Did you spot the acts of desperation for the GOP in last night's debate?
Elections are won by A) shoring up your base, and B) grabbing a chunk of the non-partisan, independent voters. You can spot which side is winning by how much time they spend bringing up issues that have traction with independents, and you can spot which side is losing by how much time they spend bringing up issues that only the partisan base thinks are important. By that measure, Romney appeared to be desperate last night. How can you tell? By looking at the amount of time he spent trying to bring up "Fast & Furious" and the false right wing meme that Obama is afraid to call terrorism terrorism for fear of offending muslims. Neither of which means anything to non-partisans.
Here's how it works: both sides have their alternate, fringe media, where they discuss things that often don't mean anything to non-partisans. Politicians appear on their alternate media outlets and discuss these things to a limited audience, but they have to walk a tight rope with these issues when they're in a broader forum. If they want to bring them up during a presidential debate, when EVERYBODY is watching, they have to be careful, and practice a little dog whistle.
When a right wing presidential candidate brings up fringe right wing issues during a nationally televised debate, it's a sign of desperation.
Want an example? McCain didn't bring up Bill Ayers and ACORN until his THIRD debate against Obama, when it was clear he would probably lose.
I took the fact that Romney invoked ONE of these fringe issues in the first debate (the one about FISKER) and TWO in the second debate (Fast and Furious, and the right wing meme that Obama is afraid to call terrorism terrorism because he's 'an apologist' for terrorists) as a very encouraging sign that the right is desperately trying to shore up their base, rather than grab independent voters.
In fact, the Fast & Furious 'scandal' has become so pathetic that Romney didn't even dare to address it directly for fear that non-partisans, who were scratching their heads and saying "what's all THIS about?" might actually go and LOOK IT UP and figure out how ridiculous the GOP has become for obsessing over it. He just threw out some innuendos in the hopes that the more lazy non-partisan viewers might get THE IMPRESSION that there is something to it, without actually looking it up.
So, here was my recap of Romney's evening:
One offensive move designed to make Obama look weak on oil drilling: FAILED
1. Tried to pin Obama on 'reducing' the number of drilling permits on public land. Ended up looking overly aggressive and desperate by pressing for an answer, and then Obama gave a good explanation of why he did it. POINT OBAMA.
Two offensive moves, both aimed at shoring up his base: FAILED
1. Tried to bring up Fast & Furious, without actually bringing up Fast & Furious. Left most independents confused about what he was talking about. NO SCORE
2. Tried to paint Obama as an apologist for terrorism, got smacked down by Crowley's fact checking him ON THE SPOT, rather than the next day. POINT OBAMA
Two defensive moves to blunt Obama attacks on his China investments and Republican hostility towards women: FAILED
1. Tried a false equivalency argument between his DIRECT outsourcing of jobs to China and Obama's pension fund as an Ill State Senator. Obama deflected with a joke about the size of the pensions. NO SCORE
2. Tried to bring up hiring of women while Gov. of Mass, ends up getting mocked on the internet over 'BINDERS FULL OF WOMEN' remark. NO SCORE.
So, in light of last night's failures, what is the right wing noise machine doing today?
1. Trying to RESCUE the "Obama is an apologist for terrorism" meme by arguing semantics, and
2. NOT touching any of the other issues, for fear of making it worse. ie-NOT trying to refute Obama's smackdown of Romney over COAL TECHNOLOGY while he was in Mass., NOT trying to repair the argument that it's okay for Romney to think Obamacare is fine for Mass. but not for the country, NOT trying to re-animate the Fast & Furious 'scandal.'
Their silence on these other issues speaks volumes. It may not look like it, but they're in full damage control mode this morning.
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