Pants on Fire

Anyone who has followed this blog knows that I am political.  I was a political nerd in high school, majored in Political Science in College, was President of College Democrats, and interned at the Democratic National Committee during the second election of Bill Clinton in 1996.  So, obviously, I am for Mitt Romney.

That's a lie, but apparently lying through your teeth is what it takes to "win" a Presidential Debate.

I am a Clinton Democrat.  I've become more overtly liberal over the years mainly because I  believe in the government's role of helping people.  I was very much for Hillary in 2008, and I often consider "what might have been."  However, I am a strong supporter of President Obama, and while I think he has made some rookie errors, I think he has generally done a great job with the hand that has been dealt him (crippling economy, do nothing congress, etc.).  While I consider him an extremely intelligent man, I never considered the debates a slam dunk.  Obama becomes way too professorial during debates, and while it says more about the American people than anything else, it ends up looking smug.  He can also be quite sarcastic, which, obviously, I appreciate, but from the "You're nice enough" comment to Hillary in New Hampshire to some of the quips on Wednesday, I think it can sound rather abrasive.

If you want to go mainly on style points, then Romney comported himself well.  I personally hate his voice, and he gets this vacant look in his eyes when he speaks.  However, he "seemed" more on the ball than Obama, even though Romney made statements that would make Pinocchio blush, and this has lead to the widely considered notion that he "won."  He didn't.  It seems that Republicans do not realize the age we live in, where fact checking has become an art and can be done almost simultaneously.  Why would you lie so much?  Why would you contradict your own stances so much?  Do you think we wouldn't notice?

I just hope that the Obama Team, now that they know how Romney is going to play, comes back big in the second and third debate.  Obama will excel at the second debate town hall format with CNN's Candy Crowley, and I am sure Bob Schieffer will do a better job than Jim Lehrer for the final, foreign policy themed debate.  Let's face it, Romney has no foreign policy stances.  So, it is a great way to end up.  I have to say I am a little worried about the VP debate.  Hopefully, Biden will not say anything stupid, but that is a topic for another day...