Watching the three debates between President Obama and Mitt Romney made me feel trapped between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Gone with the Wind. While Obama insists on moving our country forward into the 21st century, Romney wants to take us back to the old days – when Negroes and Indians knew their “place” in society and grown men could screw as many little girls as they want and call it God’s righteousness. Romney’s campaign slogan could be called, ‘The Audacity of Retrohope.’
As you all know, I’m no fan of politicians, but I fully support Obama in his battle against the bigots and moneyed elite that comprise the Republican Party. Still, the last debate on Monday, the 22nd, provided some delectable oral treasures for the history books.
“I congratulate him on taking out Osama bin Laden and going after the leadership in Al Qaeda, but we can’t kill our way out of this mess.” – Romney
“Gov. Romney, I’m glad that you agreed that we have been successful in going after Al Qaeda, but I have to tell you that your strategy previously has been one that has been all over the map and is not designed to keep Americans safe or to build on the opportunities that exist in the Middle East.” – Obama
“Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East, and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq. And by the way, you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region. And by the way, they noticed that you skipped Israel.” – Romney
“When I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn’t take donors. I didn’t attend fundraisers. I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum there to remind myself of the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel would be unbreakable.” – Obama
“We don’t want another Iraq. We don’t want another Afghanistan. That’s not the right course for us.” – Romney
“You say that you’re not interested in duplicating what happened in Iraq, but just a few weeks ago you said you think we should have more troops in Iraq right now. You’ve said that first we should not have a timeline in Afghanistan then you said we should. Now you say maybe or depends, which means not only were you wrong, but you were also confusing and sending mixed messages both to our troops and our allies.” – Obama
“I have clear eyes on this. I’m not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or Mr. Putin and I’m certainly not going to say to him, ‘I’ll give you more flexibility after the election.’ After the election, he’ll get more backbone.” – Romney
“Gov. Romney, I’m glad that you recognize that Al Qaeda is a threat because a few months ago when you asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia – not Al Qaeda – you said Russia. The 1980s are now calling and asking for their foreign policy back.” – Obama
“I want a great relationship with China. China can be our partner, but that doesn’t mean that they can just roll all over us and steal are jobs on an unfair basis.” – Romney
“Well Gov. Romney is right, you are familiar with jobs being shipped overseas because you invested in companies that were shipping jobs overseas.” – Obama
“Our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now down to 285. We’re headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That’s unacceptable to me. I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy. Our Air Force is older and smaller than any time since it was found in 1947.” – Romney
“You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have ships going underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of battleship where we’re counting ships but what our capabilities are.” – Obama
“The president mentioned the auto industry and that somehow I would be favor of jobs being elsewhere. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry.” – Romney
“If we had taken your advice, Governor Romney, about our auto industry, we’d be buying cars from China instead of selling cars to China.” – Obama
“As I always do at the end of these debates, I leave you with the words of my mom, who said, ‘Go vote; it’ll make you feel big and strong.’” – Bob Schieffer, debate moderator.
Chief Writing Wolf 