The 96 Seconds that Lost Romney the Debate and Maybe the Election

[Hissyspit]

http://www.politicususa.com/96-seconds-lost-romney-debate-election.html

The 96 Seconds that Lost Romney the Debate and Maybe the Election

By: Jason Easley
October 16th, 2012

The reaction is pouring in, and the consensus is that Mitt Romney lost the second presidential debate. There was one moment, specifically 96 seconds that lost the debate for Mitt Romney.

Here is the video:

SEE LINK

Mitt Romney had a bad debate performance, but his night absolutely went up in flames when he thought he had Obama pinned down on his remarks the day after Libya only to see it all go up in flames. Candy Crowley’s real time fact check will go down in history as a watershed presidential debate moment. One of the unintended consequences of Romney’s lie to win strategy is that a premium has been placed on fact checking.

When Romney was proven wrong in front of millions of Americans, you could see his balloon pop. His confidence was gone, and at that moment, Mitt Romney’s frail confidence was shot. (Anyone who has watched Romney’s debate performances knows that he is streaky. He runs hot and cold. In the Republican primary debates where he got off to a bad start, the night often got worse. Romney is not good at coming from behind.)

- snip -

Mitt Romney will do and say anything to win.

Mitt Romney is a creature who is trapped in the right wing media bubble, and many of his attacks on Obama, including the claim that the president apologizes for America, are charges that were birthed via the right wing media. The Libya moment revealed the consequences of the conservative decision to create and live in their own reality. During the debate Romney got confused and thought he was debating the imaginary left wing socialist who apologizes for America created by the right wing.

MORE AND VIDEO AT LINK

[zentrum]

1. There was a second moment

...that was timed carefully by O.

He kept the 47% remark and said it almost in full at the very end of the debate. It was the last thing people heard and there was no time for R to do his rehearsed come-back. Brilliant.

[calimary]

6. He got the last word? GOOD.

Especially when it's maneuvered such that the opponent doesn't have a chance to rebut. The statement is allowed to stand - unchallenged and uncorrected, and as the lazy "journalists" all say these days, "well, I'm afraid we're going to have to leave it there..."

[Chorophyll]

29. Yes, he got the last word, and it was brilliant.

Romney (the idiot) pretty much fed it to him. Best ending to a debate I've ever seen.

[krawhitham]

11. And it has had no replay on MSNBC tonight

[nyquil_man]

17. Romney left himself wide open on that by bringing up his inane "100%" line.

What can he do now? The next debate's on foreign policy.

[JoePhilly]

30. My son (19) immendiately said ... oh, that opens Obama to hitting him on the 47%

comment.

And BOOM. My son is smarter than Mitt Romney.

[WinkyDink]

33. Romney has clearly shown he has no respect for rules, the topics, the time....NOTHING and NO-ONE. He

WILL address this next week.

[patrice]

2. K&R

[Kalidurga]

3. It was at 23 seconds he lost

"Please proceed Governor." And the look on his face showed he knew he was stepping in it, yet he stepped in the doo doo anyway.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Yes, he was going to show that "boy" how much brass he had

and he stepped right off the cliff!

[Hissyspit]

7. Yes, that was good, too. Also, Obama's "it's offensive" Libya retort.

[Chorophyll]

31. Yup. I jumped off my couch a little bit at that point.

[BlueStreak]

9. "Please proceed to shoot your nuts off, Governor."

The picture right before that where Romney raised his eyebrows was a classic. You don't have to be a mind-reader to know that meant "Now I've finally nailed that little ******"

That will teach Romney to not do his debate prep by reading the Drudge Report all day long.

[NoMoreWarNow]

34. LOL-- exactly

I kept thinking this is what happens when you are too immersed in RW BS

[BlueStreak]

37. How did Obama deliver the "Please Proceed" line without cracking a smile?

Because he knew Romney was already in the trap. How could he do that so deadpan?

That will go down as one of the great moments in debate history.

It wasn't a terribly consequential point. In fact, Romney was being extremely petty on a subject that deserved much more thoughtful consideration. But Gerald Ford's comments about Poland weren't all that consequential, yet that moment still stands out after 4 decades.

Something tells me "Please proceed, Governor" will still be with us in 2050.

[SunSeeker]

18. LOL! Exactly. "Please proceed, Governor." [So I can play rope-a-dope!]

[MadrasT]

25. That was priceless. Just priceless.

I am still on a post debate high.

[nichomachus]

42. "Step into my parlor," said the spider to the fly. n/t

[myrna minx]

4. K&R

[Xedniw]

8. My SO says he lost it when he implied that he couldn't find a single qualified woman for his staff

She thinks that lots of women let out a collective groan.

I'm still drinking so I'm just nodding here.

[BlueStreak]

10. And it never occurred to him to INTERVIEW some?

WTF is up with this "binder of women"?

That makes it sound like he would just turn to page 32 and say, "Yeah, that one will do. I'm Governor of Massachusetts, for Pete's sake. I have to have a couple of women on my staff."

[Hissyspit]

12. Here's more info:

http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx

Mind The Binder
Published Oct 16 2012, 10:46 PM by David S. Bernstein 12
Hey, I know about that binder! And guess what -- Mitt Romney was lying about it.

From the rush transcript:

CROWLEY: Governor Romney, pay equity for women?

ROMNEY: Thank you. An important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men.

And I -- and I went to my staff, and I said, "How come all the people for these jobs are -- are all men." They said, "Well, these are the people that have the qualifications." And I said, "Well, gosh, can't we -- can't we find some -- some women that are also qualified?"

And -- and so we -- we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet.

I went to a number of women's groups and said, "Can you help us find folks," and they brought us whole binders full of women.

I was proud of the fact that after I staffed my Cabinet and my senior staff, that the University of New York in Albany did a survey of all 50 states, and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America.

Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort.

Not a true story.

What actually happened was that in 2002 -- prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration -- a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.

They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.

I have written about this before, in various contexts; tonight I've checked with several people directly involved in the MassGAP effort who confirm that this history as I've just presented it is correct -- and that Romney's claim tonight, that he asked for such a study, is false.


And...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021562149

"The Number of Women in Top Appointed Positions Actually Declined 27.6% During Romney's Tenure"

Laura Bassett

Mitt Romney 'Binders Full Of Women' Claim Misleads

Posted: 10/17/2012 12:24 am EDT Updated: 10/17/2012 12:35 am EDT

Mitt Romney raised eyebrows during the presidential debate Tuesday night when he claimed that as governor of Massachusetts, he had been so dismayed at the lack of female cabinet candidates that he sent women's groups out to find them.

- snip -

In fact, Romney did not direct women's groups to bring him female candidates, Boston Pheonix reporter David Bernstein points out. A non-partisan collaboration of women’s groups called Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP) was responsible for the effort in 2002, when the group's leaders realized that women held only 30 percent of the top appointed positions in the state.

Romney boasted that during his term as governor, Massachusetts had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America. "Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort," he said.

This statement, too, is misleading. While 42 percent of Romney’s appointments during his first 2-1/2 years as governor were women, the number of women in high-level appointed positions actually declined 27.6 percent during his full tenure as governor, according to a 2007 MassGAP study.

MORE

[renate]

15. thanks for this fact-checking!

"I went to a number of women's groups...."

He had to go to women's groups to find women? They weren't just... around?

[Mariana]

28. None of the ones just around were qualified, don't you see?

The qualified women were just... hiding somewhere, I guess. Some mysterious place that only women's groups know about. Waiting to be put into binders and brought to Romney.

[JoePhilly]

32. Qualified women are like dear in hunting season. Very quiet and skittish.

[Amonester]

20. He didn't answer the question, which was:

"Governor Romney, pay equity for women?"

WTF does filling political cabinet positions has to do with pay equity for women in the general population of women at work??

[Hissyspit]

24. Yup.

[redqueen]

38. I suspect his answer would have been that the wage gap is negligible/fair so it's not a problem.

He was smart not to say so.

[Pathwalker]

41. He also said: "IF we're going to have women in the work force..."

As if that either hasn't happened, or is likely to change any time soon. IF???? Where you been, 1950s Mitt? It's 20freaking12!

[justiceischeap]

26. And you could tell he was lying by all the stops & starts at the beginning of that little tale

Spinning & talking seem to be challenging for Mittens.

[WinkyDink]

35. Exactly.

[okieinpain]

13. Lol.yeah that one,just too damn

FUNNY!

[marions ghost]

36. or..."I wonder why women don't want to work for me?"

Maybe they didn't even apply....so he had to recruit and turn it into "affirmative action"...

Oh yeah he got all tangled up in that one

[XemaSab]

23. THEN he said women need to go home and make dinner

NOWHERE did he talk about fair pay!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

27. Romney's cabinet was all show and all he talked about. Obama talked policies, facts, directions, ...

Romney had a show cabinet. It is being reported that in the echelon below it, in executive positions, Romney left the state having fewer women than when he came in.

Romney didn't have a good record on women or a good policy on women.

Analogously to what was said of Bush, Romney is all binder and no skirts.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. Wondering if Mitt is going to lose his cool at some point in this thing. n/t

[TomCADem]

16. Romney Did Try To Double Down Even As Candy Crowley Corrected Him

He had his talking point and he was going to use fact checkers be damned.

[Marr]

19. Yep. Romney's "lie lie lie" strategy blew up in his fucking FACE tonight.

It was wonderful to watch. I guess that's the trouble with just lying your ass off. All it takes is one real-time fact checking and you're officially an asshole con-man.

[Up2Late]

21. I bet Fox and the RW just chalk it up to him being confused...

...and then they just keep repeating the lie they made up till we all believe it.

Just watch, it will happen.

[Cha]

22. Excellent analysis from Jason Easley..thanks Hissyspit!

"It was ironic that Libya came back to bite Romney. The Republican nominee is a foreign policy nightmare, and his absolute cluelessness in international affairs haunted him again in this debate. The Libya exchange was a moment that America got to see the real Romney."

Yes, Indeed it was Ironic that Libya came back to bite him..



http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021332785

[siligut]

39. I know there are better angles of that clip

Specifically, I want to see Romney's face when he is trying to TELL Candy what really happened. Obviously Mitt relied on propaganda for his facts, I want to see his face to know if he realized that.

[progressivebydesign]

40. Now is the time for everyone to spread Romney's OTHER videos of acting like a bully.

The rest of the voters need to see and hear that Romney acts like this ALL THE TIME. There are so many videos out there of him treating people this way. I am going to find some links to post. It needs to be hammered home that THIS is Romney. this is his personality. He did not have a bad night, he had a Romney night.

[David Zephyr]

43. K&R.

!

[truedelphi]

44. K & R -- and

Can't watch this right now, so replying so that I can watch it later.