May I inject a brief history lesson into all of this poll panic?

[MarianJack]

During the 1984 campign, the news media was TOTALLY in the bag for reagan to have a landslide over the Mondale/Ferraro ticket. We were being deluged by the media every day prior to the first debate that it was going to be the political equivalent of a public execution and that Mondale had NO CHANCE against "the great communicator".

In the first debate, Mondale was in control from the opening statement and reagan was every bit the senile, doddering old idiot that he was ever since a few months after he was shot. I remember a highly placed Democrat proclaiming that there was now a new "great communicator". Mondale's highlight in that debate was how he was able to turn the tables on reagan when he again used the "there you go again" line that he'd used (pretty effectively) against President Carter in their 1980 debate.

A few days later, Geraldine Ferraro did pretty damned well against bush senior in thei VP debate. Mondale/Ferraro went from being down by 15 to down by 4 in a matter of days.

In the second debate, reagan used a line about Mondale's "youth and inexperience" to "win" their second and final debate.

We all remember who won that election and by how much. For those of you who weren't around then, it wasn't Mondale.

One consequence that I'm sure the media hasn't anticipated is that now, going into the second debate, the expectaions for President Obama are near zero in the public's collective mind. The media has been on a steady drumbeat of willard's brilliance as a debater. They kinda forget willard's biggest problem, which is that willard is STOOOOOPID!

I'm fully expecting a very significant turnaround after the second Obama/willard debate. Our president is a very intelligent and very competitive man. He won't allow this to happen to him twice.

That's my 2 cents, and quite possibly overpriced at that!

PEACE!

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

1. Good points....

....but honestly, that next debate can't come fast enough, and right now it's a zillion miles away. And we will never have the landslide advantage that Reagan had. So we can't fool around or play 8 dimensional chess with a dumb ass public anymore.

[MarianJack]

2. Your points are also good, but...

...I still expect the President to be reelected with a quite comfortable margin.

PEACE!

[klook]

3. I am expecting Rmoney to be nothing short of incredible.

I mean, he is never credible, is he?

No, really -- Rmoney will be the greatest debater since William Jennings Bryan. He'll be Socrates, Lincoln, and Douglas rolled into one! He will make Obama look like Jerry Lewis!

Yes, I have very high expectations of Rmoney. Very, very, very fucking high.

But I'm sure he's going to be every bit as good as he was in the first debate, and for Obama to be a bumbling, semi-comatose moron. And I suggest that every one of us call every talk show we can find, and write a letter to every editor there is, to say just how incredible Rmoney is and how scared of his debating prowess we all are.

And most of all, we are all concerned about just how much empathy we know Rmoney will show everyone at this town hall debate -- because, after all, he's repudiated the 47% comments, and he no longer wants to get rid of abortion or cut billionaire's taxes or shut down Social Security or Medicare, and--stuff.

[MarianJack]

7. willard is a GENIUS!!!

I hope that the President isn't incontinent!!!

PEACE!

[fugop]

4. Second debate will be nice but...

...in the meantime I hope Joe rips off Ryan's head and feeds it to him.

Literally.

[Lex]

5. Joe Biden comes off as very "aw, shucks" but he is smart as a whip

and knows how to handle this whippersnapper Ryan in the exact right manner, I truly believe.

[MarianJack]

6. I dislike ryan almost as much as...

...I dislike willard.

PEACE!

[Doctor Jack]

8. Hey! Don't you come in here with your "logic" and "facts"

People are trying to panic here!

[Cha]

9. LOL! Shhh.. I need you all to be quiet so I can not be distracted..

[MarianJack]

17. Sorry, Doctor Jack!

I'm addicted to both.

PEACE!

[Drunken Irishman]

10. Your points are strong, but your strongest is about the expectations...

I think people expected Obama to just waltz in and slaughter Romney in the debates. Now, as you say, the expectations are so low that just showing up might be perceived as victory.

[MarianJack]

15. I,too, am waiting for the real President Obama to show up.

I fully expect it to happen. He is a very competitive man who wants to win.

PEACE!

[Charlotte Little]

11. Applause to you!

Exactly what I've being trying to preach only not as well (by any means) and without the history attached. Everyone needs to breathe in, exhale and calm down. No war was ever won in one battle...and no battle was ever won in a fetal position, babbling! Just sayin'

[MarianJack]

14. "no battle was ever won in a fetal position".

That's GOOD

PEACE!

[geek tragedy]

12. Reagan was never behind this late. Neither were Clinton or Bush II.

Who did trail with 4 weeks to go?

Poppy Bush and Jimmy Carter.

And now Barack "debate prep is a drag" Obama.

[Julien Sorel]

13. Debate prep IS a drag.

Besides, this thing is all wrapped up, so there's nothing to worry about. All those unemployed people, those poor people, those working people who are counting on Social Security (not that Obama was going to do anything about them, anyway, maybe cut it less than Romney. Maybe.), those kids deserving decent public schools, those people who were counting on Obamacare, however third rate it might be, those Democratic candidates who were hoping to ride presidential momentum into office -- they don't count enough for Obama to worry his pretty head. There just wasn't enough to motivate him. He earned the right to cruise for a bit. That presidentin' is "hard work," to quote his illustrious predecessor.

[geek tragedy]

21. Hey, the guy had pizzas to deliver.

And he had never seen the Hoover Dam.

[MarianJack]

16. If you insist on panicing over a speed bump,...

...than go ahead.

[TroyD]

18. 'a speed bump'

How do we know this is only a speed bump?

I haven't seen a collapse in the polls this dramatic all year.

I'm certainly positive that they CAN go back up, but how do we know that's a guarantee?

[MarianJack]

19. I simply believe in my candidate, as well as...

...willard's stupidity.

PEACE!

[TroyD]

23. James Carville predicts Obama will still win : )

And those are still the odds, but it seems like more than a glitch to me so far.

[MarianJack]

24. I repectfully disagree about...

...this being more than a correctable glitch.

PEACE!

[geek tragedy]

20. Speed bump? He drove his car into the ditch. nt

[MarianJack]

22. This is all very correctable.

If I had any money, I'd be willing to wager on it.

In 1984, so did saint ronald.

PEACE!