Romney Won the Debate, but Lost the Election = by Mike Hersh

[Coyotl]

Romney Won the Debate, but Lost the Election
Thursday, 04 October 2012 07:47 Written by Mike Hersh | PDA
http://pdacommunity.org/blog/2256-romney-won-the-debate-but-lost-the-election

Romney won the debate, but lost the election. Here's why. Although many if not most pundits will immediately proclaim this debate a Romney victory and a turning point, and although they're definitely correct about some of all of that, they will miss the debate's real, lasting impact on the 2012 election.

First, why and how Romney won. He won by using the Reagan Gambit. In 1980, Ronald Reagan befuddled, frustrated, and defeated Jimmy Carter by running far to the left of decades-long held positions. Carter was prepared to pound away at Reagan for vowing to drastically change Social Security, Medicare, and so on. This radicalism should sound familiar--as the centerpieces of the Romney/Ryan agenda.

Keep in mind, Reagan had voiced plans to privatize Social Security and other extreme positions repeatedly. But when Carter pointed out these radical policies, Reagan repudiated them. He acted shocked, and pretended he'd never heard them before. He even won points for dismissing Carter's accurate assertions with dishonest denials and "there you go again." This was the approach Romney used to baffle and bedevil President Obama.

Like President Carter, Obama was prepared to hammer unpopular, unfair and unworkable extreme right wing policies. The policies Romney has run on. ..............

[regnaD kciN]

1. If I were Hersh...

...I would not make the centerpiece of my argument that Romney was just like Reagan (and Obama like Carter) in the 1980 debate. You'll recall just who won both the debate and the election that year...

Also, don't count on conservatives being upset with Romney's swing to the left. They know what he really stands for, and accept that he'll need to lie to get elected, because they know that, once he's in the Oval Office, he'll be doing their bidding.

[Jennicut]

3. He did not.

Romney is less well liked by the right wingers though I think they will vote for him no matter what. Romney's main issue is that he is once again all over the place on his issues and even contradicted Paul Ryan's stance today on cuts in the budget. Romney is spinning in so many directions that for some people, it is hard to figure out what he stands for.

[Coyotl]

2. All this pales compared to Big Bird

America will never let Mitt kill Big Bird

[treestar]

4. It might have been harder for the media of that day to point out Reagan's big flip flops

That should have caused Reagan to lose - he might have in the you-tube era.

[renate]

6. that's a super good point

He probably would've. With just three network news shows (and I think they were only half an hour long even back then, right?), there just wouldn't have been the same fact-checking, and it wouldn't have been repeatable and linkable and e-mailable and viewable 24/7.

[treestar]

7. Yep, just three and they were half hour

You'd get a half hour local news show followed by a half hour national/world news show. No CNN, CSPAN, and all the other channels.

[K8-EEE]

5. But you are saying Reagan won the debate and the election....

In that case they are using a winning strategy, albeit dishonest, and the Dems will have to counter it.