I stayed off the Internet, on purpose, prior to the October 3, 2012 debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney starting on Oct 1st. So for two days, I watched the television (MSNBC, C-Span 2, ABC national network) news and then the debate.
The debate itself, I watched on television, on C-Span 2 and DVR'd on both C-Span and MSNBC, including after calls to C-Span.
I dropped in at Daily Kos off and on on Thurs, Oct 8 and commented a bit.
So here's my question, to the greater DailyKos community and the wider world, if this question ever reaches them...
Everyone, from David Gregory and Chuck Todd on Meet the Press to Cenk Uygur on TYT on CurrentTV to Bill Maher on Real Time with Bill Maher, all of them keep repeating the same thing, when discussing President Obama's behavior at the debate.
They kept talking about how, once Mitt Romney started throwing out the #PantsOnFireLies and appearing animated, the President simply stood there and nodded his head in agreement with some of Mitt Romney's lies. That he looked tired and although none of them added this, I could hear it nonetheless, he looked weak.
Well, guess what? I didn't see that at all. It would appear that I am the only person on the planet who saw a President shaking his head slowly back and forth in DENIAL of the lies coming out of Mitt Romney. A President who did look tired - tired of hearing more lies and some of them even new lies, and who was sadly trying to decide whether it was worth it to try and counter the lies, or leave that job to the Free Press, considering the circumstances.
Neither man was allowed any extraneous materials via the terms of the Debate between the two campaigns, so there was nothing of proof to back up either man's claims right then and there. So if Obama speaks out and makes any mistakes of record while refuting Romney... he leaves himself open for attack post-debate. If he only states that Romney has previously held other views, and waits until after the Debate, at least the Free Press will call Romney on obvious lies, like the "No tax cuts if they add to the Debt". Right?
Considering the trending line of the polling pre-Debate, if I were Obama it's a good bet that I would have taken the same tact - and chosen "first do no harm" as a good debate policy.
Which brings me to this utterly unsubstantiated kibbutzing online and on political news television programs regarding just what the President was actually thinking during that debate, when he was slowly getting a more stressed-out look on his face and began to slowly nod his head back and forth.
Why did everyone end up on the same side and I ended up over here, all alone, so far as I can tell?
President Obama looked exactly how I imagine I look, when I'm so fed up and angry about someone who is telling another lie about something I did or said.
Because that's what I lived with for a decade, with my ex-husband's brother. He would tell monumental lies about anything and everything, no one in the family would even challenge him about this terrible trait. I would be silently gnashing my teeth listening to him; daydreaming about how it would go if I said something out loud, about his latest lie. The horrible outrage which would ensue (it had happened a time or two in the past, when I couldn't contain myself any longer) if I just opened up my yap and said something about his lying.
To me, that is what it looked like. A man biting his tongue, knowing his opponent was lying through his teeth. Because to call him a liar, in that moment, during this period of the campaign? A dual-edged sword, to be sure.
To simply note that his opponent had previously stated a difference viewpoint on an issue, and wait for post-debate, when documentation of such would be at hand? Seems like a preferable choice to me, all things considered.
Anyone else see the debate last Wednesday this way, or was I really the only one?