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Today's Poll!Face to face: Obama, Romney in crackling debate
President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney exchange views Tuesday during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Photo by The Associated Press.
Originally published October 16, 2012 at 9:30 p.m., updated October 16, 2012 at 10:10 p.m.
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — An aggressive President Barack Obama accused challenger Mitt Romney of favoring a "one-point plan" to help the rich in America and playing politics with the recent deadly terrorist attack in Libya in a Tuesday night debate crackling with energy and emotion just three weeks before the election.
Romney pushed back hard, saying the middle class "has been crushed over the last four years," that 23 million Americans are struggling to find work and that the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya was part of an unraveling of the administration's foreign policy.
The president was feistier from the outset than he had been in their initial encounter two weeks ago, when he turned in a listless performance that sent shudders through his supporters and helped fuel a rise by Romney in opinion polls nationally and in some battleground states.
Obama and Romney disagreed, forcefully and repeatedly — about taxes, measures to reduce the deficit, energy, pay equity for women and health care as well as foreign policy across 90 minutes of a town-hall style debate.
Immigration prompted yet another clash, Romney saying Obama had failed to pursue the comprehensive legislation he promised at the dawn of his administration, and the president saying Republican obstinacy made a deal impossible.
Romney gave as good as he got.
"You'll get your chance in a moment. I'm still speaking," the former Massachusetts governor said at one point while Obama was mid-sentence, drawing a gasp from the audience. He said the president's policies had failed to jumpstart the economy and had cramped energy production.
The open-stage format left the two men free to stroll freely across a red-carpeted stage, and they did. Their clashes crackled with energy and tension, and the crowd watched raptly as the two sparred while struggling to appear calm and affable before a national television audience.
While most of the debate was focused on policy differences, there was one more-personal moment, when Obama said Romney had investments in China.
"Mr. President, have you looked at your pension?" Romney interrupted.
"You know, I don't look at my pension. It's not as big as yours," shot back Obama to his wealthier rival.
Under the format agreed to in advance, members of an audience of 82 uncommitted voters posed questions to the president and his challenger.
Nearly all of them concerned domestic policy until one raised the subject of the recent death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in a terrorist attack at an American post in Benghazi. Romney said it took Obama a long time to admit the episode had been a terrorist attack, but Obama said he had said so the day after in an appearance in the Rose Garden outside the White House.
When moderator Candy Crowley of CNN said the president had in fact done so, Obama, prompted, "Say that a little louder, Candy."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has taken responsibility for the death of Ambassador L. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, but Obama said bluntly, "I'm the president, and I'm always responsible."
Romney said it was "troubling" that Obama continued with a campaign event in Las Vegas on the day after the attack in Libya, an event the Republican said had "symbolic significance and perhaps even material significance."
Obama seemed to bristle. He said it was offensive for anyone to allege that he or anyone in his administration had used the incident for political purposes. "That's not what I do."
One intense exchange focused on competing claims about whether energy production is increasing or slowing. Obama accused Romney of misrepresenting what has happened — a theme he returned to time and again. Romney strode across the stage to confront Obama face to face, just feet from the audience.
Both men pledged a better economic future to a young man who asked the first question, a member of a pre-selected audience of 82 uncommitted voters.
Then the president's determination to show a more aggressive side became evident.
Rebutting his rival's claim to a five-point plan to create 12 million jobs, Obama said, "Gov. Romney says he's got a five-point plan. Gov. Romney doesn't have a five-point plan. He has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules."
"That's been his philosophy in the private sector," Obama said of his rival. "That's been his philosophy as governor. That's been his philosophy as a presidential candidate. You can make a lot of money and pay lower tax rates than somebody who makes a lot less."
"You can ship jobs overseas and get tax breaks for it. You can invest in a country, bankrupt it, lay off the workers, strip away their pensions and you still make money. That's exactly the philosophy that we've seen in place for the last decade," the president said in a scorching summation.
Unable to respond at length because of the debate's rules, Romney said the accusations were "way off the mark."
But moments later, he reminded the national television audience of the nation's painfully slow recovery from the worst recession in decades.
There are "23 million people struggling to find a job. ... The president's policies have been exercised over the last four years and they haven't put America back to work," he said. "We have fewer people working today than when he took office."
Economic growth has been slow throughout Obama's term in office, and unemployment only recently dipped below 8 percent for the first time since he moved into the White House. Romney noted that if out-of-work Americans who no longer look for jobs were counted, the unemployment rate would be 10.7 percent.
Both men had rehearsed extensively for the encounter, a turnabout for Obama.
"I had a bad night," the president conceded, days after he and Romney shared a stage for the first time, in Denver. His aides made it known he didn't intend to be as deferential to his challenger this time, and the presidential party decamped for a resort in Williamsburg, Va., for rehearsals that consumed the better part of three days.
Romney rehearsed in Massachusetts and again after arriving on Long Island on debate day, with less to make up for.
Asked Tuesday night by one member of the audience how he would differ from former President George W. Bush, the last Republican to hold the office, Romney said, "We are different people and these are different times."
He said he would attempt to balance the budget, something Bush was unsuccessful in doing, get tougher on China and work more aggressively to expand trade.
Obama jumped in with his own predictions — not nearly as favorable to the man a few feet away on stage. He said the former president didn't attempt to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood or turn Medicare into a voucher system.
Though the questions were from undecided voters inside the hall — in a deeply Democratic state — the audience that mattered most watched on television and was counted in the tens of millions. Crucially important: viewers in the nine battlegrounds where the race is likely to be settled.
The final debate, next Monday in Florida, will be devoted to foreign policy.
Opinion polls made the race a close one, with Obama leading in some national surveys and Romney in others. Despite the Republican's clear gains in surveys in recent days, the president led in several polls of Wisconsin and Ohio, two key Midwestern battlegrounds where Romney and running mate Paul Ryan are campaigning heavily.
Barring a last-minute shift in the campaign, Obama is on course to win states and the District of Columbia that account for 237 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. The same is true for Romney in states with 191 electoral votes.
The remaining 110 electoral votes are divided among the hotly contested battleground states of Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13) New Hampshire (4), Iowa (6), Colorado (9), Nevada (6), Ohio (18) and Wisconsin (10).
Obama has campaigned in the past several days by accusing Romney of running away from some of the conservative positions he took for tax cuts and against abortion earlier in the year when he was trying to win the Republican nomination.
"Maybe you're wondering what to believe about Mitt Romney," says one ad, designed to remind voters of the Republican's strong opposition to abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at stake.
Romney countered by stressing both in person and through his television advertising the slow pace of the economic recovery, which has left growth sluggish and unemployment high throughout Obama's term. Joblessness recently declined to 7.8 percent, dropping below 8 percent for the first time since the president took office.
Associated Press writers Julie Pace in New York, Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Matthew Lee in Lima, Peru, contributed to this story. Espo reported from Washington.
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Comments
Sequoia 7 months ago
Game, set, match Obama. Total domination. Just brutal.
Romney was looking for the exits by the end.
connor 7 months ago
HAHAHAHA Obama Got PWNED!!! No Contest even with a Liberal Moderator. Romney Schooled Obama. My favorite was "Have you looked at your pension Mr. President?" But almost as good was the deer in the headlights look Obummer gave on the Video rebuke.
Romney 2 Obama 0 Going into the 4th Quarter.
By the end Obama was even back to babbling about hiring more teachers just like the last debate in an attempt to avoid the Fast and Furious story.
And right from Obama's mouth he is going to attempt an assault weapons ban. Which will mean all semi-auto rifles. Fact he said it so remember that Guys.
eileen10 7 months ago
Call me stupid but I don't know what pwned means.
connor 7 months ago
It's slang for OWNED. Kinda an internet gamers thing. You can tell I have a teenage son :)
GwenFrost 7 months ago
Look this is not about Obama, it's about us, yes assualt rifles need to get looked at. That does not mean we do not have the right to bear arms. Let's not get it twisted. The concern was about the many incidents of innocents getting killed by people who committed crimes like in Aurora. This is not a game and it's not who is the blame, it's time to do things better for all of us no matter who the President is. I will respect the office of the Presidency of these United States whoever wins and I will continue to do the right thing to help make life better for the benefit of all of us!!!! How about concentrating on positive things, we could go bury our head in the sand and say life will never get better but that is just not true!!!!
connor 7 months ago
Positive things like the smear campaign Obama has run only to be shown as the hypocrite he and his followers are?
Let me tell you something Gwen. The second Amendment isn't about just bearing arms it is about defense of the people by the people. As far as I am concerned banning even fully automatic weapons is against the Constitution and a violation of our rights. Yes even yours. Mexico has a ban on gun ownership and it sure doesn't stop any gun violence down there, except for those times when they just cut off some heads to save a few rounds of ammo. And don't even attempt to imply they get their weapons from us most of the armaments those criminals use down there are fully automatic so they were not purchased here.
It's a little late for liberal democrats to be demanding positive things and respect. Their hateful, spiteful, spitting and screaming, get in your face, victim politics has created the backlash you see. People like me who are not afraid to call it as we see it and don't care if you call us hateful, rude, racist names or whatever. People like you created people like me.
I am done burying my head in the sand.
TrueStory 7 months ago
You know I have never seen a gun fire its self. But I would like to have one to defend myself. Most of those people in the mass attacks needed mental health care. They do nothing to help these people. Obama care does not care. Lets take care of those people and stop accusing an object like a gun. It is metal and has no feelings. Lets get medical care to actually take care of people instead of lining the pockets of the insurance guys. Obama is doing nothing to make sure we actually will have a medical system. Small hospitals will go under and those of us in rural america will have to drive to the nearest city to get care, if there are any doctors left that want to live with 200,000. in school loans and make 80 grand a year. Most doctors are trying to retire right now. Good luck at getting better mental health care.
connor 7 months ago
That is one of the best points I have seen made about Obama-care TrueStory. I have to give myself a foreheadpalm for not seeing it before. Obama-care will force smaller hospitals to close and that works perfectly in with the liberals plan of forcing all resources to be pulled back into the cities.
TrueStory 7 months ago
Well I have another one. Obamacare for the first time in history is going to tax medical services. They will be taxing syringes to knee replacement parts to surgical blades. Yep the prices are going up for medical care again, to support the government!
eileen10 7 months ago
I am a dork. I was waiting for the debate to come on earlier and I fell asleep!! Will have to watch a rerun but what you said about the gun thing connor, I don't agree with Obama on that. I like most of what he has to say but not that. I don't own a gun but I know how to use it and when I can afford it I'll get one. Nothing big. If I used a shot gun I'd fly on the floor but maybe a hand held something or other. Don't know all the different kinds but I'll know what I want when I see it. The kind the cowboys used. I can see the dems feel Obama won and the rep feel Romney won. I don't know cuz I didn't watch it. Besides I have a headache and I sure don't need a worse one so I'm keeping silent on this even when I watch a rerun. I'm not in your league anyway so I prefer to read what everyone is going to say.
connor 7 months ago
Eileen you could use a smaller gauge shotgun. I have seen some home defense shotguns all the way down to .410 which is the smallest and they don't kick at all really and for home defense can still pack a good punch.
The thing is violence is violence. Limiting firearms is not going to limit violence any one bit and its going to make honest citizens that much more of a target. They can cite the random mass shootings, and they are horrible, but any lunatic bent on doing that kind of damage can easily find other ways. Think what a single quart canning jar of gasoline would have done in that theater out in Colorado?
I am willing to give most gun control advocates the benefit of the doubt that they really just feel the world would be better off if no one owned guns and there is no sinister motive behind it. BUT I am not willing to take that risk with any politician. Every tyrant through out history has always moved for the banning of personal weapon ownership by the people.
You are right about who sees whom as winning. I feel Romney won hands down but Obama did better than he did last time. Of course even Sequoia could do better than Obama did last time. Obama absolutely needed a win which I and others do not feel he got but his supporters are going to say he did because to say otherwise right now would pretty much mean the election and campaign process is over.
eileen10 7 months ago
Thanks for the info about the .410 shot gun. Sounds like what I need. Hopefully I'll never have to use it but one can never tell. That's all I'm going to say because the fight is already on and I prefer to stay out of it.Just call me a cluck cluck.
online_editor 7 months ago
For those who need to watch or rewatch it, I've embedded the video archive of the complete debate above the story text.
eileen10 7 months ago
Thank you.
RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago
Conner, I caught that as well from Romney pwned, it is ashame he has to look at everything through his RICH eyes, but in a just under 3 weeks we won't have to listen to Romney no more! He is a FLIP, FLOP, FLIP, FLOP, and he will say anything to get elected! VOTE OBAMA IN 2012 ROB
wyriontair 7 months ago
I find it fascinating that the focus seems to be on guns. Sorry RobHunterJohnson, the only thing Obama did was show himself to be just as rude as Biden. The moderator was horrible, she let the president ramble his talking-points then lied about the speech in the rose garden. If you actually watched the speech he DID NOT call what happened in Libya a "terrorist attack", if you watched the hearings last week on Capitol hill the State Department was sticking to it's intial statement even though State Department officials admitted it was a well planned attack. The main theme through both presidential debates is this: Romney believes in the Constitution, Obama believes Government is the answer to everything and should tell us all what to do. Gas, food, health care and other items we use every day have risen exponentially, yet the president wants to continue the same policies. It's time for a change and I truly hope people actually research before the vote.
newone 7 months ago
Here is what Obama said. "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. ... We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act."
RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago
Conner just remember Ronald Reagan on May 19, 1986 signed into law the MACHINE GUN BAN. It fell on his watch, and he dropped the ball. I heard Obama land on assault weapons, and no that does not mean all semi automatic weapons! I do not think they could ever get anything to pass! We will always have kooks out there, they need to prosecute them to fullest! Romney again the flip flopper, on assault weapons 7/2004 "Instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people." as he signed the bill into law in MA? He is a yes man, MA needs a good health care, MA needs an ASSAULT BAN, Romeny needs the endorsement from the NRA, FLIP, Romeny needs the Republican Tea Partiers over OBAMA CARE, FLOP. Were does this guy stand on anything? I am a gun owner, I believe in the 2nd amendement, I believe in the right to safe passage, and CCW RIGHT. If it was about Guns, and Babies only it would be a no brainer, but there is so much more to this election. VOTE OBAMA 2012
connor 7 months ago
Sorry Rob but you are wrong. In both cases the bans you mention were already in place. The machine gun ban was placed in 1934 and the Mass. act had been in place before Romney took office.
In Romney's case both sides agreed to continue the ban but other restrictions were removed which made gun ownership easier. The legislation you are speaking of was actually a win for the gun ownership people.
I do not believe any weapons ban of firearms is Constitutional but I will not fault Romney for signing a bill that fights back against it even though it didn't go far enough.
Judging from what I am seeing this morning Obama just lost himself the election. I was about 70% certain Romney was going to win anyway but there were still alot of people who were not going to vote due to apathy or dislike of the limp Conservative past Romney is painted with. That is no longer true. Mentioning gun control and an assault weapons ban got them all motivated. He is going down I think now for sure.
RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago
He called it a TERROR ATTACK? RYAN you hear what you want to hear. Rob
RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago
wyriontair , go to the NT fact check. I hate to tell you ,but DID SO! As I said you hear what you want to hear Rob
os2hank 7 months ago
Rob, I feel sorry for you.
RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago
Do not feel sorry for me, because I just try to point out the rights problems! I will continue until this election cycle is over. I need good Health Care, I need to be assured that MediCare, Social Security will be molestead as I and many others go into retirement! I should be a republican, but they walked away with the NO NEW TAXES GUY BACK IN 90s, I needed Health Care Insurance then, and it was not there? $ 2000.00 a quarter Blue Cross Blue Shield quote was not acceptable then, or now. If you are on Medicare right now, and you have a supplemental plan to go with MC at $ 450.00 a month is close? If you choose not to have supplemental? That is your choice! If you go with the R/R plan which is what we have been stuck with since Bush 1 you will have more of the same? This Obama care may not be perfect but it is alot better start than any the Republicans have ever offererd. They have never offererd anything? Those medical bills can be paid with Visa, American Express, or MC? No one can continue to charge it for very long? os2 you are the FOOL if you think that Romney is going to make it better for anyone but the RICH! I have tried to be prepared for what ever , and all I see is that I am Insurance poor these days, and I still have 5 or so years to go to retiring! I just love to walk blindly into a Romney/RYAN mess. Vote Obama 2012 Rob
TrueStory 7 months ago
So Obama gives you the ability to have care, maybe, but forces you to pay the price of insurance, still going up, to have LESS actual care. They still will stop you from getting taken care of, and you think it will get less expensive, HA HA HA. The prices have not changed. But because your DR., Hopstial, and Pharm. are not getting paid they are going out of business and leaving medicine as fast as they can. There will be NO healthcare.
Littleinvestor 7 months ago
Rob, good supplemental insurance is available to those on Medicare for about $3,500 annually, which is a lot, but that is not $450 a month. The one I am familiar with pays everything and there is no deductible. I'm sure you can get a plan with a deductible for less. Shop around. United Healthcare, which is a great company and really does serve its clients well (I have it as my catastrophic carrier on an HSA plan) is partnered with AARP to offer a nationwide plan as long as you are an AARP member. It's probably pretty good, but there are lots of others.
os2hank 7 months ago
See that the differents between us I have been retired for 4 years, I have prepared for it and did they thing I needed to secure my retirement. But I believe Obama will cripple the country, and turn it into a shadow of what it is, so I hope Romney will do better, if not we replace him with someone else, and keep doing that till we get it right.
RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago
I cut the check on my moms supplemental insurance, $447. We shop every year this is the plan, my mom, and I decided best for her needs! I am not retired, I have been preparing as well, I too have my money in several diverse locations, Im not making nothing? The stock market seems to be the best to date, mutual funds are stuck, and interest at the bank is a joke. I have tried to be responcible Cancer policy, life, Health through work, or self pay when I am laid off. I have a pension won't be alot but something to add to SS, savings, an a home, and I have a plan for my health insurance when I retire. I can call it quits any time, but it is way to early to be retired. (56) I have paid in over $300,000. in SS and Medicare, I expect them to be there unMolested. Romney/Ryan have big plans-- it is the same old republican stuff that has been spewed for years, the last one to even talk sensable about SS was Ashcroft, and I still did not like him, but he had a plan. Nothing Romney says adds up, and he switches position constantly. President Obama will not cripple your country, Romney will, heaven forbid the likes of Ryan, or Rand Paul getting to such an elevated position such as PRESIDENT? Romney likes the ideas of on your parents until 26, Insurers can't kick you off, how is he going to implement this? He does not say? He does say he will get rid of Obama Care though? Got a new plan for immmigrants, 47% did not count, how about a do over? The list goes on, and on! Read between the lines, Fox, (Rupert Murdoch was Nixon gurue, he kept refering to we got get the GOPs messge out so look where hes at 40 years later) and CNN have agendas. The rich have agendas, and the middle class is who gets hurt all the time. It is out there look for it, Rand Pauls 2013 budget, Ryans Vocher plan, go read this stuff. The way I look at it Romney gets there makes all the cuts, then it is well folks cant pay for all this, so more taxes on the middle class, or more cuts to programs, Whats a laid off guy to do if they take Big Bird away? Rob
wow 7 months ago
Rob...well Rob I a Ret Vet, pay my own way, work 40hrs a week and volunteer in the community. Guess what. I voted and will vote Obama. I also saw a debate last night and saw Romney get HAW! Ya see the President didn't let him get away with that bull in the china shop stuff, Presdent Obama stood up to this Corporate Bully and WHNAG. Thing is like most Bullies, no truth telling Romney needs to get his but kicked a few more times and the Presdent is the man that is gonna do it!
Now you can poo whoo all ya want, but Romney has lied and been caught at it. Romney is trying to fault the President for the deaths in Bangazi. Romney is calling for America to start shooting in Libya and other places. Yet Romeny nor any of his sons have ever picked up a rifle to defend these lands. None of the Romnyies haver stood up and supported the Lilly Ledbetter act! Non of Romnies nor Ryan's have ever greeted the flag drapped coffins, yet they are all so quick to send oyher people to do the fighting! The Republican ticket makes me sick!
According to Romney women don't equal treatment, they need a flexible work schedule so that they can get home to cook dinner for the family. Not one person from Romeny's past has come out champion just how great Romeny says he has treated people at Bain or the other corporations he ruined. Who from that "BInder of Qualified Women" will say theat Romney cares about womens issues? Romney don't care about anyone except those in his social economic class and he even places those few people in the proper order of presidence. Romeny is joke and HAWS!!!!!
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