Hendrik Hertzberg on “The Ungreat Debate“:
By the end of the ninety minutes, Romney had retrofitted himself as the defender of Medicare, the advocate of Wall Street regulation, the scourge of the big banks, the enemy of tax cuts for the rich, and the champion of tax relief for the middle class. All these claims are spectacularly false; all went entirely, or mostly, unrefuted.
Also read: “Mitt Romney-The 767 Lyin’ King“
Introducing the new rating system is a project for my Advanced Typography class. It was quite challenging project. Although I had done twenty designs, I am satisfied with the final version. The flyer tells you a bit more about the thinking behind the rating system.
Hôm nay mưa da diết cả ngày. Thời tiếc thì trở lạnh nên rút trong nhà với hai đứa nhỏ. Ăn, chơi rồi ngủ và giặt hết một đống đồ. Cu Đạo bây giờ tự chơi một mình. Cu Đán cũng thế nhưng cậu Đán bóc được cái gì lạ là bỏ vào miệng thử nên không thể nào không để ý đến cậu. Và cũng khác với lại Cu Đạo, Cu Đán đưa cái gì cũng hả miệng ra ăn. Thấy ai ăn gì nó cũng muốn ăn. Nhờ hảo ăn nên tướng của ổng tròn trịa. Khổ cái là nó bị dị ứng tùm lum nên phải rất cẩn thận khi cho nó ăn. Còn cậu Đạo nhà ta thì nói no rồi khỏ cần ăn. Một ngày ổng nói không biết là bao nhiêu. Trừ khi cho no xem TV hay iPod thì nó mới không nói.
Dạo này ít có cơ hội xem TV hay NetFlix. Ngày mai và ngày mốt khỏi phải đi học nên tối nay khỏi làm homework. Hai thằng nhóc thì đi ngủ cả rồi. Còn lại một vài tiếng xem Diana Krall: Live in Rio cũng hay lắm. Đã lâu không có nghe Jazz.
Two days after the debate and I still am puzzling why Obama performed so bad. He was outstanding against John McCain four years ago even though he lacked the experience. With four years in the White House, I expected words just rolled off his tongue. He couldn’t have fumbled that bad against a flip flopper. Then it hit me. It has to be his strategic move to let his opponent have the first round. The next two debates, he’s going to make a comeback and to win both as well as the election.
I can’t wait to say, “I told you so.”
What Mr. Romney did in the debate, in other words, was, at best, to play a word game with voters, pretending to offer something substantive for the uninsured while actually offering nothing. For all practical purposes, he simply lied about what his policy proposals would do.
When the tape leaked, he was completely behind his comment on the 47%. Now he is completely wrong. I am actually not surprised.
The past month has been so crazy, that I haven’t noticed the changes with Dao. Last night I realized that he hasn’t hit or scratched people anymore. Even his teachers aren’t reporting about them. Whenever I asked them how was his day and the most responses were positive.
Maybe Dao is getting past that state or he is now able to communicate much better than before. He still expresses his anger by throwing tantrums or toys, which is still not acceptable but better. Nevertheless I am still very happy that he uses his words more than his hands.
The improvement I suspect is from one of his new teachers. She holds a degree in psychology and she has been working quite patiently with him. I still recall the first few weeks of school, his teacher asked me to cut his fingernails because he scratched her. He would take it out on her whenever his friends didn’t do what he wanted. He even called her “You’re the baby,” but she was able to turned it around by playing with him.
Most of the time I would ignore him, but one time I got annoyed. I told him, “Since I am a baby, can you take this key and drive me home? I am a baby so I can’t drive.” He responded, “I can’t drive. You can.” I went on, “But you said I am a baby.” Then he said, “No, you’re not a baby. Please drive us home.”
At this age, he’s starting to reason so I am very glad about it. I can say things to him and expect that he understands. Maybe he understood before too, but he just played dumb. I am very glad to see the turn around.
Virtually every time Mr. Romney spoke, he misrepresented the platform on which he and Paul Ryan are actually running. The most prominent example, taking up the first half-hour of the debate, was on taxes. Mr. Romney claimed, against considerable evidence, that he had no intention of cutting taxes on the rich or enacting a tax cut that would increase the deficit.
See also: At Last Night’s Debate: Romney Told 27 Myths In 38 Minutes
Obama was, as my son would say, “running out of puff.” Romney grilled him on the $90-billion green energy again and again, but he didn’t response, which made it sounded as if he was indeed fucked up. Was Obama too nice to bring up Romney’s tax, his association with Bain Capital on shipping jobs to China and his comment on the 47%? It was not a good night for Obama.
As for Romney, I thought I was watching De Niro playing politician. Unfortunately his emotion for the middle class was not as authentic as his disdain for the 47%. I reviewed last night debate as well as the 47% clip, I couldn’t believe the contrast between the two Romneys. On one clip, he cares for the middle class. On another clip, he doesn’t give a fuck about them. He backed away from his tax plan. He proposed cutting 20% of all marginal tax rates, which would cut $5 trillion in tax revenue. He suggested that he would cut fundings on programs like PBS to reduce reduce $1 trillion deficit.
Romney won the debate big time even with very little sincerity and substance.
Dao: Daddy, can we go to Bac Tram’s house?
Dad: No honey, I have class today.
Dao: No you don’t have class. It’s getting dark.
Dad: Yes, but I still have to go.
Then Dao saw pumpkin sale for Halloween.
Dao: Daddy, can we buy some pumpkins?
Dad: No honey, I am broke.
Dao: No, you’re not broke. You are fixed?
Dad: I am fixed?
Dao: Yes, I fixed you.
Dad: You fixed me?
Dao: Yes, I fixed you with a hammer.
Dad: You are so funny.
Dao: I am not funny. I am sad.
Dad: Why are you sad?
Dao: Because I am not happy.
Dad: Why are you not happy?
Dao: Because I want to go to Bac Tram’s house.
Dad: Ok, we’re going to Bac Tram’s house.
Dao: Now I am happy!
I just got punked by my own kid.
