During the first debate of the 2012 election, Mitt Romney was able to be a microphone bully to constant get his words in and get the last words. Even when “moderator” Jim Lehrer was telling him otherwise, Romney got his way. Perhaps appropriate if Romney gets elected that he’d cut PBS the way he cut off Lehrer tonight, just like Romney was saying he would.

And what did Romney do with his unofficial last words and rebuttals? What he’s done all along. Talk big and lie. He talked about all kinds of principles without details, naïve as can be as if it’ll all just happen because you believe in it, or you assign people to work on it and pull politicians on both sides of the floor together. The guy has no idea how anything works and claims the details are there just to be worked out so long as you have the right approach! He also have no idea how to pay for anything. He just thinks jobs are going to appear and then that will all take care of paying for everything! He also avoids focus on this by strategically criticizing the President’s negative records, something which he doesn’t have to be subject to. Well, aside from the Massachusetts experience of copying Obamacare that Romney denies were effective cause he’d repeal it for how bad it was.

Romney also threw out all kinds of stats and names, which someone should fact check. Given Romney’s poor track record on knowing the facts, he’s smart to throw it all out there when the world is watching, knowing not nearly as many people read the fact correction articles that burn him later. Nobody remembers that.

Obama was diplomatic to sit and take all this bullying, rather than trying to bully back. Unfortunately, not a lot of people will be impressed or remember the relative silence compared to Romney. Obama will have to find a strategy to counteract all this debate bullying by Romney next time to be more effective.

Obama also surprised me by not having his closing statement delivered like an oratory speech. Good to know he was thinking about what to say to be relevant in light of what happened during the debate. However, I would have thought he and his advisers would have predicted how the debate would have gone reasonably well that he wouldn’t have had to think so hard. Romney had his well prepared and delivered well. Too bad it lacked details and was loaded with lies and promises as if it’ll all happen cause he’s elected and believes in it… just like the rest of his debate, and like a broken record of that approach. He picked about a half a dozen statistics and just replayed it like a broken record.

So who do I think won? Well, that depends on who you are. If you’re susceptible to big talk and promises, and are vulnerable to repeated statements and remember the last things said, then Romney won. If you are a thinker who can process what’s said for what’s in it and what it means, you know only one had anything worthy to say. I’m a government analyst in Canada. I saw through Mitt Romney like fact checkers on his “facts”.

Just some observations from a bipartisan Canadian who has no vested interest in the American election.

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