The Next to the Last Great Debate

UPDATE: How do you debate someone who never takes a consistent position on anything and when he is called out on any one of them, denies that was ever his position in the first place? I've been listening to this guy for 18 years and still haven’t got the slighted clue what be truly believes in. The last time this country bought a bundles of surprises like this it was gift wrapped by Richard Nixon. The last time we elected an actor this skilled, his name was Ronald Reagan, right down to the Brylcreem. If that’s your cup of tea, take a swallow. But first, ask yourself this: who is it you are voting for and what is it that he is going to do for you, especially if you are among the 47% who, when behind closed doors, he dismisses as freeloaders? And how does he propose to reach across the aisle when he’s got the right wing of his party ready to smack him down every time he tries it right on down to the next Supreme Court Justices? Etch-a-Sketch is the name of the game alright. PS You balanced the budget in Massachusetts because it is a constitutional requirement, sport.

UPDATE: BOOM! 149 MINUTES INTO DEBATE #2 AND ... Barry O. hits Mittens with "47%" for the final blow. That's 47% people. Remember, folks, Mittens said it behind closed doors surrounded by $$$. Are you or your loved ones in that 47%? If so, what's left to decide? One guy is a poseur in an empty suit under a coiffure and the other is the present and future President of the United States of America. VOTE!

“You cannot debate somebody who is dishonest. You just can’t. I can't debate somebody who won’t tell the truth.” Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney. 

It took me a week to mull over the fallout - about as long as it takes me to recover whenever my beloved Celtics lose to "those who shall not be named" (The Lakers and those other guys). 

I am finally prepared to revisit, briefly, The Last Great Debate, that true crucible for determining who can spend 90 minutes slinging the the most outrageous nonsense at the greatest rate of speed.

Another shake of the Etch-a-Sketch, (really, they are coming so fast now that I can't keep up) he stepped out from behind the curtain and voila! He's going to erase a 1.2 trillion dollar deficit, (the same size as the one the President inherited, Mittens), balance the budget, restore the bipartisan (and minuscule) defense cuts, lower the tax rate across the board, limit deductions, (Which ones, Mittens? Inquiring minds want to know) and do it all by cutting $8 million of PBS funding and ... and ... and ... (he'll get back to us on that one. Maybe). 

No wonder the President was left gasping for air and grasping for a response … the audacity of it all is truly breathtaking ain’t it though?

I’m prepared to concede my man had a bad night. Oh, I am sure there are good reasons for his mediocre performance. That he had cut short his preparation to attend to other matters, like running the country, is my own personal favorite. But no matter; the President lost Round One. He could have closed the deal and didn't. Instead, he put himself in the same position as W. did against Kerry and now he has to fight. And, for all the blather about his silver tongue, I don't recall The President  ever being a knock out debater. So, if we're electing a Debater in Chief, he is, indeed, in trouble.

But people. Are we really going to decide who is best qualified to serve for the next four years based on one 90 minute debate in which the challenger is a man who, over the course of nearly 20 years on the national stage has repeatedly demonstrated that he is without any fixed, overriding ideological principle other than that he really, really wants to be President and will say anything to get there? 

If he does, then, as the great Mencken would have it, we the people deserve what we get and we deserve to get it good and hard.

October 9, 2012