On Libya, Mitt Took the High Road in Debate #3

Well, for those of us hoping for closure on the Libya cover-up, the third debate was very frustrating at first.  But considering all of the people who were turned off by the aggressiveness of the candidates in the second debate, Mitt performed very well last night.  It's only in hindsight that Mitt supporters were convinced that leaving the Libya cover-up alone was the right move.  After the second debate, the full extent of the Benghazi cover-up finally got lots of daylight in the press.  Most likely voters now know about it in detail and those who [somehow] give the President a pass for that cover-up were not going to be swayed by the third debate.  Imagine how much time Obama, Axelrod, and Cutter must have wasted at Camp David last weekend choreographing a response that threaded the needle on that issue.

That was clever of Mitt to mend some fences with the big chunk of folks that were disappointed with the tenor of the second debate.  I must be a little desensitized, because I wasn't that turned off by it; but I do get annoyed with the far right who constantly criticize Mitt for "not having fire in the belly!" and "not taking the gloves off!".  That was a big reason Mitt got so little support in the primary - he wasn't as fiery as Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich.  The people far from the center of both parties don't seem to understand that non-ideological people near the center are more interested in a cognitive decision-making process to prioritize the different issues when choosing a candidate.  This election would not be nearly as close if it were just about the economy or foreign policy and not all of the social issues.  The Democratic Party would have a lot fewer supporters today if so many people weren't driven to them because of political correctness on the social issues.  That's why I like the emergence of the Tea Party - they just focus on fiscal policy and adherence to the Constitution.  To hear people think that as a Republican, Mitt Romney is somehow against women's rights or prejudiced against minorities is so ridiculous.  The majority of Republicans are mostly fed up with Obama because of his reckless spending.  His budgets don't get a single Republican or Democrat vote in Congress!

I liked hearing about Mitt passing "the Martian Test" in yesterday's debate.  The picture below sums it up.  If a Martian had landed on Earth and watched the debate, who would he think was the incumbent and who would he think was the challenger?  Romney has Obama on defense big time.