The network that brings you soaps and soccer is in a snit over the GOP’s decision last month to not include them on its presidential debate schedule.
Read my article here.
UPDATE,
Here you have the wsv,
The 3rd debate: Bayonets, horses, and boats
Last night was the last presidential debate of 2012. Here’s the full transcript, and the full video,
Heritage Experts Analyze Final Presidential Debate, and they discuss
- Cutting the Defense Budget
- The Navy and Number of Ships Needed
- Defense Readiness Is Key to America’s Role in the World
- Jobs on the Home Front
- Federal Pay for Education Employees Won’t Create Jobs
- The U.S. Place in the World
My two cents:
- Obama doesn’t understand the difference between Chapter 11 bankruptcy and total liquidation; Romney does.
- Romney is the one who’s aware of opportunities in Latin America,
Number two, we’re going to increase our trade. Trade grows about 12 percent year. It doubles about every — every five or so years. We can do better than that, particularly in Latin America. The opportunities for us in Latin America we have just not taken advantage of fully. As a matter of fact, Latin America’s economy is almost as big as the economy of China. We’re all focused on China. Latin America is a huge opportunity for us — time zone, language opportunities.
Obama let that one fly right by, as his administration blissfully ignores our hemisphere.
- No one brought up the European Union (Greece, yes).
- Iran’s hyperinflation situation was not mentioned; it may, however, prove to be a critical factor on the regime’s viability. Iran was the country most mentioned during the debate.
- Obama demanded sequestration as part of the budget deal. Oh yeah.
- Obama came across as “snarky, condescending, peevish, & small.”
Obama landed a punch on himself,
Which brings us to the title of this post, Bayonets, horses, and boats. First, the boats:
Contrary to the president’s assertion, the creation of aircraft carriers and submarines did not mean that we needed fewer ships. Quite the contrary. Aircraft carriers need just as many if not more supporting vessels than the obsolete battleships that no are no longer under commission. So do subs. The decline in naval strength compromises America’s ability to project power abroad. That is particularly true in places like the Persian Gulf, where President Obama is trying to sound as tough with Iran as Romney.
Even more foolish is the president’s attempt to portray contemporary naval vessels with cavalry horses. That says more about his own lack of understanding of the military than Romney’s. It also may cost him some votes in a state that he still hopes to win: Virginia, home of the largest U.S. Naval base in the country and hotbed of support for a stronger military.
Submarines are boats, not ships,
Today, though only DSRV’s and ROV’s require a support vessel for operations, independent submarines are still referred to as boats not only due to the historical term, but the fact that they still require support from a Submarine Tender while in homeport for repairs and maintenance the crew cannot perform.
And, finally, the bayonets,
Crowley: Romney was right, after all
Matthew Sheffield has the transcript,
CANDY CROWLEY: Well, you know, I heard the president speak at the time. I, sort of, reread a lot of stuff about Libya because I knew we’d probably get a Libya question so I kind of wanted to be up on it. So I knew that the president had, had, said, you know, these acts of terror won’t stand or, whatever the whole quote was.
And I think actually, you know because, right after that I did turn around and say, but you’re totally correct that they spent two weeks telling us this was about a tape and that that there was a, you know, this riot outside the Benghazi consulate which there wasn’t.
So he was right in the main, I just think he picked the wrong word. And I, you know, they’re going to parse and we all know about what the definition of is is, but, I, uh, you know, in the end, I think John [King]’s probably right. I think this has a lot more to with jobs and the debt crisis and all of that kind of stuff.
I just think that probably it was one of those moments and I could even feel that here, you know, when you say something you’re not expecting. It’s just that was the natural thing coming out of me going, ‘Actually he did, you know, call it an act of terror.’ Uh, when, you know, half the crowd clapped for that and the other half clapped for ‘But they kept telling us this was a tape, this was caused by a tape’ so, you know, in the main, the thrust of what Governor Romney was saying, which is why I went back and said that, um, but I just think he picked the wrong kind of way to go about talking about it if that makes sense.
You know, I just think that I’m sort of blinded by her brilliance at, um, shilling for Obama,
However, to quote Victor Davis Hanson, “Nemesis struck when, in the middle of her clumsy attempts to offer a lifeline to a stumbling Obama on Libya, she had a deer-in-the-headlights look and an exasperated stutter, almost as if to say, “Why am I giving myself away?””
She also allowed Obama four minutes more than Romney.
Heritage’s panel of expertsanalyzed the debate. For instance,
Are Oil Companies Sitting on Leases?
Are oil companies sitting on leases? The short answer is no. President Obama made this statement tonight, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar routinely makes this statement. But as Kathleen Sgamma, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, recently testified:
By looking at the statistics over time, it is evident that industry has become much more efficient over the last several decades. While we used to hold 80,000 leases and produce on 24% in 1988, we now hold just 49,000 leases and produce on 46%. Secretary Salazar’s statements that this shows industry is intentionally leaving leases idle is tired rhetoric that fails to take into account the huge obstacles the federal government places in the way of oil and natural gas producers, and the fact that not every lease has recoverable oil and gas.
Just because oil companies aren’t drilling, this does not mean that no activity is occurring on that land. Environmental review, permitting, seismic research, and exploration may be occurring. But even that fails to address the real problem: The environmental review and leasing process takes entirely too long.
Rather than implementing an efficient leasing process, the Department of the Interior added three unnecessary and duplicative administrative regulations to the leasing process in 2010. Oil companies are not sitting on leases; they are simply not being issued by the DOI, or the DOI is making it more difficult to actually obtain the leases.
Go read the whole thing.
UPDATE,
Ace has the flaming skull,
Crowley On September 30th: Administration Took Weeks To Admit Benghazi Might Be A Terrorist Attack. Transcript at the link.
CROWLEY INTERRUPTS ROMNEY 28 TIMES, OBAMA JUST 9
Joe Biden, by the numbers
85 interruptions (h/t MOTUS)
“The congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for.” Biden’s lie about Ryan’s budget was an attempt to dodge responsibility for lax embassy security–and to cover up that the Obama administration called for new cuts to embassy security just days after the 9/11 attacks. Ryan’s proposal, which called for a 19% overall decrease in non-defense discretionary spending, does not even mention embassy security–the Obama campaign merely made up that number by applying 19% across the board.
4 dead in Benghazi: Denying the Libya Scandal
The vice president was dishonest during the debate.
2 Clintons:
Author Ed Klein: As Benghazi blame nears Hillary, Clintons grow furious, assembling a legal team.
1 US Council of Catholic Bishops: USCCB Responds To Inaccurate Statement Of Fact On HHS Mandate Made During Vice Presidential Debate
And remember, Joe always means what he says, even when it’s Biden vs Biden,
h/t Power Line.
Joe Biden: America’s crazy uncle
Suzette blames the Botox,
while Roger Kimball says it was “an extra dose of Geritol.”
Whatever it was, it was creepy,
Who won?
And, an afterthought,
If you watched the debate with the sound turned off, who looks like POTUS material? Who looks deranged? No wonder Biden “created this disturbing atmosphere of anxiety.”
The New Yorker. Yes, the New Yorker.
H/t Dan Riehl, and now, a Memeorandum meme.
An empty Obama chair on the cover of The New Yorker smells like … victory.
UPDATE,
DaTechGuy:
Your reaction and the New Yorker Cover have become ample proof that the emperor not only has no clothes, but even those in the court are now willing to say it.
And THAT is a game changer.
#DenverDebate: @Mitt Romney, by a knockout, 67-25
“No presidential candidate has topped 60% in that question since it was first asked in 1984,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
If it had been a prize fight, they’d have called it in the 9th round. Obama was allowed four more minutes than Romney, but had to appeal for help,
Jim, I — you may want to move onto another topic
Shark Tank calls it Obama’s “No Mas” debate.
Or perhaps Obama was “that guy at the meeting surreptitiously checking his email”.
Exasperated NBC Reporters Whine: Why Didn’t Obama Bring Up 47 Percent? (h/t Ed Driscoll). Iowahawk had an explanation,
It doesn’t occur to bubble-dwellers that Obama avoided Romney’s “47%” comment because it was a winner with normal human beings.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) October 4, 2012
But speaking of 47%, Romney made the most of his 47% allotted speaking time
A Smart Politics analysis finds that Mitt Romney spoke for 38 minutes and 14 seconds, or 47.3 percent of the candidate-allotted speaking time – a full four minutes and 26 seconds less than Barack Obama.
Chris Matthews was hormonal, ranting “Where was Obama tonight?!?”, “What was Romney doing tonight? He was WINNING!”,
Pete Ingemi points out,
That’s the real dirty secret of this debate, not that there is a different Mitt Romney at the debate then on the campaign trail, but that the Mitt Romney at this debate bears no resemblance to the caricature that the left, the media and the 30 seconds ads have painted.
The Totalitarian Media and Left made the mistake that all totalitarians make, they have heard their own propaganda so often and have lived in their own bubble so long they actually have started to believe their own spin.
My favorite line was,
“Listen, I’ve been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The NYTimes called it a draw, but
That wasn’t a debate so much as Mitt Romney just took Obama for a cross country drive strapped to the roof of his car.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) October 4, 2012
Stacy’s dreaming of Vanuatu again.
Mitt Romney may not have won the election in the first debate, but he established a new baseline. In 90 minutes in Denver, Mr. Romney finally aligned himself with the political zeitgeist of the electorate. They have wanted to know more about his plans. They wanted to know why he thinks their current president has failed and what he’d do differently. Now they do.
Will it last? It would be passing strange, even a little weird, if Mr. Romney reverted to a candidacy skimming along the surface of issues and arguments. He can go deep. He should keep doing it. Besides as he said minutes into the debate, “It’s fun, isn’t it?” It is. Give the voters more of it.
You can watch the full debate,
[Note: CSPAN changed their minds and now the debate is not embeddable. You must go to their website to watch it.]
There!
UPDATE,
the Taiwanese are at it,
while Jon Stewart wonders if Obama isn’t that smart,
Well, Obama’s saying “it wasn’t the real Mitt Romney.” How smart of him!