Oh..without a doubt Mitt Romney won the debate. I don't believe that he said anything close to true, didn't really tell us anything of substance and lied about his 5 trillion in tax cuts. (He said he is not looking at 5 trillion in cuts but he is....never specified what he'd close in tax loop holes in offsets). There is more..but whatever.

With that being said...while Obama has more facts and did slightly edge him on Healthcare, overall Obama was lacluster and seemed unprepared. It was a terrible performance. He played prevent defense like in football...we all know prevent defense prevents you from winning.

Romney is (maybe was) losing and did what a animal backed into a corner will do which is attack. He should have and did what he had to do. Obama played as if all he has to do is protect his lead. (which may be true)

With the country split 47-47, both are fighting to 6% of the electorate. With maybe 3% voting for a 3rd party candidate..they are only performing for 3% that claim they are undecided.

I will say this...Obama requires an etch-a-sketch for the next debate.

I just get the strange feeling that his poor performace was calculated.

We shall see....but again Romney beat him. Some say it was style over substance, but it does not matter. The visual was stunning.

Romney, the winner in style and substance. Obama, "President Zanax" (to quote today's NewYork Times). Can't wait for the V.P. debate. Should be fun! Mike Jones

Olama got his head piledrived through the floor Greg. Like President Romney said last night, just because you keep telling yourself that the 5 trillion tax cuts story is true doesn't make it true. Now move your trailer where you can't get free wifi.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, has said the Romney proposal would cost $360 billion in the first year before it is offset by closing loopholes, which others have extrapolated to estimate that it would amount to $5 trillion over the decade.

But Romney's claim that his tax plan will not benefit upper-income earners runs into trouble in the Tax Policy Center assessment.

The report said the loopholes – popular deductions including those for mortgage interest, charitable giving and others – are not plentiful enough at the top of the income scale to cover the estimated $360-billion annual cost of reducing tax rates by 20%.

The gap would need to be filled by closing loopholes for those at lower ends of the income scale, those earning less than $200,000. Estimates say those earning between $100,000 and $200,000 would be significantly hit.

Also, the report said the trade-off between lower rates and loopholes would benefit higher-income households, which would see their overall tax burden go down while middle- and lower-income households would see their taxes rise.

"Cutting tax expenditures will result in a net tax cut for high-income tax payers and a net tax increase for lower- and or middle-income taxpayers," the report said.

Romney only won this debate if you didn't know or care that he was lying through the whole thing.

Absolutely no competition. Romney spoke like a true president who had control and Obama spoke the same old BS. He had no conviction in what he was saying, but I guess it is hard too when your telling lies.

I like the idea I heard somewhere last night that fact checkers should sit there with paint guns and shoot each candidate with a paintball if they "bend the truth." The one wearing the most paint at the end of the debate is automatically declared the loser. However, it is clear we would need to fact check the fact checkers too, because partisanship has been known to exist there as well - as is evident on both sides today.

Romney won but he just told some very convincing lies. Wait until round 2 and 3. Oh by the way check Romneys job creation record as govenor.

The bottom line is: do you want big government, high taxes, slow economic growth, and a weak military or do you want less government, lower taxes, and strong economic growth with the best military in the world. None of this is new. Basic economic principles will prevail. Do we want to be like Greece or do we want to be the strongest nation in the world again. For those of you who want government run health care, you need to check out your closest VA hospital and ask the vets what its like. As a veteran, I went once and told them I will never go back, its that bad.

Romney won because he said he will regulate banks and brokerages. He was against regulation last week, but it helped him a lot to say he's for it now. And last week he was for the mortgage deduction for second homes but this week is another story. People hearing him for the first time think those are his real positions.

In factuality, neither of them won. Romney is hiding his money well - see article on "10 investments he wished he didn't have." He invested in companies for energy efficient, green causes and sold all them August, 2011 so he would not be caught. Obama did not do well. He looked like he did not feel well and definitely unprepared. Fact Checking is really interesting! Lets get to the next debate and see what happens.

BWin

Romney won in confidence and style. I listened to the AJC fact checker on 95.5 and the reporter stated both Romney and Obama stated information that was partially true (without giving the full details about what went into their numbers or calculations for unemployment, deficit reduction, etc). But given the last 4 years and the economy being what it is, I would vote for Romney at this point. Obama doesn't have a real record to run on, and we have given him a chance already. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same results. I am choosing to stop the insanity circle!

Just when Romney thought that he could hit the gas, guess what...oil slick on the Mitt Romney highway... unemployment is improving without Romney, under Obama...

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/jobs-news-makes-obamas-case-easier/#more-35589

Finally goes below the make it or break it threshold of 8%.

Jay Leno goes after the President again.

Early in his opening monologue, the NBC Tonight Show host said of the stellar television ratings for Wednesday night's debate, "The only person who didn't tune in, I think, was President Obama"

What a crowd! Man! Yeah! You sound like Republicans watching last night's debate. Oh, my gosh. Well, the consensus is Mitt Romney won the presidential debate last night. The only people that thought Obama won - the replacement refs. Those are the only ones.

They're saying close to 60 million people may have watched the debate. In fact, the only person who didn't tune in, I think, was President Obama. What happened? [Laughter] Even Tony Romo was going, “What happened?”

The fact checking for the truth behind Romney's wildly running mout in the debate:

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/10/romneys-clean-energy-whoppers/

I'm still holding on to Barack Obama with my vote for a second term.

Democrats today are throwing Obama under the bus for getting involved in the Libyan conflict and also for the deaths of the Ambassador and three other US Citizens on September 11, 2012. Obama is such a fool and even the liberal congress are getting fed up with his arrogance. Time to throw him out!

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