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« on: October 17, 2012, 04:51:26 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Chronicle 10-17-2012
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Second Presidential Debate
October 17, 2012
The Foundation
"Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason." --Benjamin Franklin
Memo From Mark Alexander on the Second Presidential Debate
Four things were apparent in the second presidential debate1 this week.
First, Barack Hussein Obama remains the undisputed champion of socialist rhetoric2. The BO who showed up for this week's debate was the charismatic who, in '08, so effectively wove his deceitful web of populist propaganda into a mesmerizing mantra designed to appeal to those who vote according to their emotions. Obama can already count on the votes of ideological Leftists3 and the legions of disenfranchised Americans enslaved on the Democrat Plantation4, but his deceptive oratory this week was targeted at those uncommitted voters whose allegiance can be co-opted by smooth emotive idioms.
Did it work? Yes, if this comment from a New Hampshire woman is typical of the emotive voters he targeted: "I am voting for Barack Obama and I'm voting for him because I feel that overall he best represents my feelings in terms of the economy, foreign relation and education."
Second, the fact is, moderators shape debates, and CNN's Candy Crowley is the third Leftmedia talking head in the lineup of moderators behind PBS's Jim Lehrer and ABC's Martha Raddatz. In case you missed the fine print, the moderator of this "townhall debate" chose the audience questions, so not only was Crowley a partisan referee, but she chose questions that would deliver Romney up for Obama sucker punches. As for the so-called "bipartisan" Commission on Presidential Debates, they shot down my "equally bipartisan" list of recommended moderators, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh.
Third, it was very apparent that in preparing for this debate, Mitt Romney's team did not review our "Memo to Mitt From Grassroots Americans5," which we know his communications staff received. Romney's weakest campaign link is his disconnect with conservative grassroots Americans -- millions of Patriots who, if energized, will have enormous influence on the sea of undecided voters Romney needs to win this election. The fact is, Romney really does care about grassroots folks -- he genuinely cares about Americans from all walks of life. But his staff, many of whom are Beltway politicos and debutants, are clearly out of touch with grassroots Americans, and consequently, insulate Romney to good advice from the ground.
Last, will this debate derail Romney's momentum and re-invigorate Obama supporters? That depends on whether those emotive voters who Obama targeted last night can wake from their mesmerized state long enough to rise above the populist propaganda and see Obama's rhetoric in stark contrast against a backdrop of four years of failed socialist policies, rather than the '08 backdrop of "Blame Bush."
The last debate encounter will commence on Monday evening, October 22. It will be moderated by CBS's Bob Schieffer, who may be the most ideologically restrained of the referees. May we, once again, suggest Team Romney's managers take a moment to review the "Memo to Mitt From Grassroots Americans5."
For more, link to our Patriot Headlines6 and Right Opinion7 pages.
Editorial Exegesis
"President Obama bounced off the canvas with a more spirited debate at Hofstra University on Tuesday night, as everyone expected he would. He was animated and on the attack. The question we kept asking as the evening wore on, however, is what does he want to do for the next four years? ... Judging by Tuesday's debate, the President's argument for re-election is basically this: He's not as awful as Mitt Romney. Mr. Obama spent most of his time attacking either Mr. Romney himself (he invests in Chinese companies), his tax plan as a favor for the rich ('that's been his history') or this or that statement he has made over the last year ('the 47%,' which Mr. Obama saved for the closing word of the entire debate). The paucity of this promise, the difference between now and four years ago, was never clearer than in the President's response to the young man who said he'd voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 but is less optimistic now. Mr. Obama responded by reciting his achievements -- ending the Iraq war, 'health-care reform to make sure insurance companies can't jerk you around,' more Wall Street regulation, the auto bailout and more jobs. As for the next four years: He said he has a plan 'for manufacturing and education and reducing our deficit in a sensible way, using the savings from ending wars to rebuild America' and pursuing 'the energy of the future.' Then he attacked Mr. Romney again. The Republican followed by reciting the economic failings of the last four years, piling on fact after depressing fact. 'I can tell you that if you were to elect President Obama, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get a repeat of the last four years. We just can't afford four more years like the last four years,' Mr. Romney said. It was his most effective argument of a generally good but not great night. It is also the fundamental choice that Americans face in this campaign." --The Wall Street Journal8
Upright -- Highlights from Mitt Romney
"The president's policies have been exercised over the last four years and they haven't put Americans back to work. We have fewer people working today than we had when the president took office. ... The unemployment rate was 7.8 percent when he took office, it's 7.8 percent now. But if you calculated that unemployment rate, taking back the people who dropped out of the workforce, it would be 10.7 percent [today]. ... Let's look at the president's policies, all right, as opposed to the rhetoric, because we've had four years of policies being played out."
"When we're talking about math that doesn't add up, how about $4 trillion of deficits over the last four years, $5 trillion? That's math that doesn't add up. ... We have his own record, which is we have four consecutive years where he said when he was running for office, he would cut the deficit in half. Instead he's doubled it. We've gone from $10 trillion of national debt, to $16 trillion of national debt. If the president were re-elected, we'd go to almost $20 trillion of national debt. This puts us on a road to Greece. I know what it takes to balance budgets. I've done it my entire life."
"I can tell you that if you were to elect President Obama, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get a repeat of the last four years. We just can't afford four more years like the last four years. He said that by now we'd have unemployment at 5.4 percent. The difference between where it is and 5.4 percent is 9 million Americans without work. I wasn't the one that said 5.4 percent. This was the president's plan. Didn't get there."
"The policies he's put in place from ObamaCare to Dodd-Frank to his tax policies to his regulatory policies, these policies combined have not let this economy take off and grow like it could have. You might say, 'Well, you got an example of one that worked better?' Yeah, in the Reagan recession where unemployment hit 10.8 percent, between ... the end of that recession and the equivalent of time to today, Ronald Reagan's recovery created twice as many jobs as this president's recovery. Five million jobs doesn't even keep up with our population growth. And the only reason the unemployment rate seems a little lower today is because of all the people that have dropped out of the workforce."
"On the day following the assassination of the United States ambassador, the first time that's happened since 1979, when -- when we have four Americans killed there, when apparently we didn't know what happened, that the president, the day after that happened, flies to Las Vegas for a political fund-raiser, then the next day to Colorado for another event. ... The president's policies throughout the Middle East began with an apology tour and pursue a strategy of leading from behind, and this strategy is unraveling before our very eyes." |
