Engaging Mitt Romney will be a mistake.

[wtmusic]

Why wipe Mitt's brow, set him up, give him a drink of water? He''s bloodied, in tatters. The first step: dispatch him. Slay him:

"I'm not sure what there is to debate when Governor Romney has arrogantly written off half of all Americans, including veterans and the elderly, as moochers. To this reprehensible, condescending view, I have no answer..."

Step #2 Turn the remaining 89 minutes into a Barack Obama infomercial, listing accomplishments. Take a stroll down memory lane to 2008, and failed Dubya policies.

This won't come naturally for Obama, he's too nice. But he has the chance on Wednesday to not only win the debate but the election.

No mercy.

[flamingdem]

1. It's not fun watching the MSM trying to resurrect this zombie named Mitt

I agree don't give him a much as a brain appetizer for starters. Best to let him flail around asking for brains

[Scootaloo]

2. He won the election when he announced he was seeking re-election.

There are only two things that make this race even vaguely close.

1) 32% of the nation absolutely hates Obama. Period. Unreasoning, utter hatred.
2) At least 14% of the nation's voters are fucking morons who will go to the polls and have no idea who either candidate is.

As you can see, that still doesn't add up to a Romney win. And Romney is the best the Republicans have to offer. He's their prize fighter, the one their bets are running on, and this man couldn't win a free coke from a bottle cap, much less a national election.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. There's a reason that there are professional political consultants and there are, well,

amateurs.

Just sayin'.

[wtmusic]

4. And of course, the paid ones are always right.

Mitt's must be working for free!

[TexasProgresive]

15. Maybe his were outsourced to China.

[wtmusic]

16. *snort*

[KurtNYC]

10. we are watching a masterful campaign this year

locking down one "swing" state after another

and now working down ticket

[randome]

5. I don't think Obama will go easy on Romney.

I expect a string of knockouts.

[CoffeeCat]

6. I agree, because the Obama campaign...

...knows that Romney is thin skinned and that he is his own worst enemy.

He doesn't handle it well when someone goes after him. Have you seen his contorted face when a voter asks him a question that he doesn't like? He comes unglued, because he's so used to everyone kow-towing to his narcissistic ways.

I think (I hope!) that Obama is playing it cool now, and that Obama will be the one with the amazing zingers.

[treestar]

17. Mitt's not used to being questioned

There's no story of Mitt having to work his way up - I bet he was always in charge wherever he was and was deferred to. Never had to try to handle any questioning or criticism. And now he finds he doesn't like it.

[LoveIsNow]

7. That would be disastrous.

Americans love an underdog.

[wtmusic]

8. Americans love a virtuous underdog.

There's the rub.

[pnwest]

19. and Obama, even as incumbent, is still the underdog

[madokie]

9. I have to agree with that

[BumRushDaShow]

11. The moderator controls the debate

so the debaters can only work around them.

[wtmusic]

13. To a certain extent.

Nowadays candidates are given pretty wide latitude, but most importantly I hope Obama avoids comparisons between himself and Mitt.

That's just handing Mitt a cookie.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. The moderators do control to a great extent

Maybe not so much Lehrer who is up first, but the rest are known shills (most notably Creepy Crawly) and guaranteed to tip it the way they want when it comes to cutting people off or letting others go on past a rebuttal time, or even allowing audience hoots and cheers.

As an example, I applauded Brian Williams when he enforced the "no applause" rule during his moderation of one of the rethug debates. The previous debate had Newt taking full advantage and playing to the crowd while insulting the likes of John King (who probably needed it anyway), and that turned the whole thing into more of a circus than it was already. Newt was made out to be "defiant" and "strong" and got kudos for attacking the ("librul&quot media..... and he got several news cycles out of it. What Brian Williams did was effectively shut Newt down and he couldn't recover after that.

So if the President is asked a question and responds, and then Rmoney rebuts with a string of lies, and the moderator lets it go... and then if the President attempts to correct the lies and the moderator refuses to allow it or cuts him off to go onto another question, then THIS is what the danger of these debates present. It has happened over and over and over again.

[Enrique]

12. i don't think that would work

the 47% comment struck a nerve with people, but not enough for Obama to say he no longer has to debate Romney.

Also, I don't think he is going to be listing accomplishments, because the main one hasn't been accomplished yet, we are still in this recession.

[wtmusic]

14. The economy is improving

on many, many fronts. Unemployment: down. Stock market: up..through the roof. Housing starts: up.

Obama should certainly point that out, but Romney has no answers, no specifics. Any comparison with Romney only makes it sound like he's offering something when he's not.

[Bake]

18. He's not that nice.

He's a political killa. But he does it with a smile, so you don't see it coming.

It's way past time we Demshad someone like that!

Bake