Complete Video: 3rd Presidential Debate: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney.
This blog will be updated and refined, with videos, links, quotes, polls (and…jokes) added constantly. Check back. ~ ed.
Update bonus: I’m in love with this: Epic Rap Battles of History: Romney vs Obama!!!!
Old, but powerful/moving: Mitt Romney: “I don’t care what you tell your 8-year-old daughter.”
Update: Why: Romney for “small business” and “innovation,” but against Tesla Motors. They’re a true game-changer.
Update: PolitiFact did live fact checking of both candidate’s claims. But here’s a few:
Politifact ranks Romney’s statement that Obama went on an “apology tour” as pants-on-fire. Again.
Many of the funniest, most pointed comments below come via…you guessed it. Redditors.
Editor’s Introduction:
Overall? Obama obaminated Romney. Not saying this as a partisan, saying this as a fan of politics. I have my views, of course—we all do, just about—but I know when my “team” is off.
With the polls split nationally, and the electoral college barely favoring President Obama, along with swing states barely favoring Obama, this election is literally in the balance. One bad gaffe, one big moment tonight—with some 60 million plus Americans watching, and the playing field leveled after Romney trounced low expectations in the first debate, and Obama coming back to dominate the second…tonight was a big one.
We’ll see how the reporting and spin play out—but tonight in the eyes of the 150 plus gathered with New Era Colorado, elephantjournal.com and YogaVotes (who joined me and elephant with our local Congressman Jared Polis for a call with Yoga Telesummit and yoga teachers nationally, earlier today) went, unsurprisingly but ungrudgingly, to President Obama. Big time.
~ Waylon Lewis, ed.
Top 10 18 Moments of the Third Debate:
> For Top 10 Moments of First Debate, click here.
> For Top 10 Moments of Second Debate, click here.
1. Romney holds fire on Libya, though moderator went there straight off. Obama gets out of this section with minimal damage, surprisingly. He returns to it of his own accord, also surprisingly, in subsequent Q & A.
2. Obama gets in some funny, alive trash talk—this won’t be a repeat of debate one.
Romney paraphrase: “…chaos is growing in the Middle East; Libya may be improving, but Egypt might not be; Syria in tumult; Iran is closer to nukes.”
Obama: “Gov. Romney, I’m glad that you recognize that al Qaeda is a threat…because a few months ago when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia.”
“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back…the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
“Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s…
“You say that you’re not interested in duplicating what happened in Iraq, but just a few weeks ago you said you think we should have more troops in Iraq right now. And the challenge we have –- I know you haven’t been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong.”
“What we need in the middle east is strong and steady leadership, not erratic like yours”
Romney: argues with Obama “I didn’t want more troops in Iraq” Obama: “Yes you did” We’ll see fact check.
3. Bush & Cheney line draws laughter in our crowd. Obama: “…both at home and abroad, he has proposed wrong and reckless policies. He’s praised George Bush as good economic steward and Dick Cheney as somebody who shows great wisdom and judgment. And taking us back to those kinds of strategies that got us into this mess are not the way that we are going to maintain leadership in the 21st century.”
4. Romney backtracking on wanting to cut solar, wind, other green energy—more flippyity floppity. Obama paraphrase: “You flip-flopping is the opposite of what we need in a president.”
5. Obama on Romney’s Massachusetts’ success in education: “that was 10 years before you came into office.” Biggest line of night thus far, huge crowd reaction.
Obama brings up success in math science education—clearly read the NY Times editorial.
Comment via Redditor, to Romney:
“You can’t in one sentence say that teacher’s unions are bad, that class size doesn’t matter and neither does teacher pay, and then in the VERY NEXT SENTENCE brag about the fact that Massachusetts has the highest test scores in the country. Wanna know why? Massachusetts has the highest test scores in the country because you have the strongest teachers’ unions, the lowest class size, and the highest teacher pay. Your schools are so good for the very reasons you claim don’t matter/aren’t important.”
5a. > Not worthy of own moment, this has happened every debate. But interesting manner with others: Romney talks over moderator, again.
6. Obama: “You mention the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. We have these things called aircraft carriers and planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”
“It’s not a game of battleship where we’re counting ships, it’s ‘What are our capabilities?'”
#horsesandbayonets will be trending immediately on twitter, mark my words.
7. Romney doesn’t agree with himself—in real-time. Romnesia of the day: Mitt Romney on Obama’s Foreign policy. Romney: “We can’t kill our way out of this mess.” Two minutes later: “Well, my strategy is pretty straightforward, which is to go after the bad guys, to make sure we do our very best to interrupt them, to — to kill them, to take them out of the picture.”
7a. Romney says, “I know what it takes” a lot.
8. Good summary point re Obama vs. Romney. “You’d do same thing, only louder.” “No new ideas.”
9. “When I went to Israel as a candidate…I didn’t take donors, I didn’t attend fund-raisers, I went to Yad Vashem, the — the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself [of] the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.” Obama gets solemn re Israel…how I’ve used my travels…women’s rights…emotional moment, speech re children in Israel. Will add quote when have it.
10. You invested in a company in China that’s still doing business with Iran.
Obama: US exports have doubled to China under my administration
11. Bob Schieffer, Moderator, actually moderates: “With respect sir, laid out quite a program.”
12. Obama: “We’ve visited your website quite a few times. And it still doesn’t work.”
13. Schieffer:”Obama’s bin laden.” First big gaffe…and it’s by the moderator. #obamabinladen
14. “If I’m President of the United States…err…when I’m President of the United States…” Looks like Romney read The Secret.
15. Romnesia switches up on Afghanistan pull-out date. Previously (just a few weeks ago in debate) refused to set date, now sets date.
15a. Obama repeatedly calls Romney on his assertions. Obama calls him on Al Queda assertion “Nothing Governor Romney just said is true.” This is a different Obama than in the first debate.
16. Obama brings up education, longterm thinking re US strength, nation building many times: research technology, not cuts, are important to US winning the future. Strong crowd reaction.
17. Romney, inexplicably, brings up auto industry…understandably wants to get rid of this charge, but the facts won’t bear him out. Romney’ walking into it. Obama chomping at bit. “Governor, the people in Detroit don’t forget.”
18. Romney says both: I love teachers; and teacher’s unions have to go.
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