tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post3077251821943465837..comments2024-03-10T13:59:19.230-04:00Comments on xpostfactoid: Done in by friendly fire? Dead-blogging the Obama-Romney debateAndrew Sprunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601269968798865106noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-74552273013764404722012-10-11T11:33:00.120-04:002012-10-11T11:33:00.120-04:00I completely agree with you and Drum. My impressi...I completely agree with you and Drum. My impression after watching the debate was that it was a narrow win for Romney, mainly based on smoother (slicker) presentation. But when I saw the MSNBC folks and Andrew Sullivan completely losing their minds, I had a feeling that the narrative was going to be swiftly set as a disaster for Obama. Liberals (and Sullivan) need to realize that Obama was never going to blast Romney's lies in the way that they wanted to see. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-79861579145830864902012-10-11T00:25:11.611-04:002012-10-11T00:25:11.611-04:00I disagree about the assessment of the real-time p...I disagree about the assessment of the real-time performances. It really is so much more than content and policy, and it was painfully clear Obama was ill-prepared.<br /><br />Let’s go to the scorecard (the one I just dreamed up and filled out for this post):<br /><br />Energy 10-5<br />Offense 9-5<br />Counteroffense 8-5<br />Clarity 8-5<br />Crispness 8-5<br />Pith 7-4<br />Confidence 9-7<br />Personable 8-6<br />Eye Contact 10-5<br />Appearance 8-6<br />Expression 8-5<br />Achieved Goals 10-6<br />Content-8-7<br />Avoided Blunders 9-9<br /><br />Final Score:<br />Romney 8.57<br />Obama 5.71<br /><br />Romney beat Obama in nearly every category, and schooled him in some.<br /><br />Maybe you score it differently. But I don’t think it gets close to the equivalent of 55-45.<br /><br />Given that the President of the United States was on that stage, much of that should not have played out that way. But it did.<br /><br />You are both right, it was not a “disaster,” nor a “debacle,” nor a “train wreck.”<br /><br />But it was so lopsided that it was, in fact, a “shellacking.” Or very nearly.<br /><br />That was clear to me in real time--certainly in my head, but most unpleasantly in my gut--it was clear to most folks on twitter in real time, and it was crystal clear to most of the attendees of the 3,200 Obama debate watch parties in real time.<br /><br />Now, I agree with you both that the media reaction drove the news coverage, and drove the public’s response.<br /><br />But the liberal media figures in question were reacting honestly to that shellacking. And their reaction was a mix of four things: Shock. Disappointment. Anger. Fear. When that’s all you have to go on, it’s hard to keep in check, even for media professionals.<br /><br />And of course the equal and opposite reaction, in real time, to the deflation on the left was elation on the right. That itself also factors into the left’s response.<br /><br />In that aftermath of disappointment and fear, the possibility that this was a “game changer,” so late in the cycle, was so palpable, that most on the left simply gave into it, and so gave birth to the disasterdebacletrainwreck meme.<br /><br />MSNBCers in particular should not have been as hysterical as they were (and Lawrence O’Donnell, in the debate hall, was not). But I feel certain that even if they had not been, their honest reactions, added to those on CNN, the blogs, and elsewhere, still would have pointed to the same result: a big body blow for Obama.andrew longnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-41811218939997632612012-10-10T18:34:10.142-04:002012-10-10T18:34:10.142-04:00First, congratulations on 5 years.
In real time w...First, congratulations on 5 years.<br /><br />In real time with no outside influence, I thought Romney won a split decision. I was shocked that Krugman, Klein, and you thought that Obama clearly lost. <br /><br />An important point that you mention is the tendency of Romney to have gotten in the last word. It seemed like Romney ended every segment, including the debate itself. He even got a little feisty about it there at the beginning.<br /><br />To my mind, wrangling for the last word made Romney look petty. And I can understand the President's desire to remain cool and above the fray. But Romney's pleading for the last word appears to have been ultimately effective in allowing him to frame the discussion that preceded. <br /><br />It's similar to the experience I had watching a bit of the 2000 Bush-Gore debate. Gore's persistent need to chime in and make one last point (usually about a Bush proposal) was a bit off putting. That said, it was perfectly understandable given how baldly dishonest Bush was in that debate. Gore's codicils to each segment of the debate served as a kind of "there he goes again" theme. Perhaps, like Romney's pleading for the last word, it's stylistically ugly but ultimately effective. Some Guynoreply@blogger.com