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The Morning Flap: October 17, 2012

Obama and Romney Debate

President Obama and Mitt Romney debate last night, October 16, 2012

These are my links for October 16th through October 17th:

  • Internet Takes Off With Mitt Romney’s ‘Binders Full of Women’– Despite all the fireworks over taxes, oil and Libya, the most buzz-worthy social media moment of Tuesday night’s presidential debate was Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s comment about “binders full of women.”The inadvertently funny comment came in response to a question about pay equity for women from a member of the audience of the debate between Romney and President Obama at Hofstra University.Romney was explaining that as the governor of Massachusetts searching for qualified women to fill cabinet posts, women’s groups brought him “binders full of women” who were good candidates.“And I said, ‘Well, gosh, can’t we — can’t we find some — some women that are also qualified?” Romney said. “I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”The response was swift.

    “‘They brought me whole binders full of women’ Did I just hear that? #debate,” tweeted @MichaelAusiello.”

    “‘They brought us binders full of women,’ doesn’t sound good in any setting,” added the New York Times’ Nick Bilton.

    It wasn’t long before the internet took the comment and ran with it.

    A new “Tumblr” account popped up with images inspired by the comment, including one from the now-famous “Texts from Hillary” meme.

  • CNN Poll: Slight Edge to Obama in Debate– Hempstead, New York (CNN) – Give a slight edge to President Barack Obama.Forty-six percent of voters who watched Tuesday night’s presidential debate said that the president won the showdown, according to a CNN/ORC International nationwide poll conducted right after Tuesday night’s faceoff here at Hofstra University on New York’s Long Island. Thirty-nine percent questioned said Republican nominee Mitt Romney did the better job.Obama’s seven-point advantage came among a debate audience that was somewhat more Republican than the country as a whole and is within the survey’s sampling error.The president’s edge on the question of who won the debate appears to be the result of his much better than expected performance and his advantage on likeability. But the poll also indicates that debate watchers said Romney would do a better job on economic issues. And the two candidates were tied on an important measure — whether the showdown would affect how the debate watchers will vote. Nearly half said the debate did not make them more likely to vote for either candidate, with the other half evenly divided between both men.
  • CBS Poll: Obama Edges Romney in Debate– Moments following the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., 37 percent of voters polled said the president won, 30 percent awarded the victory to Romney, and 33 percent called it a tie. After some particularly animated exchanges between the two candidates, 55 percent of voters said Mr. Obama gave direct answers, but 49 percent also said that about Romney.As for who would do a better job of handling the economy, the president made some headway on closing that gap. Before the debate, 71 percent said they believed Romney would, while only 27 percent said they thought Obama would; after the debate, 34 percent said the president would better handle the economy, with 65 percent saying Romney would.Obama would also be more likely to help the middle class, according to 56 percent of voters after the debate, compared with 43 percent who said that about Romney.The survey polled 525 voters who are undecided or who may still change their minds. Most of these uncommitted voters are not affiliated with a political party: 56 percent describe themselves as politically independent, 21 percent identify as Republicans, and 23 percent are Democrats.
  • Candy Crowley: He Was Right – Romney on Libya– After the debate, debate moderator Candy Crowley said Republican nominee Mitt Romney was “right in the main” but “picked the wrong word” on the Obama administration’s immediate response to the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.Crowley interrupted Romney during the debate, insisting that President Obama had in fact called the attack an “act of terror.”ROMNEY: I want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.OBAMA: Get the transcript.CROWLEY: It — it — it — he did in fact, sir. So let me — let me call it an act of terror…

    OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?

    CROWLEY: He — he did call it an act of terror. It did as well take — it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.

    In a statement given in the Rose Garden on Sept. 12, Obama emphasized an anti-Islam video, before saying that “no acts of terror would shake the resolve of this great nation.”

    The administration’s narrative on the attack over the next two weeks was muddled.

  • Crowley skews hard for Obama in disastrous debate– Another debate, another debacle for America’s media.In the runup to the second presidential debate, CNN’s Candy Crowley declared that she would not just be a “fly on the wall” as she played the tiny role of moderator, that she would step in whenever she chose to say, “Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?”And boy did she, cutting off Republican Mitt Romney repeatedly and often throwing the floor to President Obama with an open “let me give the president a chance here.”More, she alone decided the topics for the debate, picking questions from the 80 so-called “undecided” voters chosen by the Gallup polling organization. Her selections were tailor-made for Mr. Obama — Mitt Romney’s tax plan, women’s rights and contraception, outsourcing, immigration, the Libya debacle (which gave Mr. Obama to finally say that the buck stops with him, not, as Hillary Clinton said, with her).She even chose this question, directed to both men: “I do attribute much of America’s economic and international problems to the failings and missteps of the Bush administration. Since both of you are Republicans, I fear the return to the policies of those years should you win this election. What is the biggest difference between you and George W. Bush, and how do you differentiate yourself from George W. Bush?”
  • Obama Scores the Most Debate Points, but Verdict Uncertain – Wednesday, October 17, 2012– Like two roughnecks squared off on a playground, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney invaded each other’s personal space, raised their voices, and fought. “It is just not true,” the president said. “It is true,” his rival replied. You could almost hear both men thinking: “Same to you and more of it.”If you like to see presidential candidates fight for the job, if you want a passionate dialogue over big issues that matter, you got what you wanted on Tuesday night. If it’s civility you seek, you’re sunk.Who won? The answer may be Obama, because his goal following a catastrophically sluggish first debate was so clear: Show some life. And, indeed, the president aggressively criticized Romney, labeling him a hypocrite and a liar who favors the rich at the expense of the middle class and poor.But Romney got his licks in, too, wrapping a miserable economy around the incumbent’s neck. “The middle class is getting crushed by the policies of a president who does not understand what it takes to get the economy working again,” Romney said.Bottom line: Obama and Romney scored points while turning off independent voters with their point-scoring. Democratic and Republican partisans will find reason to celebrate the debate but it likely did nothing to reshape the closely fought race.
  • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-16 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-16 #tcot
  • My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-16 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-16
  • Remarks by the President on the Deaths of U.S. Embassy Staff in Libya | The White House – RT @EWErickson: Here’s the Rose Garden transcript. President blamed a video, not terrorists.
  • Gallup Poll: Obama Losing Momentum With Voters – Flap’s Blog – Gallup Poll: Obama Losing Momentum With Voters #tcot
  • Trooth.Com – The Billboard – Flap’s Blog – – The Billboard #tcot
  • CA-26: Stalking Continues To Plague Tony Strickland – Flap’s Blog – CA-26: Stalking Continues To Plague Tony Strickland #tcot
  • Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California – Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California #tcot
  • California: Botched Abortion Sends Bakersfield Woman to Hospital | LifeNews.com – Horrible! RT @StevenErtelt: California: Botched Abortion Sends Bakersfield Woman to Hospital #tcot
  • Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California – Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California #tcot
  • Quote of the Day – RT @politicalwire: Former Obama aide: “It’s stunning that he’s in politics, because he really doesn’t like people.”
  • Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California – Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California #tcot
  • Trooth.Com – The David Nicholls DDS Interview Part One – Flap’s Blog – – The David Nicholls DDS Interview Part One #tcot
  • Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California – Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California #tcot
  • The Morning Flap: October 16, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: October 16, 2012 #tcot
  • Civic Report 72 | THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California – THE NAYS HAVE IT: When Public Sector Unions Win in California #tcot
  • Daily Kos: Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation poll: Romney’s best numbers of the week – Even the LEFT RT @ppppolls: This week’s Daily Kos/SEIU/PPP national poll finds Mitt Romney leading Barack Obama 50-46: