Winners & Losers
I hate to say this, but I think Romney won the first debate.  He was good, very good, although mostly he was good at always getting the last word, and that counts for a lot.  But Obama was bad - not very bad, but bad enough.  He looked tired.  He didn't manage to rebut Romney even when Mittens was obviously lying.  The 5 trillion dollar tax cut that doesn't add to the deficit? Yes, it's basic arithmetic that tells us that's a lie, but Obama failed to make that point decisively, memorably.  He didn't rebut the obvious "death panels" references and he didn't manage to make a case in favor of Federal health care insurance vs. State-based, and that's a point that really needed to be made.

Worse, Obama looked tired and offered a lot of passive-aggressive bullshit.  The whole "if that's what you believe/want then he's your candidate" business just made him look like Gore.  I liked that he tried to claim "Obamacare", but he did a bad job of it, half-assed, really.

A lot of criticism of Obama has been that he's only as good as his teleprompter.  He looked it today.  He hemmed, he hawed, he "you know"'d too much.  Starting a sentence with "you know" or "look" is just bad form, it puts people off, makes them feel stupid.  Romney didn't do any of that, or didn't seem to.  He's a prep school debate pro, and he romped over Obama.  Putting up with a bully doesn't make you a paragon of virtue, it makes you a victim, especially in politics.

I want Obama to win.  I'd like to believe he will.  But he's going to have to step up his act in debates 2 & 3 if it's going to happen, all those solid blue States notwithstanding.

I'll probably miss Biden vs. Ryan, as much as I'd like to see it.  I'll be away on holiday, but if the opportunity arises, 90 minutes of ol' foot-in-his-mouth against the GOP's architect of nothing might actually be entertaining.  I hope.