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2012 Presidential Debates

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Papantonio: Romney is a Foreign Policy Disaster

From Go Left TV's Ring of Fire, Mike Papantonio with a reminder after this Monday's final presidential debate, about just who Mitt Romney is surrounding himself with as foreign policy advisers. It's George W. Bush/Dick Cheney all over again.

Mike Papantonio talks about how Mitt Romney's pitiful performance in the foreign policy debate, and why it should scare American voters.



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Following the final presidential debate on foreign policy this Monday evening, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart went after Mitt Romney for doing his best to pretend he agrees with all of President Obama's policies in order to keep from offending any of the so-called "swing voters" out there and for flip flopping on everything he said during the Republican primary race, where he constantly criticized the President and did a lot of chest thumping to make it through that contest.

It was nice to see Romney called out once again for his pandering and willingness to say anything to get elected and neither candidate was spared when it came to our continuing aggression overseas and these ill advised and illegal drone wars, which sadly they both agree on as well.



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Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Tueday said that President Barack Obama may have "gone native" when he mocked Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney by pointing out that the U.S. military no longer used as many "horses and bayonets."

During the third 2012 presidential debate, Romney had criticized Obama because “our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission, we’re now down to 285."

In response, Obama promised that military spending would not be cut, adding, “I think Gov. Romney maybe hasn’t spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example. And that we have fewer ships that we had in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed.”

During a segment on Fox News the following day, conservative strategist Michael Reagan told Kelly that the "horses and bayonets" line may have been too harsh for undecided voters.

"It showed Barack Obama, who he is: very condescending," the son of the former president explained. "You begin to see why he's accomplishing nothing in Washington, D.C., where my father was accomplishing everything in Washington, D.C. because when he spoke to you, he spoke with you. He did not speak down to you."

"Last night, no respect from the president of the United States towards Mitt Romney, a lot of presidential respect -- as if he were already the president -- from Mitt Romney to, in fact, the other," Reagan added.

"That's an interesting point, that it speaks to an ability to be bipartisan," Kelly agreed. "And whether the president has that, and whether he's been in Washington maybe too long, maybe it's gotten to him and he's sort of gone native because the guy who was going to be hope and change got to Washington, and now he sounds a lot like the people he said he was going to change."

According to Queen's Univ. of Belfast's The Imperial Archive Project, the term "going native" originally referred "to the trepidation felt by the European colonizers in Africa that they may become desecrated by being assimilated into the culture and customs of the indigenous peoples."

"In today's liberal and anti-racist society, ‘going native' is understandably considered a derogatory and offensive term," Sinead Caslin wrote for The Imperial Archive Project.

A recently as last week, Comedy Central's South Park dealt with racism in Hawaii with an episode titled "Going Native."

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms suggests that the term has a more innocent meaning: "to become like the people who have lived in a place for a long time."



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It seems Grandpa McGrumpy wasn't too happy about his buddy Willard getting zinged by President Obama during the final presidential debate this Monday and let the audience know during his appearance this Tuesday on Morning Joe.

McCain: Obama’s ‘Bayonets And Horses’ Remark A ‘Cheap Shot’ And I ‘Resent It’:

Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) praised Mitt Romney's performance in the final debate and criticized President Obama for mocking the GOP candidate's approach to the defense budget.

"Frankly, I don't understand why the president wants to take these kind of cheap shots -- bayonets and horses, what's that all about?" he said. "You know, when I debated then-Senator Obama I didn't criticize or belittle his lack of experience on national security issues. And he seemed to take these kind of cheap shots. ... I kind of resent it."

"I think you should treat your opponent with some respect. ... It was small ball."

This coming from the same man who inflicted Sarah Palin on the rest of the nation and allowed her to be running around the country during the presidential campaign accusing then Sen. Obama of "paling around with terrorists." And from the same man who called Obama a celebrity and compared him to Paris Hilton. Small ball, huh? Well, you'd know all about that, now wouldn't you?



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During the third 2012 presidential debate, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney praised President Barack Obama for his use of unmanned aerial drones to fight terrorism.

"I believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world," the former Massachusetts governor said. "And it’s widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and I support that and entirely, and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology, and believe that we should continue to use it, to continue to go after the people that represent a threat to this nation and to our friends."

"But let me also note that as I said earlier, we’re going to have to do more than just going after leaders and -- and killing bad guys, important as that is," he added. "We’re also going to have to have a farm more effective and comprehensive strategy to help move the world away from terror and Islamic extremism. We haven’t done that yet."

"You look at the record of the last four years and say is Iran closer to a bomb? Yes. Is the Middle East in tumult? Yes. Is -- is al Qaeda on the run, on its heels? No. Is -- are Israel and the Palestinians closer to reaching a peace agreement? No, they haven’t had talks in two years."

Obama, however, took issue with Romney's characterization of the last four years.

"We’re always also going to have to maintain vigilance when it comes to terrorist activities," the president explained. "The truth, though, is that al Qaeda is much weaker than it was when I came into office. And they don’t have the same capacities to attack the U.S. homeland and our allies as they did four years ago."



SNL Spoofs the Second Presidential Debate

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Jason Sudeikis and Jay Pharoah were back as Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama for round two of the presidential debates in the opening of this week's Saturday Night Live. SNL's version of the debate was a bit more contentious than the real one to say the least, and they managed to get a shot in on Willard's son Tagg, who told a radio station last week that he would have liked to take a swing at the President for heaven forbid pointing out that his dad lies like a rug.

They also mocked Romney for wanting to bully moderator Candy Crowley, had some fun with the so-called "undecided voters" from Long Island and their questions and Tom Hanks made a cameo appearance with a one word question for the candidates.



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Jon Stewart gave his synopsis of this week's contentious second presidential debate, and the fact that President Obama actually showed up so that the public could get a chance to find out just how much President Obama and Mitt Romney "f**king hate each other."

After giving President Obama credit for calling out Mitt Romney's lies this time around and taking a shot at Romney for his "binders full of women" nonsense, Stewart knocked Willard for walking right into the trap laid for him on Libya by the President.

Stewart wrapped things up by showing how the "evidence of Obama's victory and resurgence was everywhere post-debate," with MSNBC "no longer seeming suicidal" and with Fox attacking Candy Crowley for her job as moderator.



From Sam Seder's The Majority Report -- Romney Flails on Pensions, AutoCorrects Himself on Blind Trust:

In an effort to zing Obama on China, Romney is hit back by the President about the size of Mitt's pension. Romney also attempts to continue the meme that he has no control over his blind trust, yet video of Mitt Romney from years ago laughs at that idea from Mitt of today...



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Fox News host Megyn Kelly became agitated on Wednesday after a member of her "focus group" noted that the panel had only been assembled to criticize debate moderator Candy Crowley because of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's poor performance.

During Tuesday night's second 2012 presidential debate, Crowley's instant fact check briefly stunned Romney by undermining his claim that President Barack Obama had not initially referred to the recent attacks in Libya as "acts of terror."

On Wednesday, Kelly assembled a nine-member "focus group" to critique Crowley's performance, something that the conservative news network had elected not to do for moderator Jim Lehrer after Romney was seen as winning the first debate.

"Candy Crowley interrupted Gov. Romney and, according to some, went from objective moderator to active participant by actually defending the president," the Fox News host explained, adding that Crowley had later tried to "walk back" her fact check -- even though she has said she did not backtrack.

"Actually it's not just a fair charge, I would say she didn't become a participant, she became an advocate," conservative radio host Kevin McCullough opined. "The rules had kept the moderator to a limited position for a reason, for the American people to decide what the candidates were saying, not to have it interpreted by a journalist who shouldn't be getting in the way."

"Uh, huh," Kelly agreed. "You have power as a moderator, as this straight-news journalist because people will hopefully look at you and think, 'Alright, this isn't a partisan, this is somebody who's going to tell me the truth.' And so there's danger in being the fact checker on the spot. Did she abuse that power?"

Kelly continued by pointing to a column by conservative Mediaite columnist Noah Rothman which argues that Americans don't trust the media because "so many straight new journalists default to a Democratic point of view."

But Kelly's "focus group" hit a snag when Bernard Whitman, a Democratic pollster, pointed out that the premise of the entire panel was to cover for Romney's "poor performance" at the debate.

"Candy Crowley did a great job pushing back against a bully in Mitt Romney," Whitman noted. "It's sort of amazing that in the face of a relatively poor performance by Romney, all we're talking about is the moderator, Candy Crowley. That sort of underscores..."

"Don't start with me," Kelly interrupted, scolding Whitman. "This is a two-hour program, this is what this panel is focused on. We got a lot of other things in this show."

"I thought it was really despicable," Tracy Davis, a former Bush speechwriter, remarked. "Because it's like she was acting like God because, you know, they can't argue with her, she's the moderator. And suddenly, Obama -- which is typical because he's politicized this whole thing."

"Romney lost the opportunity to make a point and that's why we're talking about this!" Whitman insisted one more time before the segment ended.

In contrast to the "focus group" segment lashing out at Crowley, Fox News host Sean Hannity had invited PBS host Jim Lehrer on his show to praise his moderating skills after Obama was seen as losing the first debate.

"Now, the left tried very hard to make him the scapegoat for Obama's pitiful performance, but I think for 67 million Americans who watched, it was, well, pretty obvious the blame laid squarely with the president himself," Hannity said.



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CNN host Candy Crowley on Wednesday stood her ground and refused to backtrack as a surrogate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney insisted that she had been "wrong" to fact check the GOP hopeful's claim that President Barack Obama had not referred to the attacks in Libya as "acts of terror."

While moderating Tuesday night's second 2012 presidential debate, Crowley had briefly stunned Romney when she undermined his claim that Obama had not taken the Benghazi attacks seriously.

“He did call it an act of terror,” she had told the former Massachusetts governor. “It did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out.”

By the next morning, conservatives were insisting that Crowley had backtracked because she later explained that Romney was "right in the main" but "picked the wrong word" by saying that Obama had not called the attacks terrorism.

"This morning, Paul Ryan, who has been making the rounds on the morning shows, says, 'Well, she's already backtracked,'" CNN host Soledad O'Brien pointed out to Crowley on Wednesday morning. "Are you backtracking on what you said in that fact check last night?"

"Goodness, I hope they get back to one another," Crowley replied, adding that her comments following the debate were "exactly the same" as the original fact check. "He did say 'acts of terror,' call it an act of terror, but, Gov. Romney, you are perfectly right that it took weeks for them to get past the tape."

"Not a backtrack?" O'Brien wondered.

"No!" Crowley said. "Now, did the president say, 'This was an act of terror'? The president did not say [that], he said, these 'acts of terror.' But he was in the Rose Garden to talk about Benghazi so I don't think that's a leap."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who was appearing on Wednesday morning's CNN panel as a Romney surrogate, told Crowley that "it wasn't necessarily your place to try to be fact checker right there. I happen to think that your assessment of that was wrong. ... It's not the role of the moderator to say, 'Mr's President, you're right.'"

"Nonsense," CNN liberal contributor Roland Martin quipped. "The congressman is dead wrong. If you stand there and say something that is wrong, you should be corrected on the spot. Look, I have no problem even having a table of fact checkers there. We shouldn't wait until the debate is over and then have different people saying, this was right, this was wrong. More people are watching that singular debate than they're watching anyone's particular coverage."

"And so if you say something and it's wrong, you check them right then," he added.