Given what happened in the last one, and the fact that the polls show a virtual dead heat with just a couple of weeks until the election, might this be the single most consequential debate in more than 50 years?

i could be wrong here, but i think we may be seeing a rope a dope strategy...barry's all weak and submissive in the first one, then completely devastates in the second one.


dunno


I COULD BE WRONG HERE

dangerous strategy, but it worked for ali

I don't think Obama had a much of chance in the first debate, but he probably should have went for the jugular early and came off looking like a total prick rather than a complete pussy. He's not going to win over any Brit Hume style conservatives who criticized Biden for being a curmudgeon, and he probably would have maintained the lead he had going into that debate.
He needs to remain cool and calm, but make it personal tonight. The gloves need to come off and both candidates need to force the other to defend their glaring weaknesses.
I doubt I'll watch this one, since I try to avoid them unless I attend a watch party, but I'd love to read about some classic debate moment in the morning.

hmmm...shall i watch this or the yankees game or just kill myself?

I'll be playing poker. My mind's made up. Morning news should be interesting, though.

i'm actually going to be bowling

but my heart will be watching

I'll be watching, and also be predictably shocked that anyone's dumb enough to vote R this year.

I can't watch this shit anymore. Inevitably FemDerris and I will start bitching at the tv which will turn into one of us annoyed at how mad the other is getting which will then lead to both of us just annoyed at each other and not knowing why.

Romney has a mountain of bullshit to attack but polls show it really doesn't matter. People move on after 5 seconds of news cycle.

Blech.

Well, can't wait to see how Romney mischaracterizes and reforms his agenda this time. He just loves to keep us guessing. Reminds me of the ending weeks of Lost and why I hated it. Nothing is as it seems and it meant nothing to begin with; plus, the ending is crap. May be a bad analogy, but it makes sense to me.

1. i'm not sure how much weight voters really place on candidate performance in debates...

2. how someone could still be undecided at this point is beyond me

3. i'm not sure that very much weight should be put on debate performance. i dont think rhetoric skills are in the top 10 skills i look for in making a decision on whom to vote for.

4. i rarely hear anything new, suprising, or interesting about candidates' policy positions in presidential debates.

dude, SPOILER ALERT

Only debate I've watched (or likely will watch) this political season. At least the body language was interesting if the content itself was nothing more than talking points. Meh.

I wish the binder comment didn't get so much attention. Right before that he said that we need to make women's work schedules flexible so they can go home and cook and care for the kids... that was the golden dipshit comment IMHO.

So what did I miss? I had back to back rehearsals.

An evening of fail.

What little I saw wasn't as bad as the previous two.

I really enjoyed the Biden/Ryan debate. It was entertaining without the awkwardness that this one had.

The awkwardness was the only good part.

Candy, Candy, Candy, I can't let you go

It's interesting how the media spins these debates to create a more newsworthy election.
Regardless of how the first debate was perceived, Obama actually won that debate by debate standards.
And then last night he wiped the floor with Romney on every topic. But somehow we're told it was a tie?
How the media manipulates the outcomes of these lopsided debates appear equivocal is not surprising, but still amusing.

I can't get this video to embed, but the first half, albeit delivered by a declared actor, is the most succinct summary of this election I've encountered thus far:

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/08/15/pmt-richard-belzer-pj-orourke.cnn

Oh shit that's awesome.