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1.) Crowley’s folly — Debate moderator Candy Crowley controversially inserted herself into Tuesday night’s debate to correct Mitt Romney on a technical point, even though Romney was right on the larger point. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports on the Obama’s administration’s history of calling the attack on America’s consulate in Benghazi an act of terrorism:
“Obama’s Sept. 12 statement did use the phrase ‘acts of terror.’ ‘Yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks,’ Obama’s said in the Rose Garden. ‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for,’ he said. But during the following two weeks, he and his deputies refused to describe the attack as a terror strike, and instead repeatedly described the attack as a spontaneous protest to a little-known video critical of Islam’s prophet, Mohammad. On Sept. 25, for example, Obama pitched this view during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly. ‘In every country, there are those who find different religious beliefs threatening… That is what we saw play out the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world,’ he declared.”
2.) War? What war? — Given the coverage of foreign policy in Tuesday night’s debate, you could be forgiven for forgetting that America actually plays a rather important role in the world. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“Despite the fact that America is engaged in its longest war in Afghanistan, the Middle East is embroiled in revolutionary turmoil and Iran appears to be rapidly advancing toward nuclear weapons capability, only one question was asked at Tuesday night’s presidential debate that focused on foreign policy. Unlike the first presidential debate, which was exclusively devoted to domestic policy, Tuesday’s town hall debate was supposed to feature a mix of ‘foreign and domestic issues.’ Yet, of the nearly dozen questions asked, the only question that mostly pertained to foreign policy was a question towards the end on Libya.”
3.) People schmeople — President Obama is apparently not much of a people person, reports TheDC’s Vince Coglianese:
“A former aide to President Barack Obama is rushing to apologize for her candid analysis of Obama’s interpersonal skills after The Drudge Report spotted and promoted those remarks to the site’s vast audience. ‘The truth is, Obama doesn’t call anyone, and he’s not close to almost anyone. It’s stunning that he’s in politics, because he really doesn’t like people,’ said Neera Tanden — now president of the powerful Center for American Progress — in an interview with New York Magazine. ‘My analogy is that it’s like becoming Bill Gates without liking computers.'”
In one sense, TheDC Morning can kind of understand the president. People often suck. But, then again, he’s the president. It’s kind of his job to be able to woo people to his side in order to get things accomplished. That’s a lot harder when you don’t like people. Which kind of explains why President Obama hasn’t be able to get very many things done recently.
4.) Caviar schemes — Senator Tom Coburn has once again documented some of America’s most useful governmental expenditures, reports TheDC’s Caroline May:
“The United States Department of Agriculture spent $300,000 to promote caviar this year, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn detailed Tuesday with the release of his ‘Wastebook 2012.’ ‘Perhaps nothing demonstrates just how out of touch Washington is more than the $300,000 USDA is spending to tell Americans to eat caviar, one of the world’s most expensive delicacies, at a time when millions of Americans are struggling just to put the basics on the family dinner table,’ Coburn writes in the introduction of the Wastebook, which outlines 100 examples of government waste, totaling more than $18 million. ‘It echoes back to the fabled proclamations of the callous royal who, when asked about the hungry and poor shortly before the French Revolution, replied ‘let them eat cake.’”
Actually, rereading that one gets the sense that Coburn may not think the U.S. government should be spending money on caviar, even if it is just promoting it. How quaint.
5.) Poll of the Day: Obama narrowly wins debate — CBS News instant poll of undecided voters on second presidential debate: President Obama 37%, Mitt Romney 30%, Tie 33%.
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — KimJongNumberUn: Presidential debates are so much more expensive and time-consuming than North Korea’s system of poisoning. #debate
VIDEO: CNN’s Candy Crowley says Mitt Romney “right in the main” on Libya