'bamy is racist, thanks I'll add it to my list.
TheNetherlands | Oct 17, 2012, 12:25 PM EDT
The debate is a joke, President Obama is gonna be back on track come November. Nobody who is a human being wants him! God Bless Our President!! 4 more Years!! Hooray!!!!!!
cillowen | Oct 17, 2012, 12:08 PM EDT
ROMNEY like a bull kept charging after the President of the United States a tactic so unbecoming of a leader - while blinking mightily, a clue to one swinging desperately
hoping for an knock-out. Moderator did help Obama on Bengazhi which THE LURCH
could have made hay on - by simply asking that the Rose Garden quote be read
christinao't | Oct 17, 2012, 12:01 PM EDT
Libya! Come on! everyone knows that Obama blamed everything on the video that got the people "fired up" he even said it at the u.n. and all his minions repeated it Rice ,etc. Crowley inserted herself into the debate and took Obama's side... wt? Then Michelle stood out like a sore thumb clapping away when no one was supposed to clap during the debate....hey but the rules are for others, not the Obamas...
bobduggins | Oct 17, 2012, 11:58 AM EDT
How can even in your wildest dreams think Obama won the debate. All he did was critized Romney, call him a liar and said nothing he said was true. As far a Libya, it took 2 weeks for them to say it was a terriost attack. They blamed it on a video on u-tube. Unbelievable whoever wrote this piece.
Smyrnian | Oct 17, 2012, 11:48 AM EDT
Yes, I gave the win to Romney also despite the shameless, partisan help Obama got from Crowley, the supposed impartial "monitor". Her performance generated an embarrassing F and did not help Obama one bit, despite her unabashed efforts.
DaddyMac22 | Oct 17, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT
Can anyone tell me why angry Republicans like 'Skibberrean ' type in caps? Are their fingers so fat that they just mash the key boards? For all republicans who think The Mittster did a good job last night, most bookies cut Obama's odds to win down to 4/11, which basically means they don't think Mitty has a hope...
71regiment | Oct 17, 2012, 11:43 AM EDT
Was it not strange that our UN Ambassador Rice went on five TV shows a week after the US Consulate was attacked in Bengazhi and said it was all due to some video that came out in July? Who gave her permisson to do that? Why did it take so long for the current administration to admit it was a "terrorist" attack. Why are they afraid to use that word? Why didn't the CIC order the US Sixth Fleet to send in US Marines to secure the consulate after it was attacked? Then again why where there no US Marines accompaning the Ambassador when he went to Bengazhi, when he was going there to help the staff to move out of the consulate due to the increasing danger in Bengazhi?
It is time for the Obama administration to pack up and move out. The US does not need another four years of this crew.
Searlit | Oct 17, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT
Mitt Romney looked tired and grumpy, last night, which is understandable given how President Obama kept clobbering him with the facts. Testy little things those facts.
Skibberrean | Oct 17, 2012, 11:37 AM EDT
DITTO DUBLIN BORN AND BLACKSTONE! WE ALL SAW THIS SO CALLED DEBATE FOR WHAT IT WAS. CROWLEY IS JUST ANOTHER LEFT WING LIBERAL WHO CODDLED BARRY EVERY CHANCE SHE HAD. ROMNEY SOLIDLY WON THE DEBATE. "THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE" ON NOV. 6TH. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND SAVE US FROM THIS MARXIST LIAR!!
porkheaven | Oct 17, 2012, 11:35 AM EDT
My vote is Romney. Obama appeared to be lying through his teeth. Of course that is typical for a Illinois Politician especially a Chicago one. His idea for America is to be similar to Russia.
jamthecat | Oct 17, 2012, 11:12 AM EDT
Now there they go, again -- the Obama haters spinning Romney's lies into a slam against Obama. They know perfectly well Romney has yet to tell the truth in any way, form, or fashion on any occasion. But they don't care; they just hate the fact that there's a black man in the White House who isn't a servant. Obama wiped the floor with Romney, but it doesn't matter. This is what he should have done in the first debate, when Mitt spewed the first of his 27 demonstrable lies, instead of standing there and looking weak and letting obvious falshoods become repeatable nonsense. Not that facts which contradict their beliefs would matter the people like Dublinborn and Blackstone; they prefer the false to the true because it better suits their prejudices.
blackstone | Oct 17, 2012, 10:59 AM EDT
ROMNEY WON THE DEBATE.Obama lied about Libya. He is our Liar-In-Chief. Read the full Rose Garden speech. Obama was referencing the original Twin Tower 9/11 attack not the Benghazi attack when he said" acts of terror".And EVERYONE KNOWS IT. For two weeks following the Benghazi attack Obama desperately lied to the American people insisting that the Benghazi murders were a result of a spontaneous demonstration sparked by a video.Lies!The guy who made the video has since been tossed in jail on some trumped up charge, so much for the 1st amendment.Where are we living, Russia? And then Obama himself goes before the entire world at the U.N. and says 'the future will not belong to those who slander the prophet' once again blaming some stupid video that had NOTHING to do with the brutal murder of our Ambassador and three brave patriots.Obama is a preening, arrogant, narcissistic fool with a TERRIBLE four year record as president, and that's what was on display last night in that ridiculously partisan debate. Candy Crowley has no integrity as a jounalist after the Benghazi stunt.Romney has a distinquished record both in the public and private sector,he successfully governed Masssachussetts, an ultra blue state because he knows how to bring people together, not like Obama, our great divider.Romney is a man of true merit, character and substance, with real economic expertise. He will put the U.S. back on track economically while respecting the constitution.Irish Central is a shameless mouthpiece for the Obama administration ...disgusting biased journalism..
Dublinborn | Oct 17, 2012, 10:52 AM EDT
what a spin. What we saw last night was a hostile Liberal audience in a blue Liberal state moderated by a Liberal party hack. Imaging if the debate was moderated by Pat Buchanan with a club for growth audience.
The best question of the night came from an African American to Obama. Why should the next 4 years be any different than the last 4 years ?
JOCSurf007 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:50 AM EDT
We must have been watching different debates. The author of this piece should be embarrassed!
jflanagan | Oct 17, 2012, 10:44 AM EDT
Electric car battery maker A123 filed for bankruptcy today, just a few hours after warning it was about to default on its loans, and will be taken over by auto supplier Johnson Controls.
As a recipient of $249 million in grants from the Obama administration, the company's bankruptcy will no doubt become another embarrassment heading into the November elections. Republicans have already battered the Obama administration for investing $535 million in solar panel maker Solyndra, only to see the company fail just two years after receiving the loan.
More money wasted on political cronies, stifling competition and real advancements.
EamonnDublin | Oct 17, 2012, 10:42 AM EDT
I watched every second live; fascinating stuff! In any normal media environment, I have no doubt but that the facts would come out about who was right and who was wrong in the Benghazi piece - but in the American media, which is ridiculously pro-Obama, the Obama line will be the only one we see and hear. Romney's comment that Obama had just said IN THE DEBATE that he had said on the Rose Lawn on the morning after Benghazi that it was an act of terror was correct. Play it back - Obama clearly says IN THE DEBATE that he had called it an act of terror THE NEXT DAY. Romney's question was, why did Obama say that if he then took three weeks saying that Benghazi was "riots because of the film". Obama had clearly made a major gaffe. The American media has, of course, twisted it all, and those who did not see the whole unedited debate are being conned by that media - as usual. God Bless America. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT
BrianO, I just did a search of "Obammy" and found that it is much discussed as a racist term on the Internet-- and much used by right wing nuts. Their defense is that so many people are using the word. Yeah, so many people voted for Hitler, he couldn't have been a real racist, right? After Obama leaves office (in 2016), someone will surely publish the Obama-basher's code book, but with new codes popping up every day, I'll just have to call them as I see them!
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT
In the past two debates Mitt Romney was rude and condescending as he rolled over both moderators in a need to control rather than converse and answer questions. Mitt was a very different polite politician, when he was filmed making his 47% comment; probably because he felt he was among his "own kind" which certainly does not include the middle class.Mitt is a very rich business man who will deliver medicare to the whims of private business and as for his record on the economy: as governor Massachusetts Mitt ranked 47th in job creation. That's his record.
olovely | Oct 17, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT
President Obama won, which is all he had to do to change the narrative and regain his standing with the Chicken Little's in the media. Now he is certain to win reelection. You know he trounced Romney if Fox News is calling it a draw. Mitt's binders full of women quip already has A Facegroup page with a million members. He sees the world like a CEO and the people as underlings.
jojo5056 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT
For the good folks in ireland--don't get sucked in on another Sept 11 false flag operation. This week, Obama admin is plannning--to send in the USA troops and bombing drones into Lybia. Whole affair of killing the USA staff--pretext for the USA to occupy Lybia--just as was Sept 11 20001 Bombings--invade Iraq/Afghastan. These operations are to get general public up in arms againist the wrong innocent people. Get this--the gruards at the Emassey were locals and worse--no bullets for their side arms. Reeks of Made by MOSSAD/CIA :^(
boydshield | Oct 17, 2012, 10:27 AM EDT
Since when does ANYONE NOT watch their retirement accounts. Every smart American that has a retirement watches it very closely, no matter how big or small. Crowley admitted her mistakes, when will Obama admit his? America, please wake up!
eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 10:22 AM EDT
Crowley did not admit she was wrong--read her words before you swallow the right-wing spin. As she said at the debate, it took weeks for the entire story to emerge. But Obama did acknowledge terrorism: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation," and returned to that description when he pledged, "We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible *act*. And make no mistake, justice will be done.” The winning point Obama scored against Romney was in reacting to Romney's crassly un-presidential political spinning of the embassy attack while the violence was still going on. To cast blame and divide the American voice in the region while the Oval Office and Sec. of State were still trying to learn the facts was sickeningly self-serving and "offensive" to the nation.
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 10:11 AM EDT
Eiriamach could you publish the code book so we can be sure not to pierce your thin skin. I know most Irish never say an offensive thing or abide in any slagging at any time.
jflanagan | Oct 17, 2012, 10:03 AM EDT
Candy Crowley admits being wrong about the President calling the Libyan attack an act of terror. Watch the CNN video from shortly after the debate. Go to youtube and search for this: "CNN's Candy Crowley: Romney Was Actually Right On Libya".
CavanAncestor | Oct 17, 2012, 09:56 AM EDT
Who won? No, no...the Obama-Biden Debate last night. Obama, as usual, deliberate mistruths (that's kind) and obfuscation. Offered nothing positive or specific. Rhetoric, rhetoric...a veritable tautology. This werbsite, not unlike CNN, is so far Left one wonders why it doesn't tip over.
shuvonn | Oct 17, 2012, 09:55 AM EDT
Mitt ain't taking over anything maybe except his over seas investments where he sent the jobs his company bought and dismantled for their assets. And Obama did refer to the attacks as terrorism the day after and no lie you tell will change that fact :-) And Brian the video maker violated his parole by uploading that video to the internet. He had been in jail on bank fraud charges prior that was WHY he was in jail, ya still wanna blame that on the president? And btw there were protets world wide over that crudely made video at and the video maker changed hiis name and tried to portray himself as an israeli film maker when he was an Egyptian Coptic christian, which was also a violation of his probation. There were protests at the same time over that very video, facts can be so inconvenient.
eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 09:54 AM EDT
I hear the history of American racism in the tone of the word "obammy" as used by "The Truth Hurts." Thus I find it offensive. Last night's debate and the discussion here on ICentral remind me of Adlai Stevenson's remark that when Republicans stop telling lies about Democrats, Democrats will kindly stop telling the truth about Republicans. It's time to engage with facts and discard the name-calling and code words, @ "The Truth Hurts."
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:50 AM EDT
he Truth Hurts... Who's truth? Try reading the transcript.
jflanagan | Oct 17, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT
Update (12:09 am): Candy Crowley admits she got it wrong and that the President did not refer to Benghazi as a terror or terroist attack. She commented, "I think actually, you know, because right after that, I did turn to Romney and said you were totally correct but they spent two weeks telling us that this was about a tape and that there was this riot outside of the Benghazi consulate, which there wasn't. So he was right in the main, I just think that he picked the wrong word."
Of course, admitting she was wrong about the President calling it a terror attack is too late. As we see here and all over the media, facts won't get in the way of good spin for the President.
This was in his speech: Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.
Six paragraphs later he says: No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
The above was just after speaking about our pain from the 9/11/2001 attack, so it seemed he was referring to that as the "act of terror" so he did not directly call the Libya attack and act of terror, as Candy Crowley now admits.
The Truth Hurts | Oct 17, 2012, 09:42 AM EDT
There is no way this moderator should ever have this job again.. do your job, moderate, not add to or side with either candidate... and NO>.. Obammy did not call the attack a terror attack, he was refering to the sept 11 attack... Obammy is the real liar. O stated how many times??, that Bengahzi was because of some stupid video that came out in JULY!!!! O even said that to the UN. but he mentions the word terror actually twice in 2 weeks, both times on the 13th.. and again just mentions the word terror.. not stating that it was a "terror attack" that should have had a bomb dropped on them... He did nothing to assist the oil and gas production presently flowing out of PRIVATE LANDS. The Federal Govt has no control on those leases... Private Citizens and Companies do... hence the word PRIVATE.. but yet on Public, Govt -owned lands.. this administration has reduced the drilling opportunities by over 62%. NOW that is the loss of thousands of JOBS.... hiS RECORD on taxes.. cut 18 times... really--oh yes he did.. but those cuts were temporary and 13 have gone away.. what good was that?? wolf in sheeps clothing. this guy is the biggest crook in american history and will be proven. when mitt takes over.. obammy will be prosecuted...
TomDegan | Oct 17, 2012, 09:42 AM EDT
OBSERVATION OF THE EVENING: Mitt Romney is a pompous twit. Obama was the clear winner - but not the overwhelming one. He did better than Romney, that's all that counts.
No election in my lifetime (born in '58) has me more jittery than this one. We can't afford to go down that road again, boys and girls. Maybe this will be the year that Americans finally learn the lesson they should have learned nearly a century-and-a-half ago during the Grant administration:
Right wing form of governance DOES - NOT - WORK - PERIOD!
It never has. It never will. Maybe that's merely wishful thinking on my part but hope is all I have. Talk about audacity.
By the way, what was the argument the right wing made back then against Roosevelt's reelection? "He's had four years to clean up the mess [that he inherited from the GOP] and he has failed to do so!" The more things change, the more they stay the same.
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 09:37 AM EDT
Hmm a patern here--Headline--Biden wins debate by not losing--Headline Obama wins debate by not being incompetent.
Danny | Oct 17, 2012, 09:36 AM EDT
I can't believe just how LIBERAL this website has become. I'm ashamed to call myself a member!!!
hermitTalker | Oct 17, 2012, 09:32 AM EDT
candy admitted later that she was wrong on Libya.If you recall Mr Biden in his tirade that they got wrong "intel." while Mr o said he was chatting with his staff all through it, then Hillary took the fall for it. DEBATES are 4 minute TV spots. Take two topics, this year, HEALTH CARE and BUDGET, put the actual figures on a screen and discuss those. The current format is ludicrous in a democratic republic.
francisquinn | Oct 17, 2012, 09:31 AM EDT
Candy Crowley should not have interferred they way she did....ANd SHE WAS WRONG...but Romeny missed the chance to ask BO...."Why did Susan Rice give false ifno on the Sunday talk shows"...a missed opprtunity by Mitt....but BO still looked on the defensive...
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 09:28 AM EDT
We'll see if the presidents lies are reported today, seems like I saw him on letterman discussing the video that caused the demonstration that caused the murders, but i must have heard the dear leader incorrectly. Why did the government arrest the video maker, who still is in jail? Don't worry obamas government would never use its power against individual citizens.
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:27 AM EDT
Romney's air of entitlement follows him where ever he goes. In the past two debates, he rolled over both moderators in the most rude and condescending way, as if they were meaningless to the points he was hell bent on making. It's a direct contrast of the polite Mitt in the video, where he mentioned the 47% because he felt he was with his "own kind" which defiantly isn't the middle class.
ellisk26 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:21 AM EDT
Obama lost the debate hands down. The fact that the liberal media moderator had to jump in to throw Obama a lifeline by falsely backing up Obama's lie about the Libya attack proves it. The fact is that there was a terrorist attack on American soil on September 11th and all the President did was once again blame America and our way of life for the attack. This is something Barack Obama has done time and time again. he did have enough time to fly off for fundraisers. Candy Crowley was an absolute disgrace. She even said that Romney was correct in a post debate interview! Lame attempt to try and cover herself.
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:13 AM EDT
bunchesofun You don't like the facts; so you play the Fox blame game on the "liberal moderator". Here's the transcript which clearly state "terror" from the presidents statement on the day after the attacks: "Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe," he said. "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for".
johhnyb | Oct 17, 2012, 09:11 AM EDT
So raising questions about the disgraceful lack of security for an ambassador is playing politics. Pathetic.
kathyodonnell | Oct 17, 2012, 09:09 AM EDT
It was clearly won by Obama. Mitt showed that he have led a life of entitlement and thinks he can boss the president and the moderator around. He was called out by Candy and did not "appreciate" it. I can't believe a single woman would appreciate his tone- or Mitt's policies.
Eamonn12 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:04 AM EDT
Is this article in the Onion? There was no clear winner in the debate. Both candidates merely reiterated their stump speeches. This biased "reporting" is pushing me to other "news" sources. I like how the left pretends there is no bias in reporting.
bunchesofun | Oct 17, 2012, 09:03 AM EDT
Mitt's comments on Libya were correct despite the moderator backing the president. That's what happens when you have liberal moderators.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.tom/peggy | Oct 23, 2012, 01:29 PM EDT
Please note Obama's plan to extend the Bush tax rates for those making less than $250,000 is only for one year. Makes you wonder why it's not permanent. Perhaps because that's where all the money is. If the government took everything from the wealthy it would be peanuts compared to what they can get from the middle class. As a middle class American that concerns me.
joanxis | Oct 22, 2012, 06:51 PM EDT
BrianO, Men aren't the only ones who work 2 and 3 jobs. I worked 3 jobs for quite a few years because I couldn't make it on a teacher's salary. And I didn't work in the summer. I worked 3 jobs all at the same time. Just wanted you to know.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:04 PM EDT
Ephraim , divide and conquer, face citizen against citizen. Make people hate. I believe in the individual. I do not hate a person for success. I do not spit on a person for being poor. I would prefer a poor man rise to a better place than to attack a man for his success. I sold product to make a living, the biggest and most frustrating part of my work was dealing with the state and federal bureaucracies, makes it harder and harder for one person businesses to make a decent wage.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 09:38 PM EDT
eiriamach - I worry that he does not even understand the fairy tale of the trickle-down machine beloved of the GOP. He swears his 20% tax rate reduction will be balanced by excising deductions leaving the 1% paying the same in taxes. If these lords of job creation are left without new money, what will they invest to create all the new jobs he promises. OOPS! Magical Mitt the Mendacious needs to go back to robbing pensions and leave the math to his friend Ryan. His 0% on capital gains would give the 1% lots of dollars with which to prime their mythical machine.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 09:21 PM EDT
BrianO - And one of those "few reasons" is "to promote the general welfare." Note that is the "GENERAL WELFARE" not the welfare of the 1% who are doing quite well with out the government's help. My point is that while the GOP tries to make folks think that the tax burden has been increasing, for the 1%, it has drastically decreased. Their decrease has been dramatically greater than in lower brackets. Just a bone now and then to keep the masses quiet while their economy is stolen.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:20 AM EDT
Ephraim, it's true over the years more or less of a persons wealth has been confiscated by government. As I continue to talk to a wall, I remind you that government produces no income it only distributes confiscated income from it's citizens. Some confiscate more or less. To your list of rates please list deductions and exemptions for the period to get a net number. My only concession is that their are a few reasons for the confiscation of the citizens money, they are written in the Constitution of the US, that is the contract we are bound by, all else is theft.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:11 AM EDT
Eiriamach, it is true with more and more of the middle classes money taken by taxation and regulation it requires 2 parents to work. The children are left to be raised by some third party, not mothers or fathers. The socialist model loves this, attack the family, attack religion. Nice way to change the subject, maternal instincts do exist, parents make sacrifices to raise their children. Men tend to work longer hours, take second and third jobs to provide for their families. If you want to tell me men and women are exactly the same then you are right. I submit that women and men are different. Maybe someday in your utopia men will be impregnated, give birth, and have that special bond with their children. On a personal note, my 3 children never spent a day in daycare, my wife and I both worked, It was chaotic but well worth it as they have grown into good citizens, they know the Constitution, and attend mass.
eiriamach | Oct 19, 2012, 07:32 AM EDT
BrianO is trying to help the GOP legitimize paying women less. He writes, "a great number of women leave the workforce to raise their families, you know being a mother." Very few women besides Ann Romney have that luxury! Businesses will value women's work equally when FATHERS value domestic work equally. There's nothing stopping a man from taking 3 months' family leave when a new baby arrives! If each spouse can afford a leave, the child will have the benefit of bonding with father and mother before entering day care and school. Not since the 1960s has the traditional gender-role thinking of child care and homemaking being "women's work" made sense to anyone. Come into the 21st century and do your half, BrianO.
eiriamach | Oct 19, 2012, 07:18 AM EDT
That's scary Ephraim, for the folks whom Mitt calls job creators. He says you shouldn't frighten them with threats of higher taxes. Mitt sells himself as the Great Job Creator. His favorite line is "Government doesn't create jobs!" So why is he running for the top government job? He belongs in the private sector, where, he promises, the one percent will create jobs for everyone else-- if we don't tax their dividends and capital gains (leaving most of their income tax-free). Why should we believe him? Well, he did spend decades creating jobs in the private sector -- jobs in India, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other cheap-labor areas. His profit-leeching firm, Bain Capital, sent 750 jobs from GS Steel of Kansas City out of the USA; Bain soaked DDi Corporation, Dade Intern'l, and KB toys for a net loss of more than 5,000 American jobs. Other Bain deals sent entire businesses out of the country, like Experian, which he sold to a British firm at a $600 Million profit for Bain investors. He knows how to make money for sure, but not to help the govt and not to re-employ American workers.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:22 AM EDT
Or maybe a top rate of 90% like it was post WWII would be more appropriate!
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:18 AM EDT
BrianO - How about these rates from 1964: (Marginal Tax Brackets Married Filing Jointly) Tax.Rate..Over...............But.Not.Over 47.5%...$260,570.................$289,522 50.5%...$289,522.................$318,474 53.5%...$318,474.................$376,379 56.0%...$376,379.................$463,235 58.5%...$463,235.................$550,092 61.0%...$550,092.................$636,949 63.5%...$636,949.................$723,805 66.0%...$723,805.................$868,566 68.5%...$868,566...............$1,013,327 71.0%...$1,013,327.............$1,158,088 73.5%...$1,158,088.............$1,302,849 75.0%...$1,302,849.............$1,447,610 76.5%...$1,447,610.............$2,895,221 77.0%...$2,895,221......................- How's that for scary, Clinton/Obama's 39% for the over $250,000 crowd seems pretty tame by comparison. If we went back to those rates, maybe our economy could repatriate some of the commonwealth stolen from the 99% during the Cheney/Bush years by the 1%.
seanomelb | Oct 18, 2012, 06:32 PM EDT
All two of them Stiofan,
conorsmom | Oct 18, 2012, 03:51 PM EDT
Hey jetsnoone were you wearing your white cape and hood while you typed your message? Be very careful of how Mittens whats to create jobes! Can anyone say "Drill baby, Drill"? He will deregulate EVERYTHING he can get his hands on and make us even a bigger mess than we are now!
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 01:48 PM EDT
Sorry Eiriamach I didn't see you other post. The labor of citizens pay for all the agency's you listed. Think how much good could be accomplished if citizens didn't have to pay for all these bureaucracies. but stick with the "I'm from the government and I'm here to help approach.
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 01:44 PM EDT
Was that expensive or expansive. Another stat that can be manipulated, but why is it that women on average make less? Could it be that a great number of women leave the workforce to raise their families, you know being a mother. More women tend to leave the corporate world than men do. This work doesn't seem to count to the left as being valuable, and a number cannot be applied to it. But go ahead use the alphabet soup that is the government to sue business and hurt all. You believe in litigation and punishment, lower the bar for all.
olovely | Oct 18, 2012, 12:35 PM EDT
Obama is going to be re-elected. Only the most deluded Tea Party relics think otherwise now. Romeny's binders full of women is about to sink him.
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 12:05 PM EDT
BrianO, I didn't mention the EEOC and other anti-discrimination enforcement agencies together with the federal court system, which make it possible for me and others like me to earn our 77 percent of what you and others like you earn (the average male income). These try to protect you from liability as they help protect my (unequal) income, so I'll add them to your list of "defense, border control, and interstate commerce" as absolutely essential to justice. You're delusional about being able to succeed without the work of expensive government agencies.
Searlit | Oct 18, 2012, 11:57 AM EDT
Great post McNamara31!
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 11:53 AM EDT
A set of government agencies and government-supported institutions, such as schools and hospitals with government grants, agencies like FDA, HHS, NLRB, SEC, and FDIC and other fed insurance agencies, US embassies working with foreign governments, etc., etc. all allowed you and enabled you to acquire your wealth, BrianO, and the effort of hard-working employees supplied the actual work required! We're all in this economy together, except that those at the bottom are currently picking up the tab for those at the top, as the Bush-era statistics clearly show.
McNamara31 | Oct 18, 2012, 11:34 AM EDT
For all who actually watched the presidential debates(and GOP primaries)I ask one question: Do you want a president or do you want an arrogant Gordon Gekko who rolls over your every word like you don't exist? If you turn off FOX for a day, you will find: the stock market which feeds our 401K's and pension plans has doubled since Obama took office. People with pre-existing conditions (nearly everyone over 50) have medical insurance, unemployment has steadily decreased, we're out of Iraq and leaving Afghanistan,the American car industry and feeder companies were saved. The other guy told the car industry "to fail", will end medicare and replace it with a voucher program so your 80 year old grandmother will have to "shop" for medical insurance yearly (how's that for a secure feeling)and as for wars, he's right in their with Bibi perched to start WW3 with Iran. I wonder if he'll put the trillions cost on credit cards like GWB did?
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 11:19 AM EDT
To the point of who is robbing who? All the income a person makes is his or hers. They earned it. It is their money. You can not rob something that is already yours. If a person makes $1 and allows .25 to go to government, he has given 25% of his property to the government leaving him with 75% of his property. Government is a necessary entity that produces nothing in income.
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 11:13 AM EDT
eiriamach, I know you think other peoples money should be confiscated to be used by your heroes. Many of these vilified Rich contribute greatly to charities that they believe in. How would you feel if instead of you being able to contribute your money to causes you supported, I instead took those funds and mandated they go to the NRA. Today these people who as a gruop pay the majority of taxes and contribute to charity, watch their funds supporting things they are morally against. I know you hate the limitations of the Constitution, but except for defense, border control, and interstate commerce, all of we citizens of The US should not be forced to support anything else.
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 09:53 AM EDT
I should add that as Allison Linn of NBC News reports, "More than 35,000 people who had income of more than $200,000 in 2009 paid no federal income taxes that year, according to a new report from the Internal Revenue Service."
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 09:44 AM EDT
BrianO asks, "What does fair share [of taxes] mean?" Brian thinks the poor are robbing the rich through the IRS! Just the opposite has happened since the Bush tax cuts, while we've waited for the promised blessings of the cuts to trickle down to incomes under $200,000. In 2001, average gross income was $57,592, nearly $4,000 less than in 2000. The next year, it fell by $6,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars, to $55,513, and again fell nearly as much in 2003. It rose slightly 2006-07 until, by 2008-- the last year of the GW Bush presidency-- it reached $58,005, which was $3,512 less in inflation-adjusted dollars than the previous year. During those 8 years, revenue collected by the IRS fell from $1,225,955 in 2000, to $1,081,295 in 2008-- a decrease of 11.8%-- even though the number of taxpayers increased by 10.1%. Total loss in incomes during the Bush years was $2,743,744,047,735 -- close to 3 Trillion Dollars! (IRS Statistics of Income Table 1.4, inflation adjustment David Cay Johnston) Results of Bush tax cuts: NO economic growth, a record number of Americans in poverty, and decreases in incomes below $200,000: In 1998, 1,467 of those with $200,000 or more paid Zero Income Tax, and by 2008, 22,256 of them paid Zero! Who's been robbing whom???
jetsnoone | Oct 18, 2012, 07:37 AM EDT
at the beginning of Obama's term he set out to destroy the white middle class so as to get them hooked on socialism.....but Americans want to work and don't want their heads taxed off... The communists greatest tool, the destruction of Catholicism, came too late in his term, so perhaps we can get this mutt to retire. The Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima and warned us all not to imitate the mistakes of Russia (communism) and idiots like seagreen ignore here.....
seagreen | Oct 18, 2012, 06:18 AM EDT
People on social security voting for Romney/Ryan are masochists. Privitizing social security!!!! "getting control of peoples money that know nothing of the stock market"
seagreen | Oct 18, 2012, 01:58 AM EDT
What does fair share mean? By fair share do you mean all income made by the rich? If so that would not solve the problem, and would kill the golden goose. In a free society it is the initiative and hardwork of the people that makes the difference. leave the money in the private sector and jobs will grow and all will be prosperous. Believe that you can steal other peoples money to supplement your income, is a fairytale. Those people being stolen from will either leave or produce less. This president drives a wedge between we citizens of the USA, divide and conquer, belittle and guilt, a small, nasty cold man.
IrishAndProud | Oct 18, 2012, 01:34 AM EDT
I might also add: isn’t it interesting that of all the posters (and columnists) on Irish Central, those who openly, verbally HATE the United States of America the most intensely also back Barack Hussein Obama the most ardently? Perhaps by the most astronomical mathematics it’s just coincidence; nevertheless, it does tend to affirm what the American majority have long-since realized about this strange man Obama and his supporters...and is quite notable. So, my personal thanks for the affirmation.
IrishAndProud | Oct 17, 2012, 10:30 PM EDT
I might also add: isn’t it interesting that of all the posters (and columnists) on Irish Central, those who openly, verbally HATE the United States of America the most intensely also back Barack Hussein Obama the most ardently? Perhaps by the most astronomical mathematics it’s just coincidence; nevertheless, it does tend to affirm what the American majority have long-since realized about this strange man Obama and his supporters...and is quite notable. So, my personal thanks for the affirmation.
pilib04 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:24 PM EDT
Stiofain, I'm on Social Security and Medicare and I already voted for President Obama, Offaly's favorite son!
Smyrnian | Oct 17, 2012, 09:14 PM EDT
BigDaddy - your breathless and incoherent rant has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of my posting. Slow down, take a deep breath, relax a bit and be cool. Take it easy, man.
Stiofain | Oct 17, 2012, 08:59 PM EDT
Sean: How about the people on Social Security and Medicare who are voting for Romney/Ryan.
BigDaddy | Oct 17, 2012, 08:54 PM EDT
Smyrnian...Why is it that people who support the corporate backed Romney must cry like little girls with skinned knees when they don't get what they believe they are entitled to? I don't remember reading this BS after the last debate when the "liberals" claimed that Romney won. If you and your ideas are so superior, why must you cheat to win? I believe that the Leo Strauss philosophy practiced by the corporate masters is as weak as the economic theory of Milton Friedman. If you don't know what I am talking about, you should because that is what is determining your life these days. Oh yeah, that and your free choice.
seanomelb | Oct 17, 2012, 07:26 PM EDT
rpbrown I have written on IC blogs on this very subject for some months now. How can middle class GOP voters vote to give themselves a tax rise and give the uber rich a tax cut??it beggars belief.Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.But not to worry the NRA will facilitate the shooting.
conorsmom | Oct 17, 2012, 07:09 PM EDT
Micky74007- I have read a lot of CRAP regarding this article, but you have made me embarrassed to be an Irish American!! A black faced pinnocle? First of all don't really know what word you were trying to spell? Really? Maybe you should watch a little more of big bird learn to spell and become an adult and stop wishing for a fake bazilionair like Mitts to fix all YOUR problems..
IrishAndProud | Oct 17, 2012, 06:27 PM EDT
Obama needed an outright WIN on this debate to make up for his last one, but aside from those who backed Obama anyway the best I've seen for Obama is that it was a draw...and since he's the one who's been in power the last four years the burden was on him to not only win the debate but to do so by pointing to his record thus far, AND tell us what he wants for the next four years, also. He did neither. All he could do was attack Romney, and nothing else...and at best he drew even, on that. Perhaps that's why today Gallup has him even FURTHER behind Romney (51-45) than yesterday. Obama continues to plummet...and with the economy as it is, you cannot suddenly, magically get ahead of Romney by both ignoring the economy and attacking Romney. That doesn't work. Romney won the first debate, and held his own, last night...disproving the ficticious persona that Obama had tried to craft, of him. Obama's people may try to pretend otherwise, but the man is going down. He cannot win, with things as they are. It is politically impossible, my friends...and that's a wee bit bigger than me; that's reality.
jetsnoone | Oct 17, 2012, 06:26 PM EDT
rpbrown: Obama is an anti-American, anti-Catholic communist....communism is evil, just read about what the Blessed Mother said at Fatima.....let's send your Moslem friend on a long vacation to Hawaii...
rpbrown | Oct 17, 2012, 06:19 PM EDT
I really do not understand how so many people who are middle class are against our current president. He worked to make sure you will no longer be denied healthcare for pre-existing conditions, he wants to tax the wealthy their fair share (which they haven't been), he is steadily working to improve trade agreements, he's protecting our environment more than our last president and he wishes for all americans to have equal rights. I think the real reason why people like Mitt Romney is that they don't like hard work. Mitt Romney tells pretty lies and it's easier to think if they just elect him and sit back for four years America will be saved. GETTING OUT OF OUR PROBLEMS NOW TAKES TIME AND HARD WORK, DON'T BUY ROMNEY'S SNAKE OIL THAT HE CAN FIX ALL OF THEM OVERNIGHT WITH SOME PHONEY RE-WRITING OF THE TAX CODE. Which by the way, he says he will have tax cuts for the wealthy adjusted by the closing of tax loopholes and adjustments, but what will happen is the cuts will happen and the loophole cuts won't. STOP THIS MADNESS! RE-ELECT OUR PRESIDENT WHO HAS SHOWN HE IS COMMITTED TO MAKING CHANGES AND THEN RIDE HIM AND CONGRESS HARD FOR FOUR YEARS TO MAKE SURE THEY DO!
Smyrnian | Oct 17, 2012, 06:16 PM EDT
Irish Central is simply a blog. It should start all headlines and every paragraph with the statement "in the liberal opinion of Irish Central". That would clarify things for the average reader who thinks he/she is actually reading news.
Canal Rat | Oct 17, 2012, 06:11 PM EDT
The President strong on Libya? If Bush had sent out his minions to say for 2 weeks that to the "best of our knowledge" the attack was a spontaneous protest in response to a film, the media would be eating him ALIVE.
PiperMac52 | Oct 17, 2012, 05:57 PM EDT
Now that is a subjective opinion if ever there was one. I and many others do not see it that way. Obama spent the time attacking Romney and trying to defend his dismal record. He gave NO specifics as to what he will do differently in the next four years to get us out of the greatest economic slump since the great depression.
seanomelb | Oct 17, 2012, 05:35 PM EDT
A box of tissues for all the usual teabaggers naysayers on IC today!! Romney stuffed it his "no detail" policies area big lie.Obama gave "etch and Sketch" a lesson in consistency of policy debate.
ceceann | Oct 17, 2012, 04:15 PM EDT
I found it interesting that the President knows what is in Romney's Blind Trust(no one but the Trustee should know this) but claims not to know what his own investment/pension plan holds. Why should I care more about how Romney handles his own money than how the President handles his and ours? No wonder the Nation's finances are in such a mess.
irishamerica46 | Oct 17, 2012, 03:57 PM EDT
"Candy" appears to be on the White House payroll.Obama never called it a terrorist attack that killed that poor Ambassador.He went off to Las Vegas to politic.Now Hilliary takes the blame the day of the debate. Go figure!They need unbiased moderators. Candy was a joke with a big mouth who never shut up!
Gearoid4 | Oct 17, 2012, 03:48 PM EDT
Obama did make a better showing during the second round of the 3 scheduled presidential campaign debates, but not enough to put the election beyond doubt. Romney held his nerve despite the vigorous barrage unleashed on him by his opponent, and came out relatively unscathed. Despite one gaffe concerning his erroneous claim that it took Obama 2 weeks to acknowledge the recent terror attack on Libya, Romney landed some decent punches concerning the inept handling of the current administration of the US economy. As Obama's predecessor and mentor, Bill Clinton famously stated.."It's the economy, stupid!"
anglo-norman | Oct 17, 2012, 03:22 PM EDT
Again Irish Central shows it's bias. Crowley was a disgrace. I voted for that bluffer Obama the last time but no way is he getting my vote this time. He lied his ass off in the 2008 campaign & we are paying for it.
BippyBellito | Oct 17, 2012, 03:18 PM EDT
Obama looked like The Little Boy out for the first time in his Big Boy Pants and not sure how they are supposed to work. to claim he "won" the debate is farcisical. The U.S. cannot handle 4 more years of this incompetent traitor.
micky74007 | Oct 17, 2012, 03:06 PM EDT
You people just keep watching seseme street. Real Americans want an adult in the white house, not a black face pinnocle.
DaddyMac22 | Oct 17, 2012, 02:42 PM EDT
Obama 1/2 favourite to win the election. Meaning, hot favourite. I can't wait to see the look on all the Mitty fans in here when Obama sweeps him aside come NOV. Basically everyone bar the 1% and plain idiots have been marginalised by Mitty, and will vote against him.
stanchaz | Oct 17, 2012, 01:55 PM EDT
The real Romney is an opportunist who will say anything to get himself and his rich cronies into power. He just keeps shape-shifting and flipping and flopping and hiding ...and lying? And THEN- watch out! Mitt, you can fool some of the people some of the time...but we see thru your rich man lies and schemes. But don't worry Mitt....you- the Big Flipper- will ALWAYs have a job at the International House of Pancakes :-) And the people will re-elect Mr. Obama....
MegK311 | Oct 17, 2012, 01:41 PM EDT
Crowley was a terrible moderator. She kept interruptibg Romney and at one time she entered the debate to help Obama out. She also allowed Obama more mintute. It was very obvious which side she was on. Obama lied and I am sure as the fact checkers go over the debate the true answers will be released. I saw nor heard anything last night to change my vote. Romney is my man.
sgfoster1968 | Oct 17, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT
'President strong on Libya'??? Who are these pseudo-reporters anyway? Obama was on the defensive the entire time. He never elaborated on anything only generalized. Romney came across as more knowledgeable, more informed on foreign policy, and more passionate. At BEST, this debate was a draw...and that's with Mamma Cass' help!
TheNetherlands | Oct 17, 2012, 01:20 PM EDT
We cannot afford to allow the selfish lead the selfish in our country with a bought and paid for by the billionaire's corporate puppet with mitt. God Bless Our President Obama! Another Patriotic American Voting for President Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!! We the American People love Our Prez!!!
AnneChambersUSA | Oct 17, 2012, 01:04 PM EDT
Moderator Candy Crowley of CNN now admits she was wrong. Romney was RIGHT that Obama never called the murders in Libya a terrorist attack. Obama took two weeks of blaming a fake video before he finally called the murders an actual terrorist attack. We all saw it and know the truth! Do you think she intervened in the debate and erred by accident or was she trying to help the President? HMM? We need a President who leads from the front not from behind. GO MITT!!
Nicomax | Oct 17, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT
BHO was on his game from the start, Mitt looked a bit haggard, and was repetitive. BHO's best punch was pointing out that Mitt was far to right of Bush on social issues, just after Mitt said he disagreed with almost everything Bush did in 8 years.
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 12:48 PM EDT
@jflanagan, not only did A123 file bancruptcy, but the executives gave themselves 20% raises before they filed, I believe the Ceo for this green company that Obama supports made $300,000/yr upgraded to $360,000/yr all backed by taxpayer money, another loser backed by obama.
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 12:33 PM EDT
@eiriamach, it's hard to know what this regime allows you to say before being accused of being racist, so far if you question obamas agenda you are racist, point out he plays a lot of golf, you are racist, question entitlements, you are racist. it goes on and on, so O'bamy is racist, thanks I'll add it to my list.
TheNetherlands | Oct 17, 2012, 12:25 PM EDT
The debate is a joke, President Obama is gonna be back on track come November. Nobody who is a human being wants him! God Bless Our President!! 4 more Years!! Hooray!!!!!!
cillowen | Oct 17, 2012, 12:08 PM EDT
ROMNEY like a bull kept charging after the President of the United States a tactic so unbecoming of a leader - while blinking mightily, a clue to one swinging desperately hoping for an knock-out. Moderator did help Obama on Bengazhi which THE LURCH could have made hay on - by simply asking that the Rose Garden quote be read
christinao't | Oct 17, 2012, 12:01 PM EDT
Libya! Come on! everyone knows that Obama blamed everything on the video that got the people "fired up" he even said it at the u.n. and all his minions repeated it Rice ,etc. Crowley inserted herself into the debate and took Obama's side... wt? Then Michelle stood out like a sore thumb clapping away when no one was supposed to clap during the debate....hey but the rules are for others, not the Obamas...
bobduggins | Oct 17, 2012, 11:58 AM EDT
How can even in your wildest dreams think Obama won the debate. All he did was critized Romney, call him a liar and said nothing he said was true. As far a Libya, it took 2 weeks for them to say it was a terriost attack. They blamed it on a video on u-tube. Unbelievable whoever wrote this piece.
Smyrnian | Oct 17, 2012, 11:48 AM EDT
Yes, I gave the win to Romney also despite the shameless, partisan help Obama got from Crowley, the supposed impartial "monitor". Her performance generated an embarrassing F and did not help Obama one bit, despite her unabashed efforts.
DaddyMac22 | Oct 17, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT
Can anyone tell me why angry Republicans like 'Skibberrean ' type in caps? Are their fingers so fat that they just mash the key boards? For all republicans who think The Mittster did a good job last night, most bookies cut Obama's odds to win down to 4/11, which basically means they don't think Mitty has a hope...
71regiment | Oct 17, 2012, 11:43 AM EDT
Was it not strange that our UN Ambassador Rice went on five TV shows a week after the US Consulate was attacked in Bengazhi and said it was all due to some video that came out in July? Who gave her permisson to do that? Why did it take so long for the current administration to admit it was a "terrorist" attack. Why are they afraid to use that word? Why didn't the CIC order the US Sixth Fleet to send in US Marines to secure the consulate after it was attacked? Then again why where there no US Marines accompaning the Ambassador when he went to Bengazhi, when he was going there to help the staff to move out of the consulate due to the increasing danger in Bengazhi? It is time for the Obama administration to pack up and move out. The US does not need another four years of this crew.
Searlit | Oct 17, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT
Mitt Romney looked tired and grumpy, last night, which is understandable given how President Obama kept clobbering him with the facts. Testy little things those facts.
Skibberrean | Oct 17, 2012, 11:37 AM EDT
DITTO DUBLIN BORN AND BLACKSTONE! WE ALL SAW THIS SO CALLED DEBATE FOR WHAT IT WAS. CROWLEY IS JUST ANOTHER LEFT WING LIBERAL WHO CODDLED BARRY EVERY CHANCE SHE HAD. ROMNEY SOLIDLY WON THE DEBATE. "THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE" ON NOV. 6TH. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND SAVE US FROM THIS MARXIST LIAR!!
porkheaven | Oct 17, 2012, 11:35 AM EDT
My vote is Romney. Obama appeared to be lying through his teeth. Of course that is typical for a Illinois Politician especially a Chicago one. His idea for America is to be similar to Russia.
jamthecat | Oct 17, 2012, 11:12 AM EDT
Now there they go, again -- the Obama haters spinning Romney's lies into a slam against Obama. They know perfectly well Romney has yet to tell the truth in any way, form, or fashion on any occasion. But they don't care; they just hate the fact that there's a black man in the White House who isn't a servant. Obama wiped the floor with Romney, but it doesn't matter. This is what he should have done in the first debate, when Mitt spewed the first of his 27 demonstrable lies, instead of standing there and looking weak and letting obvious falshoods become repeatable nonsense. Not that facts which contradict their beliefs would matter the people like Dublinborn and Blackstone; they prefer the false to the true because it better suits their prejudices.
blackstone | Oct 17, 2012, 10:59 AM EDT
ROMNEY WON THE DEBATE.Obama lied about Libya. He is our Liar-In-Chief. Read the full Rose Garden speech. Obama was referencing the original Twin Tower 9/11 attack not the Benghazi attack when he said" acts of terror".And EVERYONE KNOWS IT. For two weeks following the Benghazi attack Obama desperately lied to the American people insisting that the Benghazi murders were a result of a spontaneous demonstration sparked by a video.Lies!The guy who made the video has since been tossed in jail on some trumped up charge, so much for the 1st amendment.Where are we living, Russia? And then Obama himself goes before the entire world at the U.N. and says 'the future will not belong to those who slander the prophet' once again blaming some stupid video that had NOTHING to do with the brutal murder of our Ambassador and three brave patriots.Obama is a preening, arrogant, narcissistic fool with a TERRIBLE four year record as president, and that's what was on display last night in that ridiculously partisan debate. Candy Crowley has no integrity as a jounalist after the Benghazi stunt.Romney has a distinquished record both in the public and private sector,he successfully governed Masssachussetts, an ultra blue state because he knows how to bring people together, not like Obama, our great divider.Romney is a man of true merit, character and substance, with real economic expertise. He will put the U.S. back on track economically while respecting the constitution.Irish Central is a shameless mouthpiece for the Obama administration ...disgusting biased journalism..
Dublinborn | Oct 17, 2012, 10:52 AM EDT
what a spin. What we saw last night was a hostile Liberal audience in a blue Liberal state moderated by a Liberal party hack. Imaging if the debate was moderated by Pat Buchanan with a club for growth audience. The best question of the night came from an African American to Obama. Why should the next 4 years be any different than the last 4 years ?
JOCSurf007 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:50 AM EDT
We must have been watching different debates. The author of this piece should be embarrassed!
jflanagan | Oct 17, 2012, 10:44 AM EDT
Electric car battery maker A123 filed for bankruptcy today, just a few hours after warning it was about to default on its loans, and will be taken over by auto supplier Johnson Controls. As a recipient of $249 million in grants from the Obama administration, the company's bankruptcy will no doubt become another embarrassment heading into the November elections. Republicans have already battered the Obama administration for investing $535 million in solar panel maker Solyndra, only to see the company fail just two years after receiving the loan. More money wasted on political cronies, stifling competition and real advancements.
EamonnDublin | Oct 17, 2012, 10:42 AM EDT
I watched every second live; fascinating stuff! In any normal media environment, I have no doubt but that the facts would come out about who was right and who was wrong in the Benghazi piece - but in the American media, which is ridiculously pro-Obama, the Obama line will be the only one we see and hear. Romney's comment that Obama had just said IN THE DEBATE that he had said on the Rose Lawn on the morning after Benghazi that it was an act of terror was correct. Play it back - Obama clearly says IN THE DEBATE that he had called it an act of terror THE NEXT DAY. Romney's question was, why did Obama say that if he then took three weeks saying that Benghazi was "riots because of the film". Obama had clearly made a major gaffe. The American media has, of course, twisted it all, and those who did not see the whole unedited debate are being conned by that media - as usual. God Bless America. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT
BrianO, I just did a search of "Obammy" and found that it is much discussed as a racist term on the Internet-- and much used by right wing nuts. Their defense is that so many people are using the word. Yeah, so many people voted for Hitler, he couldn't have been a real racist, right? After Obama leaves office (in 2016), someone will surely publish the Obama-basher's code book, but with new codes popping up every day, I'll just have to call them as I see them!
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT
In the past two debates Mitt Romney was rude and condescending as he rolled over both moderators in a need to control rather than converse and answer questions. Mitt was a very different polite politician, when he was filmed making his 47% comment; probably because he felt he was among his "own kind" which certainly does not include the middle class.Mitt is a very rich business man who will deliver medicare to the whims of private business and as for his record on the economy: as governor Massachusetts Mitt ranked 47th in job creation. That's his record.
olovely | Oct 17, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT
President Obama won, which is all he had to do to change the narrative and regain his standing with the Chicken Little's in the media. Now he is certain to win reelection. You know he trounced Romney if Fox News is calling it a draw. Mitt's binders full of women quip already has A Facegroup page with a million members. He sees the world like a CEO and the people as underlings.
jojo5056 | Oct 17, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT
For the good folks in ireland--don't get sucked in on another Sept 11 false flag operation. This week, Obama admin is plannning--to send in the USA troops and bombing drones into Lybia. Whole affair of killing the USA staff--pretext for the USA to occupy Lybia--just as was Sept 11 20001 Bombings--invade Iraq/Afghastan. These operations are to get general public up in arms againist the wrong innocent people. Get this--the gruards at the Emassey were locals and worse--no bullets for their side arms. Reeks of Made by MOSSAD/CIA :^(
boydshield | Oct 17, 2012, 10:27 AM EDT
Since when does ANYONE NOT watch their retirement accounts. Every smart American that has a retirement watches it very closely, no matter how big or small. Crowley admitted her mistakes, when will Obama admit his? America, please wake up!
eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 10:22 AM EDT
Crowley did not admit she was wrong--read her words before you swallow the right-wing spin. As she said at the debate, it took weeks for the entire story to emerge. But Obama did acknowledge terrorism: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation," and returned to that description when he pledged, "We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible *act*. And make no mistake, justice will be done.” The winning point Obama scored against Romney was in reacting to Romney's crassly un-presidential political spinning of the embassy attack while the violence was still going on. To cast blame and divide the American voice in the region while the Oval Office and Sec. of State were still trying to learn the facts was sickeningly self-serving and "offensive" to the nation.
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 10:11 AM EDT
Eiriamach could you publish the code book so we can be sure not to pierce your thin skin. I know most Irish never say an offensive thing or abide in any slagging at any time.
jflanagan | Oct 17, 2012, 10:03 AM EDT
Candy Crowley admits being wrong about the President calling the Libyan attack an act of terror. Watch the CNN video from shortly after the debate. Go to youtube and search for this: "CNN's Candy Crowley: Romney Was Actually Right On Libya".
CavanAncestor | Oct 17, 2012, 09:56 AM EDT
Who won? No, no...the Obama-Biden Debate last night. Obama, as usual, deliberate mistruths (that's kind) and obfuscation. Offered nothing positive or specific. Rhetoric, rhetoric...a veritable tautology. This werbsite, not unlike CNN, is so far Left one wonders why it doesn't tip over.
shuvonn | Oct 17, 2012, 09:55 AM EDT
Mitt ain't taking over anything maybe except his over seas investments where he sent the jobs his company bought and dismantled for their assets. And Obama did refer to the attacks as terrorism the day after and no lie you tell will change that fact :-) And Brian the video maker violated his parole by uploading that video to the internet. He had been in jail on bank fraud charges prior that was WHY he was in jail, ya still wanna blame that on the president? And btw there were protets world wide over that crudely made video at and the video maker changed hiis name and tried to portray himself as an israeli film maker when he was an Egyptian Coptic christian, which was also a violation of his probation. There were protests at the same time over that very video, facts can be so inconvenient.
eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 09:54 AM EDT
I hear the history of American racism in the tone of the word "obammy" as used by "The Truth Hurts." Thus I find it offensive. Last night's debate and the discussion here on ICentral remind me of Adlai Stevenson's remark that when Republicans stop telling lies about Democrats, Democrats will kindly stop telling the truth about Republicans. It's time to engage with facts and discard the name-calling and code words, @ "The Truth Hurts."
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:50 AM EDT
he Truth Hurts... Who's truth? Try reading the transcript.
jflanagan | Oct 17, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT
Update (12:09 am): Candy Crowley admits she got it wrong and that the President did not refer to Benghazi as a terror or terroist attack. She commented, "I think actually, you know, because right after that, I did turn to Romney and said you were totally correct but they spent two weeks telling us that this was about a tape and that there was this riot outside of the Benghazi consulate, which there wasn't. So he was right in the main, I just think that he picked the wrong word." Of course, admitting she was wrong about the President calling it a terror attack is too late. As we see here and all over the media, facts won't get in the way of good spin for the President. This was in his speech: Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts. Six paragraphs later he says: No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done. The above was just after speaking about our pain from the 9/11/2001 attack, so it seemed he was referring to that as the "act of terror" so he did not directly call the Libya attack and act of terror, as Candy Crowley now admits.
The Truth Hurts | Oct 17, 2012, 09:42 AM EDT
There is no way this moderator should ever have this job again.. do your job, moderate, not add to or side with either candidate... and NO>.. Obammy did not call the attack a terror attack, he was refering to the sept 11 attack... Obammy is the real liar. O stated how many times??, that Bengahzi was because of some stupid video that came out in JULY!!!! O even said that to the UN. but he mentions the word terror actually twice in 2 weeks, both times on the 13th.. and again just mentions the word terror.. not stating that it was a "terror attack" that should have had a bomb dropped on them... He did nothing to assist the oil and gas production presently flowing out of PRIVATE LANDS. The Federal Govt has no control on those leases... Private Citizens and Companies do... hence the word PRIVATE.. but yet on Public, Govt -owned lands.. this administration has reduced the drilling opportunities by over 62%. NOW that is the loss of thousands of JOBS.... hiS RECORD on taxes.. cut 18 times... really--oh yes he did.. but those cuts were temporary and 13 have gone away.. what good was that?? wolf in sheeps clothing. this guy is the biggest crook in american history and will be proven. when mitt takes over.. obammy will be prosecuted...
TomDegan | Oct 17, 2012, 09:42 AM EDT
OBSERVATION OF THE EVENING: Mitt Romney is a pompous twit. Obama was the clear winner - but not the overwhelming one. He did better than Romney, that's all that counts. No election in my lifetime (born in '58) has me more jittery than this one. We can't afford to go down that road again, boys and girls. Maybe this will be the year that Americans finally learn the lesson they should have learned nearly a century-and-a-half ago during the Grant administration: Right wing form of governance DOES - NOT - WORK - PERIOD! It never has. It never will. Maybe that's merely wishful thinking on my part but hope is all I have. Talk about audacity. By the way, what was the argument the right wing made back then against Roosevelt's reelection? "He's had four years to clean up the mess [that he inherited from the GOP] and he has failed to do so!" The more things change, the more they stay the same. http://tomdegan.blogspot.com Tom Degan Goshen, NY
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 09:37 AM EDT
Hmm a patern here--Headline--Biden wins debate by not losing--Headline Obama wins debate by not being incompetent.
Danny | Oct 17, 2012, 09:36 AM EDT
I can't believe just how LIBERAL this website has become. I'm ashamed to call myself a member!!!
hermitTalker | Oct 17, 2012, 09:32 AM EDT
candy admitted later that she was wrong on Libya.If you recall Mr Biden in his tirade that they got wrong "intel." while Mr o said he was chatting with his staff all through it, then Hillary took the fall for it. DEBATES are 4 minute TV spots. Take two topics, this year, HEALTH CARE and BUDGET, put the actual figures on a screen and discuss those. The current format is ludicrous in a democratic republic.
francisquinn | Oct 17, 2012, 09:31 AM EDT
Candy Crowley should not have interferred they way she did....ANd SHE WAS WRONG...but Romeny missed the chance to ask BO...."Why did Susan Rice give false ifno on the Sunday talk shows"...a missed opprtunity by Mitt....but BO still looked on the defensive...
BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 09:28 AM EDT
We'll see if the presidents lies are reported today, seems like I saw him on letterman discussing the video that caused the demonstration that caused the murders, but i must have heard the dear leader incorrectly. Why did the government arrest the video maker, who still is in jail? Don't worry obamas government would never use its power against individual citizens.
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:27 AM EDT
Romney's air of entitlement follows him where ever he goes. In the past two debates, he rolled over both moderators in the most rude and condescending way, as if they were meaningless to the points he was hell bent on making. It's a direct contrast of the polite Mitt in the video, where he mentioned the 47% because he felt he was with his "own kind" which defiantly isn't the middle class.
ellisk26 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:21 AM EDT
Obama lost the debate hands down. The fact that the liberal media moderator had to jump in to throw Obama a lifeline by falsely backing up Obama's lie about the Libya attack proves it. The fact is that there was a terrorist attack on American soil on September 11th and all the President did was once again blame America and our way of life for the attack. This is something Barack Obama has done time and time again. he did have enough time to fly off for fundraisers. Candy Crowley was an absolute disgrace. She even said that Romney was correct in a post debate interview! Lame attempt to try and cover herself.
McNamara31 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:13 AM EDT
bunchesofun You don't like the facts; so you play the Fox blame game on the "liberal moderator". Here's the transcript which clearly state "terror" from the presidents statement on the day after the attacks: "Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe," he said. "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for".
johhnyb | Oct 17, 2012, 09:11 AM EDT
So raising questions about the disgraceful lack of security for an ambassador is playing politics. Pathetic.
kathyodonnell | Oct 17, 2012, 09:09 AM EDT
It was clearly won by Obama. Mitt showed that he have led a life of entitlement and thinks he can boss the president and the moderator around. He was called out by Candy and did not "appreciate" it. I can't believe a single woman would appreciate his tone- or Mitt's policies.
Eamonn12 | Oct 17, 2012, 09:04 AM EDT
Is this article in the Onion? There was no clear winner in the debate. Both candidates merely reiterated their stump speeches. This biased "reporting" is pushing me to other "news" sources. I like how the left pretends there is no bias in reporting.
bunchesofun | Oct 17, 2012, 09:03 AM EDT
Mitt's comments on Libya were correct despite the moderator backing the president. That's what happens when you have liberal moderators.