Romney.

Omg romney obama looked like he got off at the wrong bus stop

Romney won that debate HUGE !!! If it had been a boxing match, it would have been called early. Romney was very impressive, great knowledge of the issues, very Presidential.

Romney won the debate by a landslide. And if he keeps it up, the big Red wave will wash over the White House in a few short weeks. All stations are reporting a win for Romney, it was a dismal performance by the man who has added the most to out National Debt ever.It was almost as if he didn't even prepare for it!

Romney

Romney- by a mile and more.

Romney. Obama looked like Mike Tyson on the canvas, dazed & looking for his mouth guard, after Buster Douglas knocked him out in Tokyo.

Romney was an obvious winner. I have to chuckle that Chris Matthews is peeing in his pants and getting a trickle down his legs instead of a tingle up his legs! Also, I can't help but think that Romney was an extremely good student (after all, he did graduate with honors for both law and business degrees at Harvard) and is able to apply knowledge to attain success; while Obama appeared to reveal that he was goofing off in college (he has written that he did "blow" and pot) and it shows!

My vote goes to Mitt Romney. He seemed to have a good grasp of the issues, and defend his position with facts on each one. Obama was not quite as forthcoming with details and defending his record on the economy seemed lackluster. I will be doing some fact checking on both the candidates, but Romney won this debate. There are two more debates to watch as well as one vice presidential one, I hope that those voters that have not made up their minds, use these debates to make up their minds. There seems to be too much bias in the current media and the political commercials should not be used to help anyone make up his/her mind.

If this was High School Debate Club, then Gov. Romney wins for style and presentation as he did a great job making his positions clear and much more moderate sounding than he has on the campaign trail. But, this isn't Debate Club so "winning" on style doesn't change the fact that I don't support Romney's platform and believe his policies would hurt a lot of Americans worse than they are already. Wish I could support his approach to taxes but we don't value the same things and he'll cut programs and funding I believe in.

As I see it, President Obama turned in a very listless debate performance. Romney was far more animated and by any objective measure should be considered the winner of the debate. However, the Romney crowd shouldn't be making plans for the innaugural ball just yet. Reagan and W both turned in duds in their first re-election debates, but ended up winning in November. More importantly, Romney is running on his and the Republican agenda. Among other things this includes the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction. Romney wasn't pressed on this, but Mr. Bielat conceded the other night that this was part of the Republican plan. (he must not have gotten the message not to let that cat out of the bag). Why would the Republicans want to eliminate this deduction you ask? To offset things like the elimination of the estate tax for one. Voter beware.

It was clear to me that Romney was the man with a plan and that Obama was using the ‘we don’t have a plan, but we don’t like yours’ strategy.

I can’t wait for the Ryan v. Biden debate.

Romney, to my dismay. Mr. Obama was not on his game at all. Hope he comes out swinging at the next one or we're in trouble.

Romney won by far, I'm not surprised at all. The main stream media has painted Romney as such a joke, that they believed their own lies. Obama looked aggrevated and distant or worried. Perhaps all the things coming out of Libya are weighing heavy on his mind...

Romney had complete control of the facts and looks like he can think on his feet without someone else whispering in his ear and telling him what to say. Obama looked like he just wanted to go over to Mitt and give him a severe Wedgie!! That might have been the ONLY effective thing he would have done all night!

I couldn't tell. There didn't seem to be one issue that really drew a line in the sand between them. Since this was a domestic policy debate, I would have liked to seen the moderator bring up the legality of sparklers, as it would have created a clear contrast between the candidates.

Massachusetts was the big winner last night as our healthcare plan was held up as the shining example of how a healthcare program should look like and that our schools were #1 in the country. Jim Lehrer was the big loser as he lost control about 2 MINUTES from the start of it and never regained control.

Mitt Romney WON this debate hands down!

Romney looked good last night. Did he suddenly become more moderate? He championed the Massachusetts Health Care law that he has been running against. He championed Massachusetts schools as best in the nation -- after he cut the state budget that impacted public education. When he cut local aid to cities and towns, they raised your property taxes.

And the Red Sox were predicted, by some, to win a 100 games this year.

I didn't expect Obama to knockout Romney during the debate but I did expect at least a tie.
But is there an larger strategy at work here? The next debate is Biden/Ryan.
If Biden shines the light in the right places, if the moderator asks specific questions about R/R's budget plans, Ryan's answers could scare the bejesus out of folks.
Was Obama playing the spider to Romney's fly?

Here are some troubling things for Obama and his supporters:

1. He's now depending on Biden to not look like a fool in his VP debate.
2. the 3rd debate is foreign policy. the only "win" Obama has is OBL. Romney can just as easily point out Obama's hypocrisy in blaming the economy on Bush, but not giving him credit for OBL. Not to mention the one easy word to make Obama stop puffing his chest out: "Libya".

Let's face it, Obama needs a win in debate #2. His chance to hammer Romney on the "47%" comment has come and gone.

You know, Chris, it all rolls down hill.
Reduce the state budget by cutting aid to cities & towns and property taxes go up or cops and firefighters get laid off.
Reduce the federal budget by moving programs to the state level, state income taxes go up and/or the state cuts aid to cities and towns and property taxes go up or cops and firefighters get laid off.
And if UglyHat is correct and MA can't afford it's healthcare program...

It's you and me who are standing at the bottom of the hill to catch what rolls down.

One of Romney's things that I don't get is his $2 trillion for defense that the Pentagon hasn't asked for. What is he going to do -- build battleships? It appears that future wars may well be fought more with drones and internet attacks than with manned aircraft, large naval vessels or even boots on the ground. (And I've heard the old military saw about 'you haven't won the war until you have boots on the ground." The problem with that, is that it is 'old'). So what is he going to do with $2 trillion more for defense?

That the government would be creating jobs to build war machines isn't my point. The question is why is Romney asking for $2 trillion in defense spending if the Pentagon is not asking for it?

It is a false choice to say "standing up a new government department to "oversee ____fill in the cause du jour" OR build war machines. Consultants are probably 'middle class', too.

I have no doubt that Romney can put people to work building/flying/maintaining war stuff. What is he going to be using that $2 trillion for if the Pentagon hasn't yet imagined a use for it? That is my question.

I am a woman for Romney and sick of all the other women whining that Romney will turn the clock back on womens' right. Seriously???? I would like to know what they are afraid of except a lower national debt for their children, lower taxes and a job?

Romney won and overpaid public employees should get the boot!!!! I am not saying those on the front line but the overpaid chiefs/school administrators/etc... save that money and hire two or three more additional public employees or invest it in infrastructure....Wake up America!!

Chris appears to mean he doen't know what Romney plans to do with the $2 trillion in defense spending that the Pentagon hasn't asked for. Romney also hasn't said where the $2 trillion will come from.

All of which goes to say you know what Romney plans to do with the $2 trillion in defense spending that the Pentagon hasn't asked for.

You get the last word.

Dennis. You appear to know. So when you give us your assessment, could you tell us where the $4Trillion deficit reduction Obama promised went? Its been since January 2009 and Barry hasn't made it happen. Mitt's Pentagon number was from only last night.....

If Mitt Romney can keep the dialogue strictly focussed on Obama's record over the past four years, then we will have a new President in January. If Mitt Romney gets sidetracked and led down a path to talk about peripheral issues like abortion, or the Green House Effect then Obama will be let off the hook. The key to winning the debates is to focus on the the truth about President Obama's record on Foreign Policy, the Ecomony, the War in Afghanistan, the Deficit, Illegal Aliens, and the National Debt. If President Obama is put in a position to defend his record he will get crushed by Mitt Romney! I did not think Mitt Romney had a prayer in this election, but after last night no one can deny he was in his element and looked quite Presidential!

I was sickened while listening to Romney saying how much he cares about the elderly. I contacted his office when he was Governor of Massachusetts regarding the abuse of my elderly mother, Peggy Revene, who had MS and alzheimer's. My mother was a victim of elder abuse. Because one of the family members involved with the abuse was a snitch for the Westboro Police Department and according to former PD Chief, Glenn Parker, the abuser was also a snitch for the MA State Police.

I NEVER heard back from romney.

Two years ago this month, I went to an MS function, to speak to ann romney. She just announced that she had breast cancer as well as her well publicized MS. I was handed a microphone and the whole presentation was being recorded. ann was gracious and sympathetic when I told her my mother was also a breast cancer survivor and had MS and alzheimer's and was a victim of elder abuse. I asked for her help (didn't mention anything about the former gov) and she volunteered that "they" still had friends in high places in MA. She asked that I provide my contact info to the event coordinator, which I did. I called several times without getting a response and was finally told that mrs. romney doesn't deal with the public. We are the public. maureen.revene@hotmail.com

Romney lost the debate when he promised to fire Big Bird and defund PBS!

Silly postings. It's not enough for a candidate to 'look' presidential and to speak coherently. This election is about the extremists running the Republican agenda. They would become heads of agencies and judges in the courts. Look at the make-up of Romney's advisory boards! They would be put in charge of policy, the national budget, changes to the tax code, welfare, war, CIA, welfare, reproductive rights, etc.

I am not sure what some were watching. Headline.........Romney crushes Obama. . ..now smile

In response to Rachel's comment above about using the $2 trillion for infrastructure -- I don't know.

I wonder, if the Pentagon is not asking for the additional $2 trillion, who is asking for it?
Is it a campaign ploy to attract the military/veteran vote? Is it a campaign ploy to say "I'll be tough on defense"? Is the pressure on Romney to say this coming from the defense industry? Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and many other defense contractors have a great deal of influence.
I hope someone comes up with an answer. We have been working on reducing the number of nuclear warheads in the world for decades now.

Hopefully at 8:30 this morning, the final nail will be driven into this Democratic Party takeover of the White House. The following is taken directly from YAHOO which predicts unemployment will rise..
— More than 5 million people have been out of work for six months or more, up from 2.7 million when Obama took office. Before 2009, in records dating to 1948, the number of long-term unemployed had never reached 3 million. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called long-term unemployment a "national crisis" that is causing millions to lose job skills.
— Pay for private-sector employees, when adjusted for inflation, has dropped 1.6 percent since Obama took office. In a weak job market, employers have little reason to offer significant raises.
— The percentage of Americans either working or looking for work fell to a 31-year low of 63.5 percent in August. That's partly because the vast generation of baby boomers has begun to retire. But another key factor is that hundreds of thousands of Americans have given up looking for work.
— More than 23 million Americans are either unemployed, stuck in part-time jobs because they can't find full-time work or want a job but have stopped looking. Romney used that figure to attack Obama's economic policies in Wednesday night's debate.
Few economists expect the job market to return to full health soon. The Federal Reserve, for instance, doesn't foresee unemployment falling below a normal level of roughly 6 percent before 2016.

I'm bummed that I missed this debate - forgot to DVR it...

While "winning" a debate is important as it boosts the confidence of the winner and energizes their supporters, I think their are two more important questions here:

1. Did the debate sway undecided voters?

2. Did the debate cause someone to switch their vote from one person to the other?

And of course, the states where people were swayed matters too. We'll probably need to wait for next week's polls to find out.

And here are two more questions I'd like to toss out to the group:

1. Do you think people other than the die hard political junkies will watch the remaining debates?

2. What do you expect the candidates strategies to be like for the next time they meet?

James,
Two friends of mine who are Independents told me yesterday that they are voting for Romney after watching the debate on Wednesday. They were both leaning toward Obama. They said Romney clearly articulated a plan to get the economy going, and they like his plan better than the President's.

It makes me laugh that anyone in this day and age would base their political decisions on a single debate rather than researching what the candidates actually have done and say that they will do.

Saying that, if the question was "who won the debate?" it was clearly Governor Romney. Just a horrible showing for the President, who often seemed distracted.

Construction begins on Chinatown Tower
Developers drove the first steel piles Friday for a 26-story apartment tower planned to rise in Chinatown along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. The $130 million building, to feature a mix of glass, granite and concrete, was designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects and will be built by Suffolk Construction Co. The building will contain a mix of unit sizes, from studios to three bedrooms, as well as a fifth-floor lounge and fitness center. The 26-story tower is expected to be completed by summer 2014.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/21/construction-begins-chinatown-tower/fidTjEhp6AmVcNeCsKJv3K/story.html

The Buzz is Back at Downtown Crossing
Millennium Partners’ promise of a 600-unit, 625-foot residential tower rising above the Filene’s site has enabled Boston to feel confident about itself.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority will soon announce restaurant leases in four downtown buildings, two of which have sat vacant for more than three years. This year, more than 20 new shops and restaurants will open downtown.
The back side of the Millennium Ritz-Carlton, which had long been a dead spot, now features a bakery and sidewalk cafe; the new restaurants are partially chasing customers from the 15-story residential complex Millennium is now building at Hayward Place; and the Hayward building will spin off even more retail.
“The atmosphere has really changed,” says Ronald Druker, who owns a number of commercial buildings along Washington Street. “The confidence in the future is palpable. We’re seeing a lot more interest in our space than we were a year ago. People want to get in now, before the new reality sinks in. Because it is going to be a more expensive place to rent in.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/10/01/sparks-life-downtown-crossing/MGW8ReQiz5Lj7NHouU8ESI/story.html

Office Construction in Boston
The region’s office construction market is making a strong comeback, driven by the expansions of medical and biotechnology companies that are funding new buildings going up in Boston’s Seaport District, East Cambridge, and suburbs along Route 128.
More than 4.7 million square feet of office and laboratory space is under construction in the Boston area, up from just 430,000 square feet in summer 2011, according to the real estate firm Richards Barry Joyce & Partners.

“The office market overall is in good shape,” said Joe Fallon, managing principal of the ­Boston office of Cassidy Turley, a national real ­estate services firm. “Vacancy rates are down and rents are increasing. The laws of supply and ­demand are working more favorably now than they were 24 or 36 months ago.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/28/office-construction-makes-comeback-greater-boston/SEZafGFLoKOPoxv6NOk0KI/story.html

Linda...all of that is very good news! As far as downtown redevelopment is concerned though...please be cautious. We have been promised that before. And as someone who was born and raised in Southie there is nothing more I would like to see!

Today's job report is all spin. We were supposed to be back down in the 5% range by now.

Thanks to population growth, etc, there are actually more people out of work now than there were on Inauguration Day.

Catalina Marketing Moving to Boston's Seaport
A Florida-based technology company is moving to Boston’s Seaport District, where it intends to triple its number of employees over the next several years.

Catalina Marketing Inc., a maker of digital advertising products, has signed a lease to move into 75,000-square-feet of office space at 24 Farnsworth Street. Earlier this year, the company acquired Quincy-based Modiv Media as part of its expansion into Boston.

“This move to the Innovation District further enables our team to continue changing the face of a trillion dollar industry,” John Caron, a vice president of marketing for Catalina, said in a statement Wednesday. The Seaport has been re-named the Innovation District by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to help attract more technology and medical businesses to the area.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/26/catalina-marketing-moves-boston-seaport/QJA4NKuwdHzs6L0KBcfYbJ/story.html

HFF arranges $170M Constriction Loan
HFF, a provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services, said that it has arranged a $170 million construction loan for One Channel Center, a 500,000-square-foot office building currently under development by AREA Property Partners and Commonwealth Ventures in Boston’s Seaport District.
The project is for an 11-story office building that will be leased in its entirety to State Street Corp., a financial services firm headquartered in Boston. The project broke ground this past summer and is scheduled for completion in early 2014.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/21/hff-arranges-construction-loan-for-one-channel-center/bSWfvZSDYnayNBgUonPdIK/story.html

Plouffe said the real measue for Rodney was " is he going to take the lead in Ohio? If not, he's not going to be President!"
That's a quote from a senior Obama official in todays Boston Globe. I just want to know 2 things....Is Obama running for the President of Ohio?....and does his office know that 49 others states vote as well????

In case there was any confusion about what is at stake in November, check out the excerpt below from an Associated Press article appearing in today's Boston Globe concerning Scott Brown's model Supreme Court Justice:

Scalia calls himself a 'textualist' and, as he related to a few hundred people who came to buy his new book and hear him speak in Washington the other day, that means he applies the words in the Constitution as they were understood by the people who wrote and adopted them.

So Scalia parts company with former colleagues who have come to believe capital punishment is unconstitutional. The framers of the Constitution didn’t think so and neither does he.

‘‘The death penalty? Give me a break. It’s easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state,’’ Scalia said at the American Enterprise Institute.

Voter beware.

Well Joe Kane you may be surprised that I agree with you that Scalia is brilliant. I believe several current Justices of the Supreme Court would rightly be called brilliant. I strongly disagree with Scalia's worldview and philosophy and believe he is bad for the country for many reasons.

As far as abortion and the death penalty, you may see things as black and white and be unable or unwilling to appreciate that life involves many shades of gray. That may also explain many of the differences between Liberals and Conservatives in this day and age.

Jim - that's the basic problem with each of the philosophies. Liberals like to cherry pick and design things around how they feel at a given point in time. Conservatives will sometimes hang on to old things because they are afraid of change. However, I being an Independent, center-right person, thinks that one of the things that should not be tinkered with is our Constitution. When I use the term "brilliant" I use it very sparingly. I would use it with Scalia, but no other current members of the court. And I would use it with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, three of our framers of the Constitution.

Joe Kane, As for the death penalty: I'm sure you are aware of the situation at the state crime lab. Do you think that is limited to MA? Do you trust all cops to be honest and not racist? Do you trust all prosecutors to be fair and not zealous? Do you trust all defense attorneys to be competent? Do you trust all judges to be wise? I suspect you don't. Therefore, how could you favor capital punishment? I absolutely believe thousands of people in this country have been wrongfully convicted and put to death. I also believe capital punishment is not a deterrent.Look no further than Joe Salvati and Bobby Joe Leaster here in MA. And don't get me started about Texas.

Posts that include name calling will be deleted. Argue without the insults. Thanks!

Mary- I am concerned about the abrasive comments from some bloggers and that includes Jim O'Connor and others---- it's one thing to have opinions but it;s another to comment as some do. Relax Jim O'Connor and others and get a grip on the real world where we all co-exist.

Romney is going to have a field day with this at the next debate...

http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaida-making-comeback-iraq-officials-165659290.html

Geez a badday for Oblamea already.....and it's only 5:30 AM...

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/health/health-care/darden-restaurants-cut-workers-hours-avoid-paying-health-care-coverage