So the conventional wisdom is that President Obama won the third debate, correct? I've read all the articles and watched the debate and I also concluded the same thing. Here's a rundown of all the snap polls conducted after the debate. They conclude that Obama won easily. So I was interested to see how Bret Baier's Special Report roundtable discussion handicapped the final debate. I expected some disagreement, but what I heard was downright other-worldly. Did they watch the same thing over 50 million Americans watched?
Here are some excerpts. The entire "all star" roundtable video is posted for you to peruse.
Some choice quotes:
A.B. Stoddard: I thought President Obama at times was defensive and a little bit desperate. He was obnoxious but I think he won the debate in that he did not lose the debate.
Stoddard did say that Romney flip flopped around on many issues, but then said: "But he did not make a mistake and he did not fall on his face. He did not want to get into a fight with Obama."
Charles Krauthammer: Obama I think was attacking all the time, interrupting a lot, and the clip we saw about the Navy stuff was a perfect example of why I think he (Obama) failed last night. It was small, condescending and off the mark.
Stephen Hayes: Mitt Romney was playing to not lost the debate and I don’t think he lost it. President Obama was playing very seriously to win the debate and I don’t think he won the debate. Does the President’s condescending and disrespectful treatment of Mitt Romney hurt him with Independents? I think there’s a real chance that it could. This was so far beyond the line of acceptable Presidential behavior in my view. The mocking you just played there...
The all-star panel agreed that the moment of the night was when Romney attacked Obama for going on an apology tour, and they thought he was devastating -- without even mentioning that he also happened to be lying outrageously. This segment is so insanely out of touch with reality that it reminded me of what happened to Captain Kirk and his mates when they beamed up on an evil doppleganger ship and crew from another reality.
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I've been watching the immediate reaction by the Beltway villagers after the final presidential debate and I have to say I'm dumbfounded. Mitt Romney instantly morphed from his Neocon cocoon and instead of wanting to nuke Iran, he turned into a butterfly of world peace. He even brought his tie dye shirt with him. Not a peep of outrage from the media.
If President Obama suddenly changed every position on foreign policy in the final debate the media would be destroying him. FOX News would be calling for a Darryl Issa investigation and then claim liberal bias if Obama wasn't hearing calls of impeachment from the entire media for having the audacity to lie to the American people at, of all things, a presidential debate, the holiest of holy traditions in American politics.
On top of that, Romney has crafted a narrative that has him now winning the election handily. I'm not kidding, but why should it surprise anyone? It's what conservatives do.
(h/t Heather for the video)
