The Occasional Observer

in Debate #2--IMO, it was a draw.  None of the debaters, not even Candy Crowley, scored a clean knockout (Candy had to walk back her factually incorrect interjection on Libya immediately after the debate).

The feeling heading into the debate was that the pressure was on Obama to change the trajectory of the race, and I'm not sure he did that.  Panels of independent voters on multiple networks (including MSNBC!) agreed that Mitt had won, although CNN's snap poll showed the President with a slight lead.

A few observations:

-Crowley was horrible, just like Raddatz.  The clear bias that a GOP candidate has to deal with, debating an opponent and a moderator, is just absurd.  Luckily, Crowley was so obvious in her bias, her excessive interruption and "fact checking," and so wrong (as the record now shows), that perhaps we will finally see a change to the ridiculous format of our Presidential debates.  I don't want to see a moderator.  A timekeeper will suffice, then let the candidates have it L-D style on a pre-arranged set of issues/questions.

-Obama drips with so much condescension, I can't even stand to hear his voice or see his visage any more.

-Romney absolutely decimated Obama when rebutting on the question of "What have you done over the past 4 years to earn my vote again."

-Romney completely fudged the end of the debate, failing to hit the President effectively on his obfuscation of the situation in Benghazi.  He also did not challenge the President's faux outrage over Romney challenging his decision to go to Vegas the day after the murders.  Mitt should've come back with something like this: "Mr. President, you seem very passionate about this now, in a debate.  I would have liked to see that passion in your actions after the murder of our Ambassador.  I would have been rescheduling fundraisers and political events to get facts and respond appropriately.  Your priorities were different."  Instead, Mitt said nothing.

-Obama is still wrong on Benghazi.  Even if Obama had called it terrorism in his Day 2 press conference (which his intentionally vague statement did not, sorry Candy), it would just make the rest of the Administration's actions even more curious.