"rope-a-dope"

[hedgehog]

"The rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting style commonly associated with Muhammad Ali in his 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match against George Foreman.

In competitive situations other than boxing, rope-a-dope is used to describe strategies in which one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, attempting thereby to become the eventual victor."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope-a-dope

[C_U_L8R]

1. When your opponent is lying

why stop them?

Obama could have countered each one of Mitt's lies
and the debate would have been a shitshow.
Instead he got out of the way
and let Romney dig a bigger hole for himself.
Mit may have won the debate but he lost his soul
(and will lose this election)

[bushisanidiot]

3. EXACTLY!

I don't know why others don't see this.

It's common knowledge that President Obama has a favorite picture of Muhammad Ali that he has hung in his office for years in which he is towering over an opponent who is on his back on the ground. Ali put him there after a successful "rope a dope" strategy, which obviously is where the term came from. The President has that picture as an inspiration and has used that very strategy in dealing with his opponents. This should not be a surprise at all.

[ruffburr]

2. Thanks

When I was watching the debate unfold I thought to myself he's going for the rope a dope strategy, So thanks for letting me know that someone else see's that too ,Thought i was just old and crazy

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. 'rope-a-dope' works in situations where attacking is tiring, and you can defend

without getting tired. Then you can attack towards the end, when you'r estill fresh and your opponent is spent.

That doesn't apply with debates. The next debates are on different topics; Romney is not 'tired' from last night. This is a metaphor that does not work in this situation.

[hedgehog]

5. This morning, Romney is taking a real pounding from the media over his

inability to give details, his poor arithmetic, his exaggerations and outright lies. (Not to mention, last night he threw his right wing Tea Party supporters under the bus, then backed up over them!)

"Rope-a-dope" comes from boxing, but I think Obama just tagged out to the entire press corps! How many times have you heard someone today say " why didn't Obama bring up the 47% line?"

One correspondent suggested that it's because Obama knew everyone else would be mentioning it; E.J. Dionne on Diane Rehm just now pointed out that if Obama had brought up the 47%, Romney would probably have had a prepared response to kill that point of attack.