I am beginning to become scared that Romney/Ryan will win. Can smart people please post here and say reassuring things to convince me that he won't?

Even Jonah can barely find a silver lining here.

not very many undecided voters are watching cable news or reading editorial pages 6 weeks before an election

― max, Tuesday, September 18, 2012 10:34 AM (49 minutes ago)

maybe not but what about reading newspaper headlines while at the coffee shop or talking to people who are following the race? there's kind of a general noise level about romney not being in control of his campaign and these gaffes are just stocking obama's pantry for the debates. romney is clearly not unflappable in public and I'm wondering what sort of verbal wilding he's going to engage in when face to face with his opponent.

kind of hoping Romney bursts into tears at the debate

kind of hoping Romney bursts into tears flames at the debate

more likely: slight but visible leakage of sawdust/oatmeal (uncooked)

kind of hoping Romney bursts into tears flames america the beautiful at the debate

Romney flames / Ryan tears vs Romney tears / Ryan flames, hmm that is a poser.

(probably the latter, as we'll never hear of Romney again, but Ryan will be back as an "intellectual" / actual pres. candidate)

kind of hoping Romney bursts into tears flames america the beautiful the dance of joy at the debate

Has the debate schedule been set?

Yup

http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2012-debate-schedule/2012-presidential-debate-schedule/

Hahaha! The final presidential debate is in Boca Raton!

"Governor Romney, a few months ago you were talking to a few folks around here at a fundraiser..."

i'm still scared! i just hate mitt so much.

I just hope Obama brings up Bain bailouts whenever Romney brings up gov't entitlements.

uh Boca Raton is the Democratic heart of Palm Beach County and one of the places whose residents voted mistakenly for Pat Buchanan in '00.

That makes it even better.

lol wondering what voters Romney hopes to woo in Boca Raton.

soon-to-be baptized Jews

Netanyahu-loving ones.

He's got Bush's buddy, Bob Schieffer moderating that last debate.

As moderator, Schieffer will be responsible for formulating the debate questions and following up after the candidates respond. However, Schieffer has described in the past his "golfing friendship" with President George W. Bush "during the 1990s"

http://mediamatters.org/research/2004/10/12/schieffers-statements-raise-questions-about-obj/132062

kind of hoping Romney bursts into tears flames america the beautiful the dance of joy as a pas de deux with rafalca at the debate.

My own hope is that Romney suddenly goes Gangnam Style in the middle of the first debate. (Even though I didn't know what that meant until SNL.)

I watched the clips again this morning and, wow, what a difference in confidence, diction, and tone. So this is what speaking to your base does.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, September 18, 2012 3:23 PM (2 hours ago)

totally, it's quite striking

also the identification of 'the 47%' with obama voters when LOADS of those people are republicans

I can totally see Romney as the sort who signs up months in advance to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" at baseball's opening day, spends all those weeks practicing, and still flubs the words.

I'm wondering what sort of verbal wilding (Romney)'s going to engage in when face to face with his opponent.

Romney's debate prep team will stuff him like a thanksgiving turkey, but instead of delicious savory goodies, he'll be stuffed full of canned responses to stock questions. This approach works well enough about 98% of the time. Where it gets interesting is when a candidate becomes confused about which canned answer fits the current question, gets a frozen look for about three seconds and then starts to wing it, like Rick Perry.

However, I suspect that Romney won't put his foot into the shit in any obvious way. He'll have pat answers to all the most embarassing questions he's likely to be asked. It mostly comes down to whether or not someone gets really creative in forming the questions and gets him off-script.

I'd just like it if the candidates each had to read aloud the Constitution. Romney's brain would fry in the first sentence when he got to "promote the general welfare".

is Obama considered a good debater? It was hard to tell with that grimacing, snickering somnambulist creeping around last time.

He was less on his game in the primaries, but he held up pretty well against McCain.

http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/D/O/2/mctongue-pic.jpg

That's my point! Whatever he held with McCain it wasn't a debate.

Obama has a strong tendency to get professorial, which he needs to resist.

i remember him seemingly progressively sleepier through each of the last debates - like veering into a more solemn mode, looking downwards, &c. i figure he'll be okay at enumerating his triumphs & all, though, i don't think debates are actually like to be all that snappy or high-risk in this context.

it doesn't matter if he's a "good" debater or not, it's all about his opponent, who is a hideous boob.

Well, yeah, none of these are debates. You could put two staffers behind podiums who have iPads loaded with sound clips and they just play the appropriate one at the appropriate time for how much debating actually goes.

However, I do actually like watching these things, and am curious how much of a public event they'll be around here. For the last two cycles at least, people filled bars & theaters to watch and yell at the screen.

I may or may not have been yelling at the screen whilst typing on here with everybody whilst it happened.

kind of hoping Romney bursts into tears flames america the beautiful the dance of joy as a pas de deux with rafalca heaven, kissing the cotton clouds at the debate.

I'm curious though, almost everything that Romney's being doing recently seems like it should get Obama angry. Isn't there a portion of Obama's appeal that isn't compatible with him being "My esteemed opponent, who I believe has good in his heart.." about someone who's been blatantly lying and poor-baiting? Even more so if Charles Pierce is right and the Romney campaign is going to go straight evil over the next seven weeks.

My sense atm is that Romney won't go straight evil until after he sees the overnight polling after the first 'debate'. It isn't his preferred style. Rove would have been all Tyson-biting-Spinks'-ear-off by three days after the R convention, when he saw the numbers.

he can go straight evil in his ads, but i don't see him pulling off anything beyond petulant in a debate

Holyfield

xpost

correction accepted

Tyson bit off Holyfield's ear, fwiw.

lol too late

There are some ads, not approved by Romney of course, poised to Swiftboat Osama vs. Obama (although described as starting with headline OSAMA DEAD, followed by an added question mark, which may be going "a bit far,some commentators agree")(predicted subhed)

Net ads, mostly.

romney is clearly not unflappable in public and I'm wondering what sort of verbal wilding he's going to engage in when face to face with his opponent.

― vincent black shadow giallo (Edward III), Tuesday, September 18, 2012 11:46 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya curious to see what a desperate mitt dawg will do in the debates

i can't really imagine it getting any wilder than him reverting to his faux-laugh/fixed grin/intense stare, tbh, he more often speaks irrelevantly than he does incoherently

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0117-mitt-romney-sc-debate/11470148-1-eng-US/0117-mitt-romney-SC-debate_full_600.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/2pywabn.jpg

I don't expect any major gaffes on either side in the debate. Most likely they'll be kind of boring.

I said way back in primary season that the GOP should pick Perry, that they were shying away from him because he was too much of a wild card, but he was the wild card with a 20% chance of winning whereas Romney has always been the guy with virtually 0% chance of winning.

feel like mitts gonna go on the offensive

when romneys attack, season premiere 10/12 9pm all the channels