Last night, Mitt Romney lost. (Debate analysis from UK Telegraph)

[Spider Jerusalem]

The last paragraph I've excerpted here is especially pertinent I think:

There are three reasons why Romney experienced a soft implosion of his already tenuous electoral chances. First, there was no “gotcha moment”. Before the debate every political analyst, be they from the Left or Right, agreed that Romney had to land a knockout blow, which he didn’t.

There was no major presidential gaffe. No glancing at watches, sighing or claiming there has never been any soviet domination of eastern Europe. Crucially, in the new media age, there was no YouTube moment. In fact, the one single moment I suspect most voters will remember from the debate was Barack Obama sending his wife Michelle greetings on their wedding anniversary.

The second problem for Romney was that while he failed to land a knockout blow, he kept piling into him. He was aggressive, too aggressive.

This is Romney’s greatest weakness as a candidate. He lacks compassion. He comes across as one of those big businessman in old Westerns who turns up at the farm and explains to the widow that he needs to buy her land to make way for his new railroad, and if she knows what’s good for her, she’ll take him up on his kind offer. CNN’s post election poll found that two thirds of those who watched thought Romney put in the most effective performance. But only 46 per cent said they found him more likeable than Obama. Not only did Romney not land the knockout blow, he failed to close the empathy gap.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100183875/last-night-mitt-romney-lost-yes-you-read-that-right/

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Exactly. He is a bully, and he last paragraph nails it perfectly.

[SemperEadem]

22. I can see him with the scissors in his hand

his attitude and demeanor last night showed that clearly.

[mzmolly]

2. Absolutely agree

with this analysis. Thanks for sharing. K and R.

[tblue]

3. People do not like Spit On-Me

They don't and they won't. And the '47%' tape Wist going away.

[JHB]

4. Is the CNN poll they refer to the one that only sampled over-50 college-educated Southerners?

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. It doesn't say

but his numbers on likeability are not too far off from his support nationally, and it's swing states that matter; if enough people have an impression of Romney as an unlikeable bully then that doesn't really help him close the gap where it matters.

[wryter2000]

6. About the YouTube incident

It seems to me that the only snippet that's likely to go viral is killing Big Bird. And I think we've seen some evidence that that moment will stick.

[gkhouston]

30. Romney had a line near the end of the debate about putting money where your heart is.

Big Bird is the first obvious clip, but that one's gonna be a sleeper quote.

So, where is Mitt Romney's heart? In the Cayman Islands? And where's he planning on putting our tax dollars? Towards more tax cuts for the rich.

[ThomThom]

36. What about his comment about bring his money home?

that should get some attention!

[gkhouston]

39. You're right; I'd forgotten about that one. n/t

[HipChick]

7. K&R...

[porphyrian]

8. . n/t

[BainsBane]

9. The righties are full of themselves today

They seem to think Mitt won the election last night.

[barbtries]

11. yeah.

one of my co-workers tried to crow. he gets this mitt romney like smile that i just abhor. i did not engage.

[BainsBane]

12. Is Mitt's a smile or a grimace?

Particularly last night, he looked just plain mean to me. I haven't seen any pundits discuss that.

[Faux pas]

13. He looked deranged and possessed to me.

[dmr]

14. I think it's his version of the Bush*-Cheney smirk.

He's such a lying asshole.

[mwooldri]

16. Shame the Torygraph thinks otherwise...

Shows you how extreme the right wing has got when the right wing of other countries think Mr. Romney is not up to snuff.

[Indpndnt]

26. Good.

It'll totally gut them when they lose.

[DavidL]

28. Such disappointment they will face Nov 7! n/t

[reflection]

33. They are absolutely killing me at work. All day.

So I do what I have to do. I hold my shit sandwich and take a giant bite with a grin, praying inside that this will soon be a distant memory and not "the turning point." I think the odds are still good. I dislike shit sandwiches. Man, I wish I lived in a blue state.

[bigtree]

10. truth

[ailsagirl]

15. kick

[progree]

17. "only 46 per cent said they found him more likeable than Obama." Isn't this higher than before?

I thought all the polls for weeks and months have been calling Obama more likable than Romney by a large margin. It scares the living Buhjeezus out of me to see 46% finding Romney more likable.

[SemperEadem]

23. 46% of a narrow sampling of people

in the overall, large sampling, I'd say his number didn't change.

[progree]

25. I hope you are right

The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International, with 430 adult Americans who watched the debate questioned by telephone. All interviews were conducted after the end of the debate. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/03/cnn-poll-romney-wins-debate-by-big-margin/comment-page-3/

[SemperEadem]

43. 430 adults compared to

300 hundred million+ adults in this country?

[progree]

45. ALL polls are a teensy tiny sample of about 200 million adults in the country

And there are corresponding margins of sampling error.

But I concede:

* It is just ONE poll

* 430 (+/- 4.5% sampling error) seems to be a smaller sample size than most polls, I think most are around 1000

* Margins of sampling error statistics assume perfectly random samples and therefore that the only error is that the sample size is relatively small compared to the population. The poll results on the 46% liking Romney have a 95% chance of being within 41.5% and 50.5%, assuming a perfectly random sampling of the demographic being reported on -- adults who watched the debate. We all know there are other problems -- the landline / cellphone issue, people not responding to the polls (not picking up the phone, poll fatigue) -- yada.

* It is a poll of only listeners to the debate - not an attempt at a random sample of likely voters

I only included the poll information in the last reply for informational purposes, not to argue that this is an ironclad poll.

[Johnny Noshoes]

18. Let's face it

Romney reminds many people of every asshole supervisor,manager, boss, or idiot CEO they have ever had to deal with in their lives. He's a dirtbag.

[BarackTheVote]

31. yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...

I'm gonna have to have you come in on the weekend, can you do that? Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

[Johnny Noshoes]

42. Next Friday is ah Hawaiian Shirt Day.....

[lalalu]

40. I think you nailed it.

There is something familiar about his behavior. Then every working person realizes they have at some point had to work with someone like him. I will say again I think he is a sociopath.

[siligut]

19. 46% liked mocking, smirking, lying, sociopathic Mitt?

I doubt it.

[mike3121]

20. Romney Racist Attack

Romney's white male aggressive attack, yes attack, was racist!

[OldDem2012]

21. After last night's performance,...

...what foreign leader would want to see Myth Robme as the next US President?

[DemKittyNC]

24. Mitt definitely lost last night!

Truth be told he lost it a long time ago... lol

I am so proud of my President

[lalalu]

38. Well said

[Indpndnt]

27. An excellent analysis.

Thank you for sharing that!

[Ikonoklast]

29. Yeah, I know.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021465556




I called it at 1247 EST.

[dropboss11]

32. Romney indeed loss

That was my take away last night. Then I turned to cable and felt like I was in another universe. The snap poll shows people think Romney won but still like Obama better. So whats the point? Candidates do not become president because of debates. And it will be no different this time around.

[ananda]

34. Will the REAL Mitt Romney please stand up!

nt

[hifiguy]

35. Mittens has the personal charm of a poison toad

and the ethics of a hyena. They were on full display last night.

[lalalu]

37. My own poll

Just talking to people I found only one person who thought Romney won. The rest thought neither won or that Mitt was nasty and rude. Most people were joking about Big Bird. One guy was really amazed that someone would want to pick on Big Bird. You have to be a really cold person to want to gut Big Bird. Yet republicans have been targeting Sesame Street for years.

[redqueen]

41. K&R

[Rosa Luxemburg]

44. UK media not biased

[Bluenorthwest]

46. Mitt was looking really awful. And for many voters, that was their first real

introduction to him. Mitt the hard closing huckster.
Mitt's defining moment was announcing that he wanted to fire Big Bird, then turning on the moderator, 'you too buddy'. People don't care for that sort of guy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Oh there was a you tube moment

Jim I like you and I like big bird... but I am going to fire you

Not precisely a good one