First Presidential Debate: What will be Mitt's "zinger" at the President?

[CTyankee]

My Dem neighbor is worried sick that Mitt has some devastating zinger that will nail Obama in the first debate and reset the campaign (a la "Are you better off now than 4 years ago?&quot .

My guess would be that Mitt will bring up the "more people are on food stamps" meme he's been touting lately. But as I told my neighbor, I'm sure the Obama people are anticipating that.

Actually, I think that Mitt will think he has the perfect zinger only it will either fall flat or Obama will just destroy it...

[BlueToTheBone]

1. "Say it isn't so, Joe?"

He's that lame.

[Ikonoklast]

11. Even though she still looked and sounded like the idiot she is, I wish Mr. Biden would bave said,

"No, Governor Palin, only my friends and supporters get to call me 'Joe', you may call me Vice-President Biden."

[Lucy Goosey]

2. "Redistribution"

...or "you didn't build that." I hope he also tries to pin the whole "taking 700 billion out of Medicare" thing on the President; Obama will calmly and rationally rip him a new asshole for that one, I think.

I'm not expecting brilliance from Mitt, obviously.

[CTyankee]

7. Oh, I had almsot forgotten about the "you didn't build that..." I agree that it will (attempt) to

be his zinger. And I think Obama has come up with a great rejoinder which he will use quite effectively.

[CTyankee]

9. The "700 billion dollars out of Medicare" is an easy one for Obama to handle.

It's actually good cuz Obama can then tell everyone that it was money taken from the rich, private health insurers not from Medicare benefits that people receive. I don't think a lot of people know that, so any opportunity for Obama to give them that factoid is GOOD.

Some zingers can just explode in Mitt's face

[BeyondGeography]

3. Even if he doesn't have one planned, I'm worried, too

The man is so good on his feet:

[dawg]

15. I hadn't seen that before.

If I were a billionaire, I would buy air time in swing states just to show that clip.

The man is a buffoon.

[goclark]

21. Who let the dogs out? What was he saying that for ---

Bet he paid the kids to be there.

On Edit: my new key board keeps sticking on me

[sadbear]

4. "You're pretty smart, President Obama,..."

"...for someone with the mark of Cain."

[tanyev]

5. "My opponent thinks everyone in this country is entitled to food."

[earthside]

6. He will be over prepped.

That's my prediction.

He'll have so many zingers shoved into his head by his debate coaches that he will be nearly paralyzed.

Now, I think he will do okay ... I wouldn't expect a major faux pas, but it won't be enough to bring him back into serious competition.

[Jim__]

8. We can be sure that the truth is no obstacle to what he'll say.

Gingrich said it after a primary debate about romney. How can you debate with someone who just lies? Obama can't prepare for any possible lie that romney will tell.

[Nye Bevan]

10. "Gas prices have doubled under President Obama".

Horrible cheap shot, as gas prices in 2008/2009 were low due to the Bush depression, but a populist, simplistic, soundbite.

[jberryhill]

12. He'll give the president a five dollar bill for parking his car

[JHB]

13. "There you go again"

He's telegraphed that he wants to use Reagan's line. He's dying for the sort of impact it had. it's a RW golden moment, and he wants it to reflect on him.

Except Reagan was vastly more at home as a public speaker than Mitt is, and Reagan literally had Carter's playbook. He was able to know ahead of time the points carter would bring up, so he was able to come up with a line to derail it ahead of time, and he had the skill as a speaker to pick the right time to deploy it. (Witness the debate 4 years later against Mondale, where he tried to reuse it and gave Mondale an opening to scold him about how his vaunted zinger was wrong on facts. It was probably Reagan's worst moment in the 84 campaign, so he went back to being President Feelgood.)

Obama and team are sharp enough to know Romney wants a zinger badly. Very likely they have counters prepped. Nothing is certain, but if Romney tries it my money (much less than $10K) would be on Obama beating him silly with it.

[Johonny]

14. I'd buy that for a dollar

[HopeHoops]

16. "I appreciate black people. I know a lot of people who own them."

Don't be shocked. Seriously.

[emulatorloo]

17. "more people are on food stamps" is a lie. Bush was the pres who put more people on food stamps.

Besides that Food Stamps are stimulative to the economy. There are facts and figures on that.

He seems to be fixated on "redistribution" - which is more idiocy. Every tax is "redistribution" - they take "my" money and build roads, pay policemen and firefighters, etc. Who the hell is against that besides a tiny minority of people?

[KurtNYC]

18. "You didn't build that."

because they seem to think that is the cleverest thing ever.

[JoePhilly]

19. "You shot OBL in the wrong eye"

[JoePhilly]

20. "Drill baby drill"

[ChoppinBroccoli]

22. He'll Take Off His Shoes And Say, "Here, Shine These, Boy."

And the remaining 59 minutes will consist of President Obama beating the ever-lovin' shit out of him.