Unfortunately, we have turned into a world where we need to know everything RIGHT NOW because we can, by just surfing the net within minutes of the end of the debate to find the numbers. Who won? If you were not watching, and went to FOX or some other insipid website, CNN, unfortunately has become FOX lite, you would know that Romney just whomped the President who stood there like a stiff. I watched it and saw a raging maniac...I want the stage, I will interrupt, I will take over the conversation, I will not answer a question if I don't like it, I'm surprised he didn't wink. On the other podium, the President just had to get out of this debate without losing his fabulous cool, his likeability, his presence. He did just that and more. His numbers went UP for likeability, and Romney's went down. That is not good. This was the one big chance that Romney had to get back ALL the states that matter or he would not win. Ohio is a MUST win for Romney, and the numbers did not change at all in Ohio. The Carolinas have always been close, and this week BEFORE THE DEBATE they pulled a little closer. The blue ridge Mountain folk are tradidionally red, and the cities are blue. Obama is still ahead in both places, but it is close. Florida closed the gap a bit, but again that was before the debate. I think once the seniors realize what Willard REALLY said about medicare, they will turn back to Obama, and he will win that state. We still have the problem of dishonorable and dishonest men running the state, and the voting machines, and they got caught, so a lot more people will be watching Florida than they counted on, so I think we will also be OK in Florida.
The problem with Willard is that he is not likeable. Obama, you would have him over for a beer. Romney, you wouldn't want him near your house. I can just imagine him demeaning someone who worked so hard to have some tid-bits and drinks and him saying, this looks like it came from 7-11, I don't eat that kind of food. He came across as the guy at the car lot who wants you to buy that car that has almost bald tires, but "a great paint job", and "doable" mileage (150,000), meanwhile thinking in his head, my commission on this if I get this dolt to buy this wreck will be almost $900. This is going to be good. I felt that the whole debate. I felt Willard was trying to sell anything, something that would stick to the wall. He was told, probably over and over, slow down, don't say anything that they can use for anything, be Presidential, smile, be likeable. He can't. The gaffe about PBS is almost good enough all on its own to get anyone who strayed from the President back.
The medicare lie, where Willard is going to turn Medicare into a voucher system with a cap is going to cost the average senior about $6,700 a year. Someone living on Social Security can barely make the rent is going to have to choose whether to eat or get medication, and he wants to double the defense budget while slashing aid to seniors IN THIS COUNTRY. I can see a nice ad with seniors hearing what they will be paying under the Romney plan for them. The idea that guns for the military are more important than our own parents is almost sickening to me. But, that is what you will get with Willard.
Willard insisted that pre-existing conditions will be in his health plan. No, they won't. 89 MILLION Americans with pre-existing conditions will be dumped. I am one of them. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and a very bad back, and lived with pain and no insurance for years. I finally got into a program through the state I live in, Minnesota, but only got it when I felt so terrible, I was unable to work anymore. I got poor-people insurance, which covers basic stuff, but has a cap. I don't pay enough, I don't think for premiums, because when you pay almost nothing, people don't understand how precious it is. I truly believe I should be made to pay more. My family helps out, and without that, I would be on the street. This is all so personal to me, and if you have never been poor or had to live with out medication, you won't understand how critical having insurance is. So that lie about covering pre-existing conditions is a horrible lie.
If he had actually said what his health care DOES NOT COVER, it would scare the daylights out of you, and pretty much everything is out of YOUR pocket. MINIMUM health care is covered, but so many things are not. What is really going to happen is that if you can afford to personally shell out all kinds of money per month (he won't tell us that until he is President, read: I have no idea how I am going to do this, and I do not care, -- you are one of the 47% that don't matter one single bit to me, just as long as you vote for me, and then you and your problems will go right out of my head.) you will have to live with whatever health problems you have or be rich enough to pay for whatever problems you have, out of your pocket.
That to me, is the crux of Willard's problems. He does not care at all about the poor, the middle class, the semi-upper class, but only about the millionaires and billionaires he can befriend and buy and pillage their companies. Such a great con man - or used car salesman. Sometimes, truth leaks out accidentally because he talks so fast and so off message, you can get the idea of what is really in his head. When he said, I like to be in charge, because I like to fire people a while back, it is not what he wanted to say, but it is what he was thinking, and it just slipped out. A lot slipped out last night, and luckily, his gaffes are all commercials waiting to happen.
I know there are a lot of Democrats running around today like chickens with their heads cut off. STOP IT (as Anne Romney would say). This is NOT a game changer. It is so minimal compared to the 47% video, and the wonderful ads that the Obama campaign manages to roll off one after the other. Anything with Sesame Street, or any PBS programming that has been awesome can be the backdrop to his cuts in his own words. I am a DEDICATED NPR listener and PBS watcher, and think it is probably the only thing worth watching or listening to on TV or radio. I don't actually watch much TV, because I cannot stand it, but my daughter was singing her ABC's and saying big words and learning all kinds of things by watching Sesame Street every morning when she was small. It was one of her favorite parts of the day. There are WAY more worthy companies that could lose tax breaks that would actually make me happy. WHY are we giving a nickel of tax breaks to the oil companies? Have they given any to us? Have they lowered the price of oil when it went down, or do their record profits show us clearly that they did nothing of the sort, and in a Romneyish sort of way, they kept all the profits and the big guys at the top took home record bonuses. That's fair, isn't it? NO.
As far as taxes, he wants to cap deductions at $17,000. He will NEVER do that. Billionaires would freak out. The poor and middle class would be fine with this, but mostly it would not help them, so it isn't going to happen...it was just a number he threw out to appease the masses TEMPORARILY. You can say anything. It is in the doing that matters.
So, keep these numbers in your head. Remember the bottom line. 99% of Americans are NOT on Romney's mind. He just likes the billionaires or the "owners of sports teams". He is NOT a good man, his wife is shrill and mean and as arrogant and self-centered as he is. Her rant in Iowa was her real personality sneaking out, and they pulled her off the campaign trail for a while. They are putting her back on, because they think she is going to win the women's vote. Women know a phony from miles away. Men, I'm not so sure they could figure her out, but she isn't going to win Romney any women's votes. We are WAY smarter than that. Keep working, keep giving if you can, keep your head up and your smile on. We've got this thing.