The One Where Mitt Gets Taken to School

The Presidential Debate season is over for another four years.  I was a little sad to see it go.  It's always one of the highlights of a Presidential election season.  Do you really get a good sense of the candidates?  Not really.  Both candidates are polished to a fine shine by their handlers, they practice with stand-ins and they study for weeks, or in Mitt Romney's case, months.  Every once in a while, however, there are some real moments where a candidate's personality really shines through--and you get to see how they perform under pressure and they have to speak off the cuff.  The best debate is usually the town hall style one where the questions come from actual voters.  The fun bit is seeing them struggle to remember the voter's name who asked the question (That's a great question, um...erm...uhh..Phil, I'm so glad you asked--oh, your name is Morris?  My bad).  Anyway, we're here to talk about last night's debate.

The Romney's reaction to Mitt's debate performance.

Honestly, I don't think anyone on the right had very high expectations for Romney's foreign policy debate performance.  It's widely known that it's his weakest area, having no foreign policy experience (nor does his running mate for that matter).  So, it's not too surprising that the grumbles from the right wing talking heads have been somewhat muted this time around.  Sarah Palin dusted off her "momma grizzly" for the occasion, and Ann Coulter, bastion of style and class that she is, called the President a "retard", confirming that she is, in fact, worthless gutter trash with no sense of decency what-so-ever.  

The President brought enough Zingers to the debate for everyone, and he took Mitt to school last night.  We knew that Mitt was lacking in the foreign policy department, but watching him fail at basic high school geography was a bit of a surprise.  On the outside, this was a pretty funny moment; but let's get serious for a moment, shall we?    There's been unrest and fighting in the Middle East since the dawn of time itself.  American President after American President has dealt with the issue of affairs in the Middle East.  Whether we like it or not, for the time being, we rely on oil from that area of the world.  The Middle East probably represents the most important aspect of American foreign policy. There are no do-overs in this arena.

 Romney's lack of basic geographical knowledge of that region; his failure to know who Iran's neighbors are--shows a serious lack of understanding about that area of the world.  How can we trust him to oversee the most important policies that we must develop and implement.  The entire world looks to the United States in these matters.  We are a major player on the world stage.  How can we give that job to a man who misplaced the entire country of Syria?  

Mitt seems to keep changing his mind about the major players on the world stage as well.  Back in March, Mitt called Russia our number one geopolitical foe, prompting the President to call him on it; one of the most memorable quotes of the night, " Gov. Romney, I'm glad you recognize that al-Qaida  is a threat...You said Russia, the 1980's, they're now calling  to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years."  It should be noted that the March interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN wasn't the only time Mitt referred to Russia as our enemy; he doubled down on the statement in an op-ed piece for Foreign Policy Magazine and in a second interview with Blitzer on CNN.  Romney considers Russia a bigger foe than Iran, North Korea or China.  Apparently, Romney slept through one of the few good things the Reagan Administration can legitimately take credit for.  

Which brings us to my absolute favorite debate moment last night.  And since it's our last debate breakdown blog for four years, let's have a little fun and relive the top three debate moments of all time in American Politics.

#3- Admiral Stockdale, who really wasn't in the mood for the bullshit

#2- Lloyd Bensten puts the smackdown on Dan Quayle

#1- President Barack Obama takes Mitt Romney to school.

The 2012 debates are brought to you by the letter "B"; Big Bird, Binders and Bayonets.
With his remarks about the military, Romney revealed that despite his desire to shove money into it that the Pentagon did not even request, he has no working knowledge of how our military really works.  

The bigger lesson we can take from this debate is that our position in the world is in serious jeopardy under a Romney administration.  Mitt Romney is a bully who would use his presidency to bully the nations of the world.  Mitt Romney does not believe in diplomacy. He prefers weapons to words, and does not have the fundamental basic knowledge to be a good neighbor, or a peacemaker.  He bows to the military industrial complex.  He bows to Halliburton, which has made an absolute fortune several times over on the back of the American military.  As always, Romney bows to the all-mighty dollar, his lord and master.

 Mitt Romney does not care about the spilled blood of American soldiers, nor does he care about the veterans well being once they've returned home.  He has no respect for their sacrifices.  Mitt Romney showed us last night that his incompetence is well rounded and extends to both foreign and domestic policy.

Simply put--Mitt Romney is a poor choice for President and he proved it beyond the shadow of a doubt last night.