Hello all, welcome to the live-blog I will be keeping as the debate progresses this evening. You can also find me on Twitter (@cdixon25), where I will be tweeting, as well.
If you haven’t read my latest article, “First Presidential Debate Predictions“, please do so to get a feel of where I stand.
Please bookmark this page and come back when the debate begins, as it will be updated frequently as time progresses.
—
FINAL THOUGHTS
Romney did well, Obama did not. America still lost. Both repeatedly affirmed they have a love for spending, they support big government, and lack any plan to bring real change to government.
Looks like my prediction was right. Americans wanting real change lost the debate tonight.
10:33pm
Closing arguments! President Obama came off weak. The rust was apparent in the beginning when Romney got a jumpstart, although he seemed to get back on his feet a little bit. The closing argument though lacked passion, conviction, or any persuasive reasoning why Americans should vote for him.
Romney hit a series of good points with States’ Rights and the Tenth Amendment. Then again, he lost me on the military. Bring home the troops. We’re not making any gains, we’re not fighting the right battles, and the occupations are in violation of that Constitution you claimed to love, Romney. Support the troops by getting them out of harms way. It’s the right thing to do.
10:27pm
President Obama said he’s going to wind down Afghanistan? He extended us until 2024!
10:26pm
Cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes. Don’t cut taxes, Mr. President. ELIMINATE the income tax!
10:23pm
What was Mitt Romney’s point? Obama spends excessively on green jobs, he would spend excessively on education. Spending excessively on either has shown to produce negative results. Was Romney’s point that they both have a spending problem?
If these are two choices America has for President, I guess now I understand why America can’t balance a federal budget.
10:16pm
Romney had me until he refused to touch the military budget. By all means, support the troops. But support the troops by bringing them home. Our endless nation-building and undeclared occupations are resulting in rising casualties abroad, while soldiers come home to commit suicide at a record rate. You support the military, stand up and bring them back home.
It’s all interesting, considering Romney opened up the touching speech about the Constitution. These occupations were undeclared, in violation of said document.
10:12pm
Romney just deflected that previous zinger, pointing out his legislation was a model for the nation, for other states. Obama was wrong on that point, mincing Romney’s words.
But both of these guys agree big government is the solution. Hence the “Repeal and Replace” versus “Keep my plan” rhetoric. How long until the moderator again says, “Well, I think it’s safe to say the voters have a clear choice between you two on this issue…”
10:09pm
Individual responsibility is the right way to go. We’ve been attempting government control for decades and all it’s done is drive up prices across the board. Big government is broken.
Return control to the consumers who know what they need and the companies who know how to provide. If bureaucrats really knew what people need, Congress wouldn’t have a basement-level approval rating and if they knew how to provide, America wouldn’t be a wreck.
10:03pm
President Obama finally launches a zinger against Romney. He also backed up my point…the nanny state is bipartisan, as is big government itself.
10:00pm
Please let the President know though that minutes are not like Federal Reserve Notes…you can’t just create them out them out of thin air like you can dollar bills.
9:52pm
This is where community organizer is trumped by businessman. Not a fan of Romney by any stretch of the imagination, but only one of these men has some sort of idea what he’s talking about.
9:49pm
Well, I don’t know about the clear difference in choice between the two…
9:40pm
Mitt Romney is trying to pull his best Ron Paul impression, noting the importance of States’ Rights under the Tenth Amendment. Impressive. He is right. The beauty of this country is the states are the laboratories of democracy. If something doesn’t work, we can interact to see if there can be a way to help. But we are not a dictatorship. The federal government does not dictate. The founders did not fight the American Revolution to switch big government control instead of eliminating it, they’re not Republicans and Democrats.
9:36pm
All this talk about the economy, and nothing on QE3. The Federal Reserve is the root of the issue. Easy money breeds easy spending. Easy spending leads to runaway spending, which spikes the deficit. It makes it easier to drop bombs on foreign countries, which liberals once opposed. They might again if Mitt Romney becomes President.
I’m hoping they discuss the dangers of quantitive easing among all this economic and domestic policy discussion, but I’m really not holding my breath at this point.
9:31pm
Barack Obama just said no to the Tenth Amendment, by vetoing the idea we return to the States. What a hot shot in constitutional law.
9:18pm
Stimulate the economy by eliminating the income tax. What’s more stimulating than letting consumers spend?
9:15pm
Education! How about the education bubble? Either of you going to talk about this…or are we going to wait until the bubble pops?
Mitt Romney on the other hand, is like that overly persuasive door-to-door salesman who is hard to hate, while you know that there’s something wrong with the product he’s selling.
9:08pm
Want to fix the tax code to generate economic growth, Mr. President? Eliminate the tax code. You don’t need the hard-earned cash people make to drop bombs on Middle Eastern countries and use drones against U.S. citizens abroad.
Mitt Romney still is an invincible debater. He’s hitting homeruns like his name is Robinson Cano. Talk is cheap, though.
8:50pm
I’ll be waiting for my questions regarding the importance of the Federal Reserve and how QE3 is going to cripple the economy. That, and all the references to the Constitution.