by Benjamin J. Kirby
Some months ago I said this was going to be "the bully election." And, here in the midst of Bullying Awareness Month, I think we can all agree I was right. Which is sort of unfortunate.
At some point in the middle of the night, many of my liberal and Democratic colleagues decided the measure of victory in a debate was how well the candidate steamrolled the moderator and either backed away from his case entirely, or presented it as a nearly wholesale pack of lies.
From my admittedly biased view, that's exactly what Mitt Romney did. He pushed hapless Jim Lehrer around like a punk. His best "zinger" -- "...you're not entitled to your own set of facts!" -- was actually cribbed from the late former Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Romney threw a number of people and things under the bus, including his tax cuts for the wealthy (to present an economic plan which simply doesn't add up), and his own sons.
As for Obama, there's no getting around the fact that he was flat, uninspiring, and a little dry.
Anyone reading this blog knows I'm already 1000% in the tank for Obama, so please understand that as you continue reading. That said, I'm having a hard time seeing how a guy who is standing at a podium across from Mitt Romney on his 20th wedding anniversary, not to mention having had to deal with the escalating crisis between Turkey and Syria all day, which may well quickly overtake any debate news, I'd say President Obama did okay. I mean, at least he told the truth.
Sure, even the liberal bloggers are calling this a "loss" -- but that's a quick overnight take. As the story continue to be told over the next day and into the weekend, we'll see how well the Romney "victory" holds up.
And in the meantime, Matt and I had some fun with the Spencerian Blue and Red Twitter feeds, if you want to see that here.
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