You know how Obama hung back in the debate and let Romney rant, lie and hang himself?

[tblue37]

29. No--you must keep in mind what the PURPOSE of these debates is.

These are not "real" debates. They are part of the political advertising campaign for each side. Yes, of course Obama won if we score the debate according to the content of the candidates' answers. But since the purpose of the debates is to influence the electorate, Obama clearly lost because the reaction of the voters was that he lost and Romney won. It doesn't matter that we know Romney lied and behaved like a total a**hat. The voters felt otherwise.

When Nixon and Kennedy debated, those who heard the debate on the radio gave Nixon the win; those who watched on TV had him losing by a large margin. Perception is everything in politics, because the voters vote according to how they interpret what they see and hear, not according to how some debate expert says the debate should be scored.

The fact that the media loves a brawl and a brawler and therefore gave Romney the win in big bold letters certainly influenced the public perception, too, as did the hair-on-fire freak-out committed by our own side's pundits, like Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz. But the American public also likes "feisty" behavior in a debate. When Gore debated W, W came across like an idiot, but the media and the public gave him the win anyway, because, as the media said, W came across as "feisty" and "combative," while Gore came across like a patronizing know-it-all. Anyone examining the content of their answers in a dispassionate, rational way would have given Gore the win and W a big red "F" for "fool," but the content didn't matter. All that mattered was the public's reaction--and the media's reaction, to the degree that it helped shape the public’s reaction.

I thought that on content Obama was clearly superior to Mitt, and I found Mitt's hyperactive behavior and nastiness in the first debate repulsive. He seemed to be on something--probably chugging Redbull or some such thing before the debate.

But even I found Obama's physical presentation odd and disappointing. I couldn't understand why he kept nodding as Mitt lied his butt off, and I kept wishing he would look up instead of constantly staring down as he jotted notes. Yes, of course, he was jotting notes, and that is why he was looking down, but the reality of the situation was simply irrelevant. What mattered was that it appeared that he welt crestfallen and defeated, and that his constant nodding was acknowledgement that Mitt had the right of it in every instance.