When President Obama debated Mitt Romney, he signified his astonishment at Romney denying he'd ever held any of the right-wing positions he had been spouting on the campaign trail for the previous 18 months by looking down at the lectern, and making notes.
One and all, the critics leapt on the President's performance as passionless, aloof, checked-out, and pretty much the worst thing Anybody Ever Did, Ever.
My theory: the President thought he was winning the debate because everyone would instantly see how much Mitt was lying. But he forgot that most people are watching Honey Boo Boo, not MSNBC. They aren't paying attention. So they didn't know Mitt had completely reinvented his entire platform on the spot.
Follow me below the Orange Autograph Of Zsa Zsa Gabor for more.
Next, we sent Joe Biden into battle against Paul Ryan, whose lies were compact and swivelly-headed and rather thirsty overall. But according to the Elders of the Village, all of whom are losing their hair at exactly the same rate (yes, Chuck Todd, watch out, Luke Russert) the BIG story out of the Veep debate was the way Joe Biden reacted whenever Ryan spouted one of the Romney-Ryan's boilerplate untruths: He laughed.
His laugh was widely critiqued. His smile was also found to be lacking. Although Joe had the exact same look on his face that my father used to get when I tried to slide some whopper past my mother, the Village did not care for his laughter.
So I propose for the President a simple tool for Tuesday's debate. No smiles, no looking down at his lectern. Just hold up the sign.
As a bonus, here is a baby pic of Paul Ryan.
And here is the President's Tool for Debate #3: