|  Where to start? Where?
First - kudos to Martha Raddatz for showing Jim Lehrer what the word "moderator" means. She was not perfect: her Catholicism question was personal and not governmental, as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out. Luckily, there was a response pivot to abortion, which is governmental. All in all, though, she was terrific. And then there was Joe Biden. Clear, smiling (not smirking) full of facts, data and gravitas. Nor was he afraid to call out Ryan and the Romney-Ryan ticket on their lies, falsehoods and bait-and-switch "facts". Ryan seemed ill at east, unable to respond quickly or factually on any foreign policy issue, and mischaracterizing all of his numbers relative to unemployment, Social Security and Medicare. He did, though, point out that he and Mittens would basically outlaw abortion in most cases. Nice to have that clarified, again. Who won? There were two big instapolls: CBS had it at 50-31, Biden. CNN had it 48-44 Ryan. CNN's number is relatively untrustworthy. Their sample group for the first presidential debate was all white Southerners over the age of 50, so we'll have to see what they admit to in their sample group for this debate. Basically, since Fox hated the outcome and blasted Raddatz (as did Drudge and the rest of their cabal), and the CNN pundits called it a tie, it looks like Biden was the clear winner. Face it, Democrats are more realistic and honest: we knew Romney won on style last week. When their guy loses on style, substance and facts, they can't come close to admitting it. But hey, that's just one girl's opinion. What's yours? Feel free to use the comments to write about your favourite debate moment. |
