Mitt Romney disputes that his tax cuts will cost the government $5 trillion in revenue — the number independent tax experts have calculated — but he doesn’t say what he thinks the actual number is. Ask his campaign, and they won’t say either. What does that tell you?
Obama: “Thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird. It is about time.”
Romney surrogate Jon Sununu just said the problem for Obama last night was that Obama is simply too “lazy” to do debate prep. Doesn’t like to work.
Andrea Mitchell didn’t seem to like it.
Video after the jump … Read More
Obama camp tells reporters they’ve got their post debate plan: Hammer Romney’s lies and evasions in the debate.
Obama, in his first public appearance since the debate: “When I got on to the stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney.”
Axelrod on Obama’s debate performance: “We have to strike a balance. You can’t allow someone to stand there and basically manhandle the truth about their own record and ideas … and not deal with that. So I’m sure that is a takeaway from this debate.”
This is the whole deal. Romney lied through his teeth about his tax policy, which would give huge cuts to high income earners and big increases for most middle class families. He just said it wasn’t so. But it is so. It’s just math. Big tax increases on almost everybody except the wealthiest folks.
He also straight up lied about pre-existing conditions. His top advisor admitted his plan doesn’t cover those people just a few minutes after the debate.
The political question is: Can the Obama team put that reality and Romney’s lying back in the center of the debate. The next few days will tell us.
The critics weigh in on Jim Lehrer’s anemic performance as moderator.
TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro bravely entered the spin room in Denver after the debate … and emerged with actual news.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina last night in Denver on why Obama never mentioned the 47 percent: “It just didn’t come up in the debate. It wasn’t a deliberate decision.”