The answer isn't always Occam's razor
I've been checking the reaction to the debate all day. Really diverse and interesting mix but my pal Lance Mannion had the best take:
This didn't play as well on the street as our very influential punderati thinks it did. Mitt's all new style may have played very well with the angry white men, but women across the spectrum were reminded of abusive former boyfriends.
That and in perhaps the most inconsequential, yet most damaging moment, Romney told America he wants to fire Big Bird. Which of course, immediately spawned several Sesame Street memes, twitter accounts and hashtags. Like sad Big Bird:
Angry Muppets:
And my favorite instant twitter account, FireMeElmo.
Mitt also cheerfully told the moderator, elderly Jim Lehrer, that he's going to have to fire him too. The smirk on Mitt's face when he said it, negated the "fact checkers" who insist it isn't fair to say Mitt likes to fire people. Romney clearly relished delivering that line last night. People noticed.
Mock me if you must but I'm sticking with the rope-a-dope theory. Mitt told at least 27 shameless lies last night, providing a treasure trove of oppo material. Which has already begun to be made into ads:
Hard to believe Obama didn't anticipate Mitt would lie. There's still over a month of campaigning and two more debates to go. This is far from over. It's a complex game with intricate rules. I have to believe Obama learned something about how to play it in four years.
So why not let Mitt "win" the first round to see what he's got? Raise expectations for the second debate. Hammer him with his own words from the first one in between. Jack up the pressure on Willard the new Republican Wunderkind. It's not that complicated a theory. Not seeing why it's so implausible.
Addendum: Oh look. I'm not alone. And funny. I was thinking Mitt might as well have been twirling his Simon LeGree mustache...
Mitt won last night by being a liar, a bully, and an all-around jerk. That should be the story.Of course, this was not the media story, nor was it a general consensus. Everyone has their own preferred narrative. But read Lance's whole post. Everything I've seen on the internets today suggests he's spot on.
This didn't play as well on the street as our very influential punderati thinks it did. Mitt's all new style may have played very well with the angry white men, but women across the spectrum were reminded of abusive former boyfriends.
That and in perhaps the most inconsequential, yet most damaging moment, Romney told America he wants to fire Big Bird. Which of course, immediately spawned several Sesame Street memes, twitter accounts and hashtags. Like sad Big Bird:
Mitt also cheerfully told the moderator, elderly Jim Lehrer, that he's going to have to fire him too. The smirk on Mitt's face when he said it, negated the "fact checkers" who insist it isn't fair to say Mitt likes to fire people. Romney clearly relished delivering that line last night. People noticed.
Mock me if you must but I'm sticking with the rope-a-dope theory. Mitt told at least 27 shameless lies last night, providing a treasure trove of oppo material. Which has already begun to be made into ads:
Hard to believe Obama didn't anticipate Mitt would lie. There's still over a month of campaigning and two more debates to go. This is far from over. It's a complex game with intricate rules. I have to believe Obama learned something about how to play it in four years.
So why not let Mitt "win" the first round to see what he's got? Raise expectations for the second debate. Hammer him with his own words from the first one in between. Jack up the pressure on Willard the new Republican Wunderkind. It's not that complicated a theory. Not seeing why it's so implausible.
Addendum: Oh look. I'm not alone. And funny. I was thinking Mitt might as well have been twirling his Simon LeGree mustache...
Labels: Debates, Election 2012, Media, Mitt Romney, President Obama
posted by Libby Spencer at 11:14 PM
2 Comments:
Lies don't matter and I don't think these pretend debates change any minds. People are just looking for confirmation for beliefs that may even be genetic or at least so buried in the subconscious that they're unassailable by truth.
Hell, how long has it taken for Goppers to admit that Nixon really was a cheap crook and even now they won't talk about it (or discuss how he's far, far to the left of Obama.)
Sadly, you're right that the lies don't hurt them. Indeed they use them to their advantage thanks to a complicit media. But I like to believe that the mendacity is slowly becoming apparent to the low info voters who aren't as intractable as the 27%ers. Probably overly optimistic but it gets me through the day.
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