Presidential debate: One down!
KCRW and To the Point hosted a live chat during last night’s presidential debate and, as has been widely reported, our guests pretty much agreed that it was Mitt Romney’s night. Writer…
By Caitlin Shamberg • • 1 min reada live chat during last night’s presidential debate and, as has been widely reported, our guests pretty much agreed that it was Mitt Romney’s night.
Writer and comedian Rachel Hastings put it this way, “LOOK ALIVE, OBAMA!”
The debate began with banter about the Obama’s wedding anniversary. In our live chat, comedian W. Kamau Bell took note, “And within seconds President Obama reminds the American public that his wife is awesome.” RedState.com’s Joshua Treviño added, “Look, when you’re married long enough, sometimes you have anniversaries like this.”
Then things got wonky. The debate format was set up so each topic would consist of 15 minutes of debate. But things quickly got a little out of control and moderator Jim Lehrer didn’t do the best job of reigning things in, as journalist Farai Chideya noted, “Jim Lehrer is trying so hard to rein the pols in, and they are so hotfooting it around his instructions.”
Speaking of Lehrer PBS and the like, KCRW listeners did not like it when Mitt Romney said he’d cut subsidies to PBS, didn’t like it at all.
Carolyn Denise Gayle @cdenisegayle tweeted: Ah damn! Not Big Bird, Mitt better watch his back on YouTube – you know the Muppets don’t play #debates #KCRW
And a Big Bird meme was born…
The Washington Post has a good rundown of how the candidates fudged the truth to appeal to voters on everything from tax cuts to Medicaid to job creation. Check that out here.
Our commentators were surprised that Obama didn’t mention Mitt Romney’s 47% comment, were you?
And Variety’s Ted Johnson wrapped things up, saying:
The verdict: This was Romney’s debate. Obama was off his mark, even more so than in the three debates he had with John McCain. The first debate favors the challenger, but this definitely gave Romney an opening and he took it. Obama seemed unrehearsed, tentative and sometimes just not clear. Romney seemed more in command of the facts, and for a campaign that has been criticized for not having details, he came across as having them, even if that meant sacrificing Big Bird.
Thanks for following our chat last night! Want more? You can read the whole thing RIGHT HERE.