A number of pundits stated that Romney came off “more
presidential” than Obama. At times, I
found Romney’s body language and tone of voice to be arrogant and reeking of a
sense of entitlement. I, also found
Romney to be bombastic towards the moderator demanding that the debate be
conducted the way Romney wanted it to be conducted instead on how the moderator
stated it would be conducted at the onset of the event. I found
Romney to be condescending to the President as well, particularly in regards to the President's “$5
trillion dollar” deficit fact. You see, one thing Romney did exceptionally
well was apply the tried and true Right
Wing tactic of passing off negative
things that they say or do as being a
characteristic of the ‘other guy’. That
came across loud and clear when Romney stated that the President’s “$5 trillion
dollar” fact reminded him of when he
was “raising his five boys” when they
repeated the same thing over and over with the hopes that it would become true.
What makes Romney’s wise cracking remark so ironic is that it is exactly what Romney has been doing throughout his entire campaign!
I watched the debate at a Debate Watch event among a group of about 150 ordinary people like
me. Throughout the debate, I heard
outbursts like “That’s exactly what the President just said,” – “He’s (Romney)
lying”. “That’s not what he (Romney) said
in the primary debates.” - “That’s not
what he (Romney) said in the 47% video” - "That doesn't make any sense". Needless to say, I was greatly relieved by those outbursts
because they were exactly what I was thinking
which brings me to my next point of disagreement with many of the cable news
pundits - Why were so many of the pundits
putting so much emphasis on style rather than substance?
Very few pundits mentioned Romney’s flip flops, constant misstatement of
the facts and his outright lies when in fact, every single claim Romney made was either a contradiction of what he stated in the GOP primary debates, in
interviews, in his 47% videotape and on the campaign trail or a complete 360 degree turn around from what
Romney stated in the GOP primary debates, in interviews, in his 47% videotape
and on the campaign trail. For me, it
all boiled down to one of my favorite quotes from Maya Angelou…
“The first time someone
shows you who they are, believe them”!
Here are a few examples:
ROMNEY'S DEBATE CONTRADICTION:" I care about the middle class and the poor."
PRE-DEBATE FACTS: 1) 47% video ; 2) campaign pledge to cut
Planned Parenthood (source of cancer screenings and preventive health care for
women); 3) campaign pledge to nominate justices who will overturn Roe v Wade;
4) GOP primary debate pledge to repeal Obamacare (denying health care coverage for over 105
million Americans) , and 5) campaign pledge
to have immigrants engage in self-deportation
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE:
“I’m going to replace Obamacare with the health care plan I initiated in
Massachusetts.” (essentially replacing Obamacare with Obamacare!?!?)
PRIMARY DEBATE STATEMENT:
“The first thing I’m going to do when I become President is repeal Obamacare” (with no mention of replacing it)!?!?
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE: “You keep on repeating that I will increase the
deficit by $5 trillion dollars. I don’t know where you’re getting that from.”
PRE-DEBATE FACT: According
to huffingtonpost.com , politifact.com, factcheck.com - The information came out of Romney’s own mouth when he stated
that he would initiate a “20% across the board tax cut”. Romney may not know or care much
about math, but actual mathematicians translate a “20% across the board tax cut” into a $5 trillion deficit.
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE:
Romney bragged about Massachusetts being number one in education under his
watch.
FACT: According
to factcheck.com - Massachusetts ‘ education reforms actually took place in
1993 - “ten years before Romney was Governor”.
ROMNEY’S ‘IGNORE THE FACTS JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT’ STATEMENT:
On cutting the deficit – “Obamacare on my list …I’m going to stop the
subsidy to PBS…I’ll make government more efficient”
FACTS: “
According to huffingtonpost.com - “Romney
has promised to balance the budget in eight years to 10 years by not eliminating tax breaks for the wealthiest,
but he hasn’t offered a complete plan. Instead, he’s promised a set of principles.” To fulfill his promise, Romney would require cuts
to other programs” e.g. education,
health care, Medicare, social services for veterans, women, children, the
elderly, the disabled, college students and the poor.
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE:
“Right now the CBO says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as
Obamacare goes into effect next year.”
FACT: According
to politifact.com - “That number is
cherry-picked, and he’s wrong to describe it as only including people who “like”
their coverage, since many of those 20 million will be leaving employer
coverage voluntarily for better options.
Romney also ignores that under the status quo, many more people today “lose”
coverage than even the highest, cheery-picked CBO estimate. We rate his statement false”
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE:
“Number one, pre-existing conditions are
covered under my plan.”
FACT: According to factcheck.com - “Mitt Romney does not think insurance companies should have to cover people with
pre-existing conditions who have not had continuous health care coverage.”
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE:
“What I support is no change for current retirees and near retirees to
Medicare. And the President supports taking $716 billion out of that program.”
FACT: According to factcheck.com - “Romney’s claim
that Obama wants to cut Medicare by $716 billion dollars is a misconstrued statement. What Obama did
was, through the Affordable Care Act, reduce
growth of Medicare over 10 years. This
reduction in growth would actually benefit
Medicare beneficiaries by extending
the life of Medicare. Obama’s reduction plan comes through at payments to hospitals
as part of Medicare Part A.”
ROMNEY’S DEBATE LIE:
In reference to Health Care Reform – “Obama put in place a board that can tell people
ultimately what treatments they’re going to receive.”
FACT: According to factcheck.com - “Romney’s claim
can leave viewers with the impression that the board makes health care
decisions for individual Americans, and that’s not the case. We
rated his statement mostly false”
Sources:
Debate Fact Check: How Obama,
Romney Statements Hold Up
Fact Checking the Presidential
Debate in Denver
Fact Checking the Denver
Presidential Debate
PS: More Quotes by Maya Angelou
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Nice Quotes of Maya Angelou .
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