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| "Ha ha, Mitt, if you get ahead in Ohio, I've got a drone with your name on it." |
1. Pres. Obama and Gov. Romney have no problem lying right to each other's faces right off the bat. They shook hands with big smiles and both said "Nice to see you again."
2. Bob Schieffer sets the table nicely for Libya, asking if it was an intelligence failure, was it a policy failure?
3. First shot of Obama while Romney is giving his answer screams disdain.
4. Romney gives credit for the president having Bin Laden killed, but talks about the continued spread of al-Qaeda. "We can't kill our way out of this mess."
5. Obama "My first job is to keep the American people safe, and that's what I've done the past four years. We ended the war in Iraq." Gets to Libya, says the first three things he did when he heard was to see if they could get our people out safely, make sure we investigate what happened, and then find and bring to justice whoever killed those four men.
6. Says Romney's all over the map on foreign policy and his strategy wouldn't keep America safe.
7. Romney says we don't want another Iraq or Afghanistan, says economic development helps with foreign relations, better education, gender equality, etc. We've watched this rising tide of tumult and chaos in the Middle East... and now we get to our first interruption.
8. Obama says Romney wants the foreign policy of the 1980's, the social policies of the 1950's and the economic policy of the 1920's. (I wonder how long ago that line was written.) Now he's being condescending "I know you haven't had a chance to execute foreign policy..." (Oh, like you had before you were elected?) Says Romney's wrong and "all over the map" again.
9. Back to Romney, says he doesn't concur with what Obama just said, and they don't happen to be accurate. "Attacking me is not an agenda." Ooh, Obama didn't like that one. Obama goes to interrupt again and Romney says "Excuse me" and continues. Says he won't wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia, says he won't give Russia "more flexibility" after the election, he'll give "more backbone."
10. Regarding Iraq, we agreed on a status of forces agreement in Iraq; Obama interrupts and says no, he didn't. (I've already read that Obama fails the fact-check on that one.)
11. Obama says we need to recognize we can't keep doing nation building in these regions, we need to nation-build at home too.
12. Schieffer wants to go into more depth with Syria.
13. Obama said Assad has to go, they've organized sanctions, they've provided relief, but Syrians have to determine their own future.
14. Romney says 30,000 Syrians killed is a humanitarian disaster, also says Syria is Iran's closest ally, so removing Assad is a high priority. Emphasizes we don't want to do military intervention, but we will do everything else we can to help the resistance. I believe Assad must go and will go. We've seen our policy say "Oh, we'll let the UN deal with it." That didn't work. "We'll let Russia deal with it." That didn't work. We need to have a leadership role in this.
15. Obama: "We do have a leadership role." He goes at Romney again like he's the challenger and Romney's the incumbent.
16. Romney: "This has been going on for a year. We should taken a leadership role on this." Wants to arm the resistance.
17. Obama said Romney is basically arguing for what we're already doing in Syria.
18. Schieffer (who's doing great) asks if Obama regrets saying Mubarak has to go when he said it.
19. Obama does not regret it. Says America needs to stand for democracy whereever it may spring. Says Egypt has to abide by their treaty with Israel.
20. Romney says the US has 42 allies around the world, but says nowhere in the world is our influence greater now than it was four years ago. America has the responsibility and privilege of defending freedom around the world. When people vote, they tend to vote for peace. Interesting to hear how often Romney uses the word "peace."
21. Romney talks about needing a strong military because we don't know what's coming. Said terrorism never came up in 2000 debates, but a year later, 9/11 happened.
22. Obama: "America is the world's one indispensible nation." (Huh, I wonder how other countries will take that line.) My plan will rebuild America. We won't reward companies for shipping jobs overseas. We need to reduce our deficit; unfortunately Romney's plan won't do that. At home and abroad, Romney's proposed wrong and reckless policies. (I think that's the second time he used that phrase.)
23. Romney says he'll fix the economy with five steps. 1. Move toward energy independance. 2. Improve our trade. We can do better, especially in Latin America. Latin America's economy's almost as big as China's. 3. We need trainer programs to improve job skills and have better school. 4. We need a balanced budget. 5. We've got to champion small business.
24. Obama slams Romney's record in Massachusetts on small business. Under my leadership, we improved education.
25. Romney praises Massachusetts' education system. Obama interrupts again to say the good stuff happened before he got there. Romney plows through, says they improved education. (Obama's getting Biden-esque in his interruptions.) Romney says, "That was mine; you got that fact wrong."
26. Obama says the military does not want the extra $2 trillion in spending that Romney's asking for. Military spending has gone up every year under me. We can't spend $5 trillion on tax cuts without naming what deductions we're getting rid of. The math doesn't work. We need to be thinking about capabilities.
27. Romney: "I'm pleased that I've balanced budgets. I've been in business for 25 years. If you didn't balance a budget, you went out of business. I went to the Olympics and balanced the budget there. I went to Massachusetts, balanced the budgets there. The president has yet to balance a budget. I hope I get the opportunity to do so." Our Navy is smaller now than anytime since 1917. We're shrinking through sequestration. Our Air Force is older and smaller. I will not cut our military by a trillion dollars, which is the president's plan.
28. Obama says sequestration will not happen. (Um, it is happening.) Gov. Romney says we have fewer ships in the Navy [FactCheck: Navy was actually smallest under GWB]. Well, we also use fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military's changed. "We have these things called aircraft carriers than planes can land on. We have these underwater ships called nuclear submarines..." The Navy isn't a game of Battleship. (Horses and bayonets would have been a better line if he hadn't kept going and ventured into a-hole territory. Now he's really like the sarcastic challanger trying to get a rise out of the incumbent.) (Marines still use bayonets.)
29. Their approaches telegraph what their internal polling shows, and Obama's being more aggressive here. Hm...
30. This is a kinder, gentler Romney. Doesn't want to be rude, wants to be more appealing to women. Ah, women. Those delicate flowers who leap like gazelles from a meadow when good manners aren't displayed.
31. Obama says we have the strongest sanctions against Iran in history.
32. Obama's wearing a blue tie and being very appealing to his base. Romney's wearing a red-and-blue striped tie and is tacking to the center.
33. Romney: "When I'm President of the United States, I'll stand with Israel." Finds a nuclear Iran unacceptable. "I laid out a seven-point crippling-sanctions plan for Iran five years ago." Sanctions works, it's working now, I wish they'd been imposed sooner, and they should be increased. Military action is a LAST resort.
34. Scheiffer asks about the story that the US and Iran are in negotiations. Obama says that appeared in a newspaper; it's not true. Glad Romney's agreeing with us on Iran now. We have to make sure Russia and China agree with us on sanctions. It's because the world agreed, the sanctions are working. The inspections are intrusive.
35. Romney says Obama showed weakness when he promised in 2008 to meet with Castro, Chavez, Achmadinejad. Then he started this apology tour and created daylight between us and Israel. (Obama bristled at "apology tour" now looks like he can't wait for his turn. But he's not interrupting.) Romney says we need to indict Achmadinejad.
36. Obama: "Nothing Gov. Romney just said is true." Says "apology tour" is not true, and every reporter agrees. When I was negotiating sanctions, you were invested in a Chinese company that used Iranian oil. (Huh?) When I came into office, the world was in crisis and Iran was surging. Now they're weak.
37. Romney: "We're four years closer to a nuclear Iran." Says the reason he calls it an apology tour is becuz you went to the Middle East, flew to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, and by the way, you skipped Israel, and they noticed you skipped Israel. (Romney looking Obama right in the eye for all this.) You said on Arabic TV that America had been "dismissive and derisive." You said America had "dictated" to other nations. America has not dictated to other nations; America has freed other nations from dictators. (Romney drops the mic, leans back.)
38. Obama: "Bob, let me respond. When I was a candidate for office, the first trip I took was to visit our troops. When I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn't take donors, I visited the Holocaust Museum." (This strangely reinforces an image that he sucked up to Israel when campaigning but now ignores them.) I visited sites where Hamas had rained missiles on houses. That's how I used my travels. This is about who's more credible.
39. Schieffer: "What if the Prime Minister of Israel called and said our bombs are on the way to Iran? How would you respond?" Romney says let's not get into hypotheticals because my relationship with Netanyahu is such that I'd never get that call saying bombers are on the way. This is the kind of thing that would have been discussed well before it got to that.
40. Romney: "Back to what the President said." I see Iran closer to a nuclear weapon. I see jihadists continuing to spread. I see Syria with 30,000 dead and Assad still in power. I see North Korea continuing to export nuclear technology. I don't see our influence growing around the world.
41. Obama: "You've been all over the map." (Drink!) You initially opposed a timetable in Afghanistan, now you're for it, but it depends. You said in 2008 you'd ask permission of Pakistan to look for Bin Laden. If I'd asked for permission, we wouldn't have gotten him. I have made decisions that keep the American people safe. (Strong there.)
42. Schieffer: "What do you do if we get to 2014 and Afghanistan isn't ready to take over their own security?" Romney: "We'll be out by the end of 2014. Our troops will come home at that point." We need to recognize what's happening in Pakistan. Some people want us to wash our hands and walk away from them. I don't mean you, Mr. President, but some people. our aid to Pakistan has to be aligned with benchmarks being met.
43. Obama: "When I came into office, we were mired in Iraq and had been drifting in Afghanistan for a decade." Once Iraq War ended, he surged in Afghanistan, and it was as if we'd forgotten why we were there in the first place. There's no reason for Americans to die when Afghans are capable of defending their own country. After a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building here at home. We should make sure our veterans are getting the care they need, certifications for good jobs.
44. Romney: "We can't let Pakistan fall. There's nuclear weapons there. I don't blame this administration for strained relations with Pakistan. We had to go in to get Bin Laden."
45. Schieffer asks about drones. Romney says he supports the White House's use of drones "entirely." (Okay, what about the kill list? Nothing? *sigh*) Is Al-Qaeda on its heels? No. Is there tumult in the Middle East? Yes.
46. Obama comfortably takes the serve from Romney, says Americans should be proud of Tunisians when protesting, America stood with them sooner than any other nations. Egypt, we stood with democracy. Attitudes abroad toward America have changed. Al-Qaeda is much weaker than they were when I took office. (Really, when it comes down to it, the foreign policies of Obama and Romney are going to be about 70% the same; that's what I'm getting at this point.)
47. Obama ties it back to domestic issues regarding trade with China. We've won just about every trade complaint we've filed against China. We stood up for steel-workers in Pennsylvania, tire-makers in [insert swing state here].
48. Romney: "It's not government that makes businesses grow." China wants a stable world. they don't want war. If I'm elected, America will be strong.
49. I'm watching Fox News for this debate, which means no dials across the bottom and about 1/4 of the time, we just get the speaker's face instead of split-screen.
50. Romney: "China is already playing a silent trade-war with us and they're winning. We have to say you can't artificially keep your currency, steal our intellectual property, counterfeit our goods, and steal our jobs."
51. Obama: "Gov. Romney's right..." (holy cow, is Obama about to be cordial?)
52. "...and he is familiar with shipping jobs overseas, but you invested in companies that shipped jobs overseas." (Nope. Very few on the left will agree with this, but Obama is being small right now. Not conveying that "I'm the President; I'm above this" air at all.)
53. Obama: "China can be our partner, but we need to be clear with them, we're a Pacific partner. Ships can pass through. We need to do more trade with other countries so China feels more pressure to comply with international standards."
54. Romney: "Again, attacking me is not an agenda for getting more trade." Goes back to the auto industry. My plan for the auto industry was for them to go through bankruptcy, my plan-- [Obama interrupting again] -- had them being able to shed debt, excess costs. I've never said i would liquidate the industry [Obama: "Let's check the transcript!" Sorry, Mr. president, but Candy Crowley isn't moderating this time.]
55. Romney: "The government is investing in companies like Solyndra, which is the wrong way to go. [Obama: "Governor, I--] I'm still speaking. The prviate sector is not going to invest in solar companies [Obama interrupting...]
56. Obama: "Anyone can look this up. You keep trying to airbrush history. You said you would not provide govt. assistance to the auto industry even if they went through bankruptcy. You said they could get it in the private marketplace. That isn't true. [Romney: "You're wrong."] I'm not wrong. [Romney: "Anybody can check the record on this."] You're right. People will look it up. [[Politifact and FactCheck agree Obama's wrong.]] For us to be competitive, we need to make smart choices. Cutting investments in education will not help us keep up with China. We need more teachers. $5 trillion in tax cuts will not make us more competitive. Having a tax code that rewards companies for shipping jobs overseas will not keep us competitive.
57. Romney: "I don't want to go back to the policies of the past four years." 23 million still struggling to find a good jobs. 32 million on food stamps when you came to office, 47 million now. When you came to office, we were almost $11 trillion in debt, now it's $16 trillion. it's critical to make America the most attractive place in the world. Bu the way, the federal government doesn't hire teachers. I was a governor. I love teachers.
58. Schieffer: "I think we can all agree we love teachers." Time to wrap up.
59. Obama: "You've heard three debates, months of campaigning, and way too many TV commercials." (Romney's social laugh.) Gov. Romney's ways are wrong and reckless. He wants to make sure the people at the top don't play by the same rules you do. I want to retrain our workers for the jobs of tomorrow. I want to reduce our deficit by cutting spending we don't need and by asking the wealthy to do a little bit more. After a decade of war, we need to do some nation-building here at home. We always bounce back because of our character. i will listen to your voices; I will fight for your families; I will work every single day to make sure we're the greatest nation on Earth.
60. Romney: "I'm optimistic about the future. I want to see peace. America has the opportunity to elect a leader that will secure peace and make sure this economy will grow. We have two paths. The president's path will mean further decline in take-home pay. I'll make sure we increase take-home pay. I promise 12 million jobs in my first term. Washington is broken. I know what it takes to get us back. We're blessed with a nation prosperous and free thanks to the greatest generation. It's our turn to take that torch. I'll lead you in an open and honest way. We'll work together to maintain America as the greatest hope for freedom.
61. Bob Schieffer leaves us with the wisdom from his mother. "Go vote. It makes you feel big and strong." And it's over.
Bob Schieffer was great. Easily the best moderator of this season.
As Bret Baier recaps, we get shots of the Romneys and Obamas mingling. Dang, I'd love to know what Obama just whispered in Tagg's ear. Romney picks up one of his younger grandkids to meet the President.
Okay, let me digest this a minute...
Okay. I said I learned 67 things and here they are the rest.
62. Seems pretty clear that Romney's game-plan was to act like he's the incumbent with a slight lead, and Obama debated as if he's the challenger slightly behind. Obama did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of his base, and Romney passed the "looking presidential" test. His base will be there; he's still trying to get more of that 4-5% Undecided crowd.
63. Isolating the debate, I'd say Obama edged Romney. More on offense, more aggressive, but it's a different Obama than we've seen before. He's decided to be a little more MSNBC, just embrace the inner prick-ness of being the most powerful man in the world. It's like Obama trying to appeal more to men, where he's behind, and Romney's trying to appeal more to women, where he's behind. Interesting dichotomy we have going here.
64. We seem to live in a country where half the country thinks that if the other guy wins, America is doomed into a fiery pit of despair. And by that I mean 24% from this side and 26% from that side. And you know what, the vast majority of those people vote.
65. Romney's made more of a theme lately of working with Democrats and Republicans of getting things done. Obama has emphasized continually how Republicans just obstruct everything he tries to do. And sure they do. But this is why Obama's not as good a President as Clinton. Clinton could wage his battles with Newt Gingrich, do it with a smile, negotiate later, and then get things done. Even when he was getting impeached.
66. Now when it comes to foreign policy, it's pretty clear they have a lot in common. And some of that is too bad. Nothing about the NDAA. Nothing about the "kill list." Nothing about the US president deciding he can order the death of anyone deemed a terrorist, including US citizens.
67. Oh well. The RCP average as of this moment has Romney up +0.9%, so Election Day should be pretty exciting, and so should all the Morning-After lawsuits.
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