I didn't watch last night's foreign policy debate. But, from the reviews I've read, it sounds like I didn't need to.

Me, two weeks ago:

On a boring note, the foreign policy section of the VP debate suggests that the foreign policy debate between Obama and Romney is going to amount to the moderator saying “So, you two basically agree on everything?” And Romney saying “Yes, but I’m going to do all that while waving my fists in the air, and shouting ‘America, Heck Yeah!’ “

Some other people, last night:

But it was more striking as a matter of substance that on virtually no issue did Romney make an actual criticism, of any sort, of Obama's policy or record. Including topics where he used to disagree, like the timeline for withdrawal for Afghanistan! Instead it was, "I agree, but you could have done it better."

And:

Again, I'm not a foreign policy expert, but isn't Romney just saying he'll continue Obama's policies in a more leadery way?
— Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald)

And:

It felt to me like Mitt Romney struggled a lot tonight. His problem was simple: he wanted to draw a clear distinction with Obama on foreign policy, but he just couldn't because he didn't want to seem overly bellicose. As a result, he opened up very few serious, substantive areas of disagreement.
...
Romney sounded like a cheerleader for the White House in this exchange. He didn't even hint that Obama had mismanaged anything or done anything wrong.
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On Syria, Romney basically approved of Obama's policies. On Libya, ditto, and he didn't even try to do any political point scoring over Benghazi. (Either Candy Crowley scared him off or else he reads this blog.) He didn't really have a different policy to offer on Egypt. Or Pakistan. Or drones. Or even Iran, though he tried.

So, score one for me.

In a June 6, 2012 conference call posted on the anti-union National Federation of Independent Business’s website, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instructed employers to tell their employees how to vote in the upcoming election.

This kind of shit should be enough to turn off every single one of those ostensibly fiercely independent "conservatives" who support him. But, no...

Obama was much better last night. What a relief. Romney was wearing his Mild Mannered Moderate Mitt outfit again, but Obama pulled on enough loose threads that, by the time I quit watching, the real Romney was fairly well exposed.

Now, time to work on those poll numbers, O.

From the Mansplaining Ryan tumblr.

Now there's a guy who loves his job. And I loved watching him smack-around that little twerp, Paul Ryan. Maybe he could give Obama a couple of pointers on debating? Please?

On a boring note, the foreign policy section of the VP debate suggests that the foreign policy debate between Obama and Romney is going to amount to the moderator saying "So, you two basically agree on everything?" And Romney saying "Yes, but I'm going to do all that while waving my fists in the air, and shouting 'America, Heck Yeah!' "

He's too busy to do his own flip-flopping, so he has his aides do it for him:

Mitt Romney said Tuesday he has no plans to push for legislation limiting abortion, a softer stance from a candidate who has said he would "get rid of" funding for Planned Parenthood and appoint Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

“There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda,” the Republican presidential nominee told The Des Moines Register in an interview.

The Romney campaign walked back the remark within two hours of the Register posting its story. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul told the National Review Online's Katrina Trinko that Romney "would of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life."

And...

After the first presidential debate at the University of Denver in Colorado on Wednesday night, one of Mitt Romney’s top advisers acknowledged that, as a result Romney’s plan to repeal Obamacare, people with pre-existing medical conditions would likely be unable to purchase insurance.

The admission directly contradicts the GOP candidate’s claim during the debate that “pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan” — a contention Romney has repeated on the trail and that his campaign has repeatedly walked back.

“With respect to pre-existing conditions, what Governor Romney has said is for those with continuous coverage, he would continue to make sure that they receive their coverage,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, referring to existing laws which require insurance companies to sell coverage to people who already have insurance, or within 90 days of losing their employer coverage.

I don't know what people see in him, because I don't see anything there - except his own personal ambition. It's a scary sight.

Today I became politically active: I blocked Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS's phone numbers from calling our house.

Take that, snake.

Obama got completely flattened by Romney's hyper-confident high-pressure bullshit. And he didn't help himself a bit by staring at his own hands whenever Romney was babbling.

Could Jim Lehrer have been more ineffectual as a moderator? I think not.

Romney by a mile - at least on optics.

Alas.

Romney, fresh off getting beaten down for jumping ass-first into the Libya crisis, too eager to deliver his "Obama is apologizing" zinger to figure out if it even made sense in that context, is learning some more punchlines to setups he hasn't heard yet.

Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August. His strategy includes luring the president into appearing smug or evasive about his responsibility for the economy.

"...and so then I say "Obama? More like 'No-Job-Ya'! Am I right folks, or am I right?" "

Is everyone on that campaign a robotic douchebag? Besides being funny, aren't zingers supposed to be spontaneous?

What would be the most awesome awesomeness in the history of awesome is if Obama brings a little drum set to the debates so he can do rimshots when Romney delivers his prepared and practiced zingers.

Or, if that's too unwieldy, maybe just bring a big red button that plays a canned rimshot sound?

When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.

Hmm. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Crack the window, get a little fresh air? Gotta be better than breathing the vapors coming off whatever's fermenting in the guy next to you's stomach.

Here's the little TV thing in my seat on our trip to Japan, a few years back:

Nikon D100, 18-35mm
(repost)

I wonder what a 556 mph wind feels like, when the ambient temperature is -49F ? Refreshing ?