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-Election 2012
Final Debate - Everybody Wins!
2012-10-23
Fox News
Although moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News raised the topic of the Sept. 11 attack in Libya in his first question onstage Monday in Boca Raton, Fla., Romney and then Obama instead responded by broadening the topic to Al Qaeda, the Arab Spring and the Middle East.
Perhaps he misunderstood the question.
Romney only mentioned Libya once, saying that the attack was carried out "apparently by, I think we know now, by terrorists of some kind against our people there." He went on to "congratulate (Obama) on taking out Usama bin Laden and going after the leadership in Al Qaeda. But we can't kill our way out of this mess. We're going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and robust strategy."
Well, dronexecution has some advantages compared to a trial in New York City.
"Governor Romney came in here tonight and showed he was presidential," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said after the debate. "The president was small. ... Only Mitt Romney spoke and acted like a president."
I'll watch it this evening, on the DVR.
Joe Trippi, a former campaign manager for Democrat Howard Dean, told Fox News that Romney's strategy was "not to let Obama paint him as the reckless guy who's going to take us to war."
That seemed to work in the first debate, when folks found out Romney only had one head and two eyes.
"I just want to call this debate the 'big hug,'" Trippi said, noting examples in the debate of Romney agreeing with Obama's foreign policy. "But I think the president had the edge."
WaPo gave O the "edge" in the front-page headline.
Posted by:Bobby

#14  I would have liked an actual fistfight, but that would have been a win the battle/lose the war scenario. Romney appeared presidential, unlike that other guy. And as lotp says, he has other forces to send on the attack missions.
Posted by: SteveS   2012-10-23 21:34  

#13  Still, we'll never know what the numbers might have been if he'd really gone on the offensive on a number of things instead of letting Obama avoid answering on Russia and allowing a pass on Libya, etc.

A good executive knows how to delegate. Have you checked out the ads the Rs are running today? No coincidence they attack where Romney was more judicious.
Posted by: lotp   2012-10-23 20:29  

#12  Barry squirmed around Russia again (did so in '08 but one could presume a lack of knowledge; this time around though...).

I had the SF/STL game on mute. They were showing a replay and I faded out from IIRC a question about Pahkistahn and come back in, he was talking about math teachers.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2012-10-23 16:35  

#11  I am hopeful he'll work over those opportunities on stump speeches. Which maybe Fox will cover.
Posted by: Bobby   2012-10-23 15:28  

#10  I felt sort of blah watching the debate. I kept noticing Romney missing opportunities to attack. The morning commentaries seem to indicate that Romney's strategy worked as only those already decided were bothered by his approach.

Still, we'll never know what the numbers might have been if he'd really gone on the offensive on a number of things instead of letting Obama avoid answering on Russia and allowing a pass on Libya, etc.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2012-10-23 14:47  

#9  Final fight scene from We Were Soldiers.

Crossroads, Band of Brothers film series.

Simple, well known pop culture references that bayonets did not go out of style after WWI. Heck, back before I started a family there is no telling how many times I was virtually bayonetted in various video games, even hand out award points in some.

Crude submarines go back to the 18th century. First naval aviation strike, 1914 Japan vs. Germany.

If he was trying to show his prowess of military matters, it came off like somebody lecturing me on hand washing when he has toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2012-10-23 11:58  

#8  Obama's debate strategy was nothing more than a series of talking points. One of the commenters at Ace of Spades summed it up this way:

Big Bird -- Biden -- Binders --Bayonets
Posted by: Sherry   2012-10-23 10:29  

#7  British bayonet charge in BASRA.

Country: United Kingdom
Branch: Army, 16th Air Assault Brigade
Type: One of six Scottish line infantry regiments
Role: Air assault-Light role
Motto: Nemo Me Impune Lacessit

No One Assails Me With Impunity
Posted by: Beavis   2012-10-23 10:08  

#6  we still fix bayonets. KABARs still get issued w/every M-4 or M-16 in the USMC inventory as a bayonet attachment. We still do bayonet drills in our MCMAP system. The Brits did a bayonet charge a while back in one of the sand boxes. Champ is good at semantics w/out substance and comments w/out a context.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2012-10-23 09:38  

#5  [bored as well...]
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-10-23 08:59  

#4  Easy on the Champ. He was as well and simply wishing he were elsewhere; possibly teeing off at the Bayonet and Black Horse on Monterey Bay.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-10-23 08:57  

#3  Horses & bayonets?

Those of us old enough remember the civil disturbances of the late 60s/early 70s. The AZ National Guard conducted an 'on site' experiment with crowd control. Troops were deployed without bayonets, with bayonets but sheathed, and with cold steel [bayonets exposed]. It was only in the latter instance that crowds would back off from the guardsmen. It is still in the inventory for a reason. As for horses, didn't they just unveil a monument to modern horse soldiers recently?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-10-23 08:47  

#2  Horses & bayonets? Factual statement that there are fewer than 1915, but the tone is like nails on a chalkboard.
And ships that go underwater? They are ones that were sunk by the undersea boats.
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-10-23 08:01  

#1  Far too tame. The comment by Willard on the isolation and "treatment" of diplomats of the former apartheid government of SA was revealing, disappointing, and an unstudied denial of very unsavory historical outcomes. Israel had no stronger friend on the continent than that of South Africa. Unfortunately, that friendship was long ago jettisoned by the ANC in favour of a total embrace of Islam.

I would also make sure that their diplomats are treated like the pariah they are around the world. The same way we treated the apartheid diplomats of South Africa.

Politico transcript.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-10-23 06:50  

00:00