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Best quote of the debate!

I'm paraphrasing, but one of the best moments was when Obama said that only 3% of small business owners make over $200k per year, and Romney fired back by informing Obama that those 3% employ 50% of the workers of small businesses.
 
I didn't watch the debates. It's my age. I ate dinner, kicked back in my recliner, turned on PBS and started watching the pre-debate stuff. Next thing I know is I'm waking up and while I'm still half asleep I hear someone saying that "Obama won the debate".

THAT'S got to be the best quote.
 
AdamT said:
A good line, but it was so obviously pre-written and rehearsed that it flopped. I wondered if one of his aids was sitting in the audience holding up seven fingers ("hit him with zinger No. 7 Mitt!!).

And btw, that was also one of Mitt's many lies. He claimed that something like half of the companies in the loan guarantee program had failed, when in fact it's about 10%.
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Either way Adam, it was a good line. And if Mitt lied, I wonder why Obama didn't take the opportunity to correct him? Hmmmmm.....

Boy, Obama is such a good debator, he doesn't even know when to step in and correct a lie! Uh huh.....

Obama got owned, everyone knows it. It's not over, but Romney sure did a good job proving to America how inept Obama is, and how severely underqualified he is to be President.

BTW, Obama is the king of prepared remarks. He's as masterful with a teleprompter as one can be. Wonder why he didn't have some prepared? Ya know, like Romney did....Guess Romney's just better at everything.....;)
 
IndepCentristMA said:
Ha... I love the MSDNC association, never seen that...

I also thought it was a ridiculous moment for Obama "I actually had 5 seconds before I was cut off", when he was hardly cut off all night, and then spoke for another 30-45 seconds after saying that... and he spoke for 5 minutes more than Romney on the night, who was interrupted constantly by Jim Lehrer, who found his soft spot for the president, and through his respect for the office couldn't put his foot down about the president rambling on... So to whine about being cut off on the 1 ocassion, then to continue to talk without saying anything of worth for another 30-45 seconds was really pety...


I flipped around as I typically do after these things to find different coverages... without cable I had PBS, CBS, ABC, NBC, and Local FOX25 News... ABC as usual tended to have the most accurate coverage, from what I saw...

NBC reacted with Romney winning, but then kind of switched talking points to ways Obama should've won, and could win, and anything they could to do damage control...

CBS I'm not even sure I saw them saying Romney won, they were reacting really in shock, like they had a foregone conclusion of celebrating an Obama victory, and went with stunned looks... and poor programming... that was slanted for Obama... but lacked substance or focus on what just happened...

ABC had a broad mix of talent from both parties, and seeming uncommitted reporters, who entirely beat it home that Romney scored huge on the debate, won it heavily... comparing it with the first Bush vs Kerry debate... a clear winner Romney... with even Donna Brazzille and Austin Goolsbee coming out and talking about how Romney won it handily, before 20 mins into it trying to do damage control for Obama...

PBS had both Brooks and Shields heavily saying Romney won, with Shields immediately into damage control, but it appeared more like disdain for the president, and a questioning of his competence... Then they had a lengthy discussion after the debate with the Charlie Rose show, which was brilliant... a panel of like 4 liberal journalists, then Katy Kay (same thing essentially), and then a pundit from either side, Mike Murphy from the Republican side... and they all went on and on and on about missed opportunities by the president, and how he was heavily defeated, and how they were disappointed in the president... and thrown off that Mitt Romney came out as who he was rather than trying to appease the right... and that this is the Mitt Romney that everyone wants to see... now they're getting it...


On the whole... that may be the best line of the debates... not anything the candidates themselves made, but the reaction to it across the board as "Romney won" or the few liberals in damage control with "the president was awful tonight"...

That changes the landscape of the election...

this wasn't "well a draw favors the challenger" blah blah blah... this was Romney clearly took it to Obama, with a soft response...
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Ya know, I noticed this too. Lehrer hardly ever tried to interrupt Obama the entire night. But he tried reigning in Romney almost every single time Romney spoke. IT was pissing me off.
 
jonny5 said:
I liked Romney saying 'you dont pick winners and losers, you just pick losers' about energy loans.
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That was the best single liner all night.....
 
Grim17 said:
I'm paraphrasing, but one of the best moments was when Obama said that only 3% of small business owners make over $200k per year, and Romney fired back by informing Obama that those 3% employ 50% of the workers of small businesses.
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Here is the quote:

Well, President, you’re -- Mr. President, you’re absolutely right, which is that with regards to 97 percent of the businesses are not -- not taxed at the 35 percent tax rate, they’re taxed at a lower rate. But those businesses that are in the last 3 percent of businesses happen to employ half -- half -- of all of the people who work in small business. Those are the businesses that employ one quarter of all the workers in America. And your plan is take their tax rate from 35 percent to 40 percent.



Now, can anyone verify this as true, that 3% of small businesses employ 50% of all small business employees?
 
Gimmesometruth said:
Here is the quote:

Well, President, you’re -- Mr. President, you’re absolutely right, which is that with regards to 97 percent of the businesses are not -- not taxed at the 35 percent tax rate, they’re taxed at a lower rate. But those businesses that are in the last 3 percent of businesses happen to employ half -- half -- of all of the people who work in small business. Those are the businesses that employ one quarter of all the workers in America. And your plan is take their tax rate from 35 percent to 40 percent.



Now, can anyone verify this as true, that 3% of small businesses employ 50% of all small business employees?
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Yes...sort of. SBA displays the data differently, so you can't say 'absolutely verified'.

Frequently Asked Questions

Edit: Here are data tables from the Census Bureau, if you want to try to finagle the answer from it:

http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html
 
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Masada said:
Ya know, I noticed this too. Lehrer hardly ever tried to interrupt Obama the entire night. But he tried reigning in Romney almost every single time Romney spoke. IT was pissing me off.
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Yup... pissed me off, too... because I have such respect for Jim Lehrer... but he clearly blew this...

Everytime Obama went over time there'd be a subtle "uh"... which would go away for 10-20 seconds then come back, as Obama continued to say whatever he wanted unchecked...

Everytime Romney was trying to counter obvious flawed accusations from Obama Lehrer would jump in and try and stop Romney...

There were two points I thought it was actually really at its worst...

1) when Romney was trying to list the specific ways he'd change Dodd-Frank, and he said he was going to list 3 ways, and after the 2nd, Jim Interupted and forcefully said that's too much let him respond... before letting him finish the succint 3rd point... and Romney, to his credit, came back with the 3rd one in his chance to respond...

2) When Romney was going through a list of things he did as MA Governor and explaining what he did and how he was going to bring the same approach to Washington... and Lehrer jumped on it and was like "but what would you do as president"... as Romney was already getting to it... It wasn't like he droned on about MA for 5 minutes, it was only 20 seconds into the response at that point...


There was also the other point where Obama said "5 seconds before I got interupted"... Lehrer should've stopped him at 7-10 seconds after that and said, there you go Mr President, you've had an initial 10 seconds since, then, and your time is up...
 
Masada said:
That was the best single liner all night.....
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Obama had the opportunity to respond by saying that those firms receiving the green energy funding have out-performed the stock market
but he didn't
which tells me he was under-prepared
time to lose kerry as his coach ... tho kerry did not lose the debate. Obama did that by himself
 
IndepCentristMA said:
Yup... pissed me off, too... because I have such respect for Jim Lehrer... but he clearly blew this...

Everytime Obama went over time there'd be a subtle "uh"... which would go away for 10-20 seconds then come back, as Obama continued to say whatever he wanted unchecked...

Everytime Romney was trying to counter obvious flawed accusations from Obama Lehrer would jump in and try and stop Romney...

There were two points I thought it was actually really at its worst...

1) when Romney was trying to list the specific ways he'd change Dodd-Frank, and he said he was going to list 3 ways, and after the 2nd, Jim Interupted and forcefully said that's too much let him respond... before letting him finish the succint 3rd point... and Romney, to his credit, came back with the 3rd one in his chance to respond...

2) When Romney was going through a list of things he did as MA Governor and explaining what he did and how he was going to bring the same approach to Washington... and Lehrer jumped on it and was like "but what would you do as president"... as Romney was already getting to it... It wasn't like he droned on about MA for 5 minutes, it was only 20 seconds into the response at that point...


There was also the other point where Obama said "5 seconds before I got interupted"... Lehrer should've stopped him at 7-10 seconds after that and said, there you go Mr President, you've had an initial 10 seconds since, then, and your time is up...
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the moderator blew it? while your candidate clearly won it? does not compute
 
justabubba said:
Obama had the opportunity to respond by saying that those firms receiving the green energy funding have out-performed the stock market
but he didn't
which tells me he was under-prepared
time to lose kerry as his coach ... tho kerry did not lose the debate. Obama did that by himself
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yea that lie would have been awesome ...

You should coach Obama..
 
AdamT said:
A good line, but it was so obviously pre-written and rehearsed that it flopped. I wondered if one of his aids was sitting in the audience holding up seven fingers ("hit him with zinger No. 7 Mitt!!).

And btw, that was also one of Mitt's many lies. He claimed that something like half of the companies in the loan guarantee program had failed, when in fact it's about 10%.
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He said he thought it was 50% not that it was.
 
Travis007 said:
yea that lie would have been awesome ...

You should coach Obama..
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i know you have no interest in facts, so while you ignore this, others can observe reality:
In a 2011 story, USA TODAY reported that the stocks of many of 45 publicly traded companies receiving stimulus funds had outperformed the stock market, despite Solyndra and other, smaller failures.
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First debate: Let's look at those facts again - Politics & Policy - Catholic Online

while you are at it, shake your fist and damn that source as being inclined to lie to the public
 
IndepCentristMA said:
Actually... that was candidate Obama 2008 who promised the yellow moons, green clovers, and pink hearts... and the thing he's handcuffed by is his record... since he didn't create any of them...

Romney was just saying clearly... I'm not going to dictate policy to the American people, then whine about it and take my ball home with me when I'm not able to (as Obama has)... I'm going to go in and work together with people to craft the most well agreed upon plan... and get it accomplished... It was a stark contrast to the divisive partisan rhetoric that Obama continued on throughout the debate with...

Romney's best moment was when he wisely waited until he knew it was the last comment in that segment, and he put Obama's record to him right on stage next to him, looking directly at him... and Obama was there with his head down and no response...

Then, Mitt drove the point home, anytime when Obama tried to talk about things he wants to do... Romney said WE DID THEM IN MA!!!

And, he said at one point (would've loved to have seen more of this)... "You had 2 years... if you wanted to do this, you shouldve taken it and ran..." (in regards to Bowles-Simpson)...


There were actually 2 really strong points to me that really reflected why Romney won the debate... but they were stylistic and not substantive... and so subtle I doubt most people noticed...


One was when Romney was talking, and there was a loud crashing sound behind him... and while it did catch him off guard, his reaction to it was just what it ought to have been... he kept on point and didn't let it distract him from making his response in a concise manner...

The other was when the issue of Bowles-Simpson was brought up... and it was brought up as Bowles-Simpson, by the Romney, then the President responded to it, then Jim Lehrer put it to Romney as Simpson-Bowles... and Romney kept on, and repeated it as Simpson-Bowleswithout stumbling on it for a second... Now, these have been used interchangeably and as co-sponsors of the bill, each have been perfectly acceptable... most people naturally make it Bowles-Simpson, from stylistically alphabetizing lists of names... and Erskine Bowles is certainly the more well known an influential of the two co-sponsors... However, it is really a meaningless pedantic issue to get caught up on... Still it was a potential tripping point in the speech pattern... of having to adjust from the reference to Bowles-Simpson and to Simpson-Bowles... and he did it so smoothly, I doubt many more people other than I even noticed it...

These two things just showed how more alert he was, how he was able to stay on message better, and how he performed under pressure amidst potential distractions...
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I am sorry I have to disagree with this.

I think more people know who Homer Simpson is that Erskine Bowles. :mrgreen:
 
justabubba said:
the moderator blew it? while your candidate clearly won it? does not compute
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The moderator blew it, in regards to his performance as a moderator... regardless of which candidate won...

Jim Lehrer's performance as a moderator in the past has been stellar... last night was a mark on an otherwise outstanding career...

This is objectively rating a performance on its merit, not whether it suited my candidate, or to back a party...

and the reasons he blew it are far more than the few I pointed out in that post, most of which you've whited out...

I have a lot of respect for Jim Lehrer, and was so happy that he came out of retirement to do these debates, because I trust him to be impartial, i trust him to have the nerve to challenge people with his questions and follow-ups, and I trust him to keep the flow of discussion on topic and within time rules as agreed upon by the candidate... last night he was not impartial, and did not live up to his past successes in doing either of those things...

I hate to be wrong, but I was here... Lehrer should've stayed retired... Although to be honest, I still can't say I wouldn't have wanted Gwen in his place... despite her impartiality in the post debate coverage on PBS...
 
IndepCentristMA said:
One of the telling things, too... when the families went up on stage... While the candidates typically will go over and shake hands with the other candidates family... One of Romney's sons was the first of either of the families to go over and shake hands with the other family... It kind of gave off the clear impression that the Romneys were confident and pleased with the result, while the Obama family was stunned and in disarray, watching what leadership looks like and reacting to it as it was happening...
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And the Obamas ran off quickly.
 
Mycroft said:
I didn't watch the debates. It's my age. I ate dinner, kicked back in my recliner, turned on PBS and started watching the pre-debate stuff. Next thing I know is I'm waking up and while I'm still half asleep I hear someone saying that "Obama won the debate".

THAT'S got to be the best quote.
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I made it through the debate but I fell asleep when people started telling me what to think of what I heard.
 
Gimmesometruth said:
I asked for anyone to confirm what Romney said was true, the census confirms it is not true.This claim that 3% employ 50% would automatically make them NOT "small business", since that is commonly defined as less than 500 employees. If 3% of 360K small businesses employ half of the 17.5M employees, that means those 3% employ over 800 employees.....making them NOT small businesses.
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that 500 employee figure is a rule of thumb
there are some industries (identified by their primary NAICS - north american industry classification standard), especially in the construction industry, which are size-established based on revenues (averaged over three years). others evaluated based on number of employees can have under 1800 staff (telecommunications) and still be found "small"
in short, small business standards are actually small and medium sized business standards
while i doubt mitt's claim, i have yet to find documentation to refute it
 
Mason66 said:
I am sorry I have to disagree with this.

I think more people know who Homer Simpson is that Erskine Bowles. :mrgreen:
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Ah... that clarifies it...

Obama was told by his advisors to hit a homer... and instead he pulled one...

homerdefined_14.jpg
 
ROMNEY: “Look, I’ve got five boys I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true but just keep repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it. But that is not the case.”
 
"I will not reduce the share paid by high-income individuals," Romney said. A few breaths later: "All right? I will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans."

This will come as quite a shock to all his rich donors. I expect to hear more about the especifics of how this will be done.
 
iguanaman said:
"I will not reduce the share paid by high-income individuals," Romney said. A few breaths later: "All right? I will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans."

This will come as quite a shock to all his rich donors. I expect to hear more about the especifics of how this will be done.
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There's nothing shocking about this at all. He's been saying this for months.

As to how it'll be done, well...I'm not surprised you would ask that question since you refuse to read his website on which he describes how it'll be done.

Oh, well.
 
Mycroft said:
There's nothing shocking about this at all. He's been saying this for months.

As to how it'll be done, well...I'm not surprised you would ask that question since you refuse to read his website on which he describes how it'll be done.

Oh, well.
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There are not enough loopholes for the wealthy to even come close to payng the $5 Trillion the tax cuts will cost. So that is BS and has always been BS.
 
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