Tweety was Angelo Dundee screaming, "Get Off The Ropes!!!!"

[napkinz]

Matthews was not outraged and berating President Obama last night because he supports Romney.

My impression is that Matthews was frustrated that the president kept letting Romney delilver blow after blow after blow -- i.e., lie after lie after lie after lie -- and not fighting back. Not challenging Romney, not correcting Romney, not debunking Romney after the barrage (succession) of lies.

It was frustration Matthews was expressing.

We all wanted the president to take on Romney's barrage of lies.

The problem with all this day after challenging of Romney's lies is we who are following the campaign day after day get it, but the time to do it was in front of an audience of 60 million .... 60 million, many of whom go back to their lives today and don't watch Rachel and Lawrence and will never know that what most of Romney delivered was bullshit.

Again, that's why Tweety is pissed.

That's how I see it.

I know because there were times I was yelling at the TV, "That's another lie, don't smile, Mr. President, fight back, debunk that lie!"

[Glitterati]

1. Yep, me too!

I screamed several times at the TV, trying to get Obama to swing back! Instead, he changed the damned subject!!!!!!!!!!

[napkinz]

3. I know I'm not alone

This morning my mom told me she was so frustrated she turned off the debate after a half hour. She just couldn't take it. Watching our president getting pummeled.

She's disappointed.

Nothing is going to change our vote.

But for those who watched the debate last night and don't pay attention on a daily basis, who won't read or see the pundits' correction of all the lies in the following days, well, those could be lost votes.

The best hope is (a) a good jobs report tomorrow (b) a good performance by Vice President Biden next week, and a (c) good performance by the president the following week.

So this thing is not over. We still have most of the advantages.

It was just a very FRUSTRATING evening last night.

[Glitterati]

9. That's right

And that debate performance inspired me to changed minds one by one, starting with my neighbor.

I'll take those swings Obama missed last night. One Republican at a time.

[eissa]

2. And I agreed with him

Cutting funding for PBS? That should have been an easy one for Obama to attack. He's not targeting programs that are wasteful and need trimming, he's going after ones that are politically advantageous to his base. There were so many opportunities where he could have pointed out the idiocy and inaccuracies of his positions and he chose to be polite instead. Perhaps there is some method to his madness, some reasoning that his campaign (which has been stellar) knows that we don't know, but I was dumbfounded by his demureness last night. But again, it was just the first debate; lots of sitting presidents lost those and went on to win.

[napkinz]

8. re "There were so many opportunities where he could have ...

.... pointed out the idiocy and inaccuracies of"

Yes. Each time I just kept saying, stop smiling. Don't let Romney keep having the last word, the last lie! Interrupt Lehrer, as Romney had repeatedly done, and say, "Jim, I can't let that go. I have to correct that."

And then correct it.

[roguevalley]

41. tweety is old school. He loves obama and hates racism. He wants the president to succeed.

[ashling]

4. Matthews was a wild man!

fun to watch

[gkhouston]

5. Tweety, like Old Faithful, erupts at regular intervals. I changed the channel.

His histrionics no longer impress me. Oh, wait! They never did.

[napkinz]

11. That was not histrionics

That was PAIN that many of us felt. Real pain.

Anger. Over Romney's barrage of lies, so many unchallenged.

And frustration!

[RagAss]

6. Yes.....but it is a known boxing history fact....

That Angelo loosened those ropes before the fight too.

[napkinz]

13. history fact

Dundee kept yelling, "Get off the ropes" as Ali took blow after blow.

But Ali waited several rounds and finally POUNCED!

[RagAss]

17. True...Angelo panicked.....

The plan going in was to stay on the ropes...but when George started wailing away Angelo had second thoughts and wanted Ali to get out to the center of the ring. Ali stuck with the plan and the rest is history.
I would have panicked too. George was a mean piece of work !

[napkinz]

19. Once he knew he had been victim of the "rope-a-dope" ...

... I'm surprised Foreman never asked for a rematch.

He would have known to pace himself in the second fight, had there been one.

[RagAss]

25. Yes...his life took a strange decade long detour after that loss.

[napkinz]

27. The president should have "grilled" Romney last night!

[Aerows]

39. I love his grills

I have one, and it is extremely handy. I know that's off topic, but I also like George!

[Aerows]

36. George Foreman

isn't a stupid man. After Ali pulled that one off, pretty much everyone knew that Ali was the Greatest. You take a beating laid on you by George Foreman and are not only still standing, but win? There is a reason why Ali was known to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. He changed tactics every fight.

I think President Obama will surprise us and let Joe Biden do the stinging against Ryan, thereby not looking angry or less statesman-like.

Biden will hand Ryan his head. The next debate, expect a very different tactical Obama to emerge. Romney hasn't got the ability to dance and change tactics. He's a bully, and Obama let him get comfortable with being a bully. When he gets hit, it's going to knock his ass out (to use a boxing analogy).

[WillyT]

7. Ironic... I Myself Was Wondering If President Obama Was Doing A Rope-A-Dope...

Time will tell.

[Aerows]

37. I think so

Romney can now get confident. One thing is for sure - no matter how lethargic Obama seemed, he didn't get knocked out, and that should scare the shit out of the Romney campaign that he took the blows.

[napkinz]

38. When all is said and done ...

... the election loss will finally wipe that smirk off Romney's face.

[Aerows]

40. Exactly

Mitt is going to have plenty of time to repent in leisure.

[napkinz]

42. Maybe he can visit his money in the Caymans

[Blue Idaho]

10. Tweety is a perfectly well oiled weather vane.

His performance last night is classic Tweety. He is perfectly capable of spinning on a dime and attacking the people or policies he was so in love with just a week ago, a day ago, or an hour ago.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Tweety thinks he's God's gift to the world

He is far from it.

[napkinz]

15. What I saw last night and what I'm seeing right now on Hardball

... is real frustration.

Even Ron Reagan is expressing the same kind of frustration.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. None of them are current elected officials

They are paid for entertainment and ratings, so they can throw all caution to the wind. They have nothing to lose.

[hedda_foil]

14. Completely agree +1,000,000

[Quantess]

16. Chris Matthews is perennially entertaining.

He makes for good tv.

[OldDem2012]

18. I seem to recall that Ali ignored Dundee's advice and...

...knocked out Foreman in the 8th round.

Take that for what it's worth.

[napkinz]

20. right

So why didn't the President eventually pounce on Romney?

[RagAss]

28. I get the feeling the 8th round is the next debate between them.

[napkinz]

29. I don't know if that's the planned strategy

... that's how it's going to have to be.

[Hoyt]

31. Yea, and Leon Spinks and Ken Norton beat Ali when he wasn't serious.

Fight game probably doesn't apply here anyway.

I'm gonna vote for Obama even if he "loses" all debates. But, Rmoney was down and out from last few weeks. I'd feel better if he hadn't gotten back in the hunt.

[bluestate10]

21. Chris Matthews is a big Obama supporter.

Matthews despises Romney with a passion. My guess is that Matthews went bananas when he saw President Obama not punching back. The only politicians that Matthews like more that President Obama are former President Clinton and Hillary. If Hillary announced her run for President for 2016 on Chris Matthews' show, Tweety would drop dead on the spot with his ticket to a blissful Heaven punched.

[COLGATE4]

22. Perfect analogy! nt

[Inspired]

23. I agree. He wanted Obama to come out a clear winner.

And he was disappointed. So was I. Now that time has passed, we might find that this isn't as big of a deal as it seemed last night though.

When the trending topic for the next day is Big Bird, Romney obviously did himself no favors.

[napkinz]

26. that's my hope

That with time, the new take will be that this was the "Big Bird Debate" or Romney's "Big Bird Debacle."

[Jennicut]

30. I get that Chris was disappointed.

But there is criticism when you are pissed and then there is constructive criticism. Chris sometimes borders on that. He needs to chill. I am a diabetic just like him and he needs to take care of himself. I don't do well unless I stay pretty calm and reasonable. Otherwise my blood sugar goes sky high from stress.

[napkinz]

32. I'm watching on Politics Now with Al Sharpton the president's speech today

The passion!

The debunking of Romney's lies!

The only problem, it's to an audience of thousands.

Last night he had an audience of 60 MILLION!

That's what's frustrating.

But as I said in a reply above, there are still two more debates. There will be some 30 or 40 million watching.

So let's move on. Get ready for round two.

[Jennicut]

34. Tweety and a lot of people

need to move on. What's done is done.

[napkinz]

35. We all will move on

We have to.

What's done is done.

We have to look FORWARD!

I still think Romney will lose Ohio, and without Ohio, he's pretty much cooked.

So we're frustrated with last night's debate. It was such a jolt.

But that frustration will dissipate. There's still five weeks to go.

[Ship of Fools]

33. I totally agree. Tweety is very emotionally invested in

this election. But I think he caved in to his passion, but in so doing his professionalism
took one big fucking hit. I can't watch him anymore. What a buffoon.

Just one woman's opinion.

[Glitterati]

43. I quit watching Tweety long ago

when he got that tingle up his leg seeing Bush in his flight suit.

The only time I "watch" him is when it takes a minute to find the remote to change the channel.

[napkinz]

44. He also got a tingle up his leg in 2008 with President Obama

He gets lots of tingles.