Romney enters the debate "equipped with a bunch of zingers"

[Mister Twister]

Will Barack Obama be able to withstand the barrage of zingers that Mitt Romney plans to unleash on him?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/01/mitt-romney-zingers-rehearsedelection-2012

[Oakvale]

Obama will crumble under Mitt's legendary wit and flawless comic timing, but what man wouldn't?

[Politico]

The amount of thought and planning that has gone into this is unprecedented. I am supremely confident we will lay a "check" upon Obama tonight.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The amount of thought and planning that has gone into this is unprecedented.

Which shows how scared they are...

[Politico]

The amount of thought and planning that has gone into this is unprecedented.

Which shows how scared they are...

To use a chess analogy, I am supremely confident we will lay a "check" upon Obama tonight, and only now will the Obama campaign start to realize what has been happening (i.e., we sacrificed a few pieces, something every chess master has to do to eventually win, but it was necessary in order to corner Team Obama with a "checkmate" in late October/early November; congratulations on "winning" September!).

[BlueSwan]

The amount of thought and planning that has gone into this is unprecedented. I am supremely confident we will lay a "check" upon Obama tonight.

You are very poor at managing expectations. You risk losing your job as the Romney spokesperson on this forum. ;-)

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Stop being a leftist hack, Politico. Romney has been ahead this entire campaign.

[Holmes]

Does anyone remember the episode of Community where Pierce is invited to watch a movie with Abed, Troy, Shirley and Señor Chang, but he's not as funny as they are. So he gets the sketch club to write him some good jokes for the next movie they watch, and he says them all at once, really quickly and robotically? That's how I think Mitt will be tonight.

[Politico]

The amount of thought and planning that has gone into this is unprecedented. I am supremely confident we will lay a "check" upon Obama tonight.

You are very poor at managing expectations. You risk losing your job as the Romney spokesperson on this forum. ;-)

To be fair, I concede that Obama has to cement the image of Romney as a monster like his ads have portrayed. If Obama fails to do so, he's finished because almost nobody wants four more years of the last four years. Obama either manages to convince everybody that Romney is a monster, or Obama is in a world of trouble tomorrow morning.

[ajb]

The strategy Politico sketches for Romney, of cleverly winning in November by strategically losing in January-September, reminds me of Giuliani's equally clever strategy of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 by losing badly in the first four primaries.

[Politico]

The strategy Politico sketches for Romney, of cleverly winning in November by strategically losing in January-September, reminds me of Giuliani's equally clever strategy of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 by losing badly in the first four primaries.

It is more akin to Clinton's clever strategy of avoiding Iowa in order to triumph with a "comeback" second place finish in New Hampshire that leads to more wins down the road, and ultimately the nomination.

[LiberalJunkie]

Oh i can't wait for these "zingers" (gaffes) from romney tonight.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

This could very well play out like the RNC/DNC, with Romney throwing out a lot of generalizations and then Obama coming in with the facts.

[ajb]

The strategy Politico sketches for Romney, of cleverly winning in November by strategically losing in January-September, reminds me of Giuliani's equally clever strategy of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 by losing badly in the first four primaries.

It is more akin to Clinton's clever strategy of avoiding Iowa in order to triumph with a "comeback" second place finish in New Hampshire that leads to more wins down the road, and ultimately the nomination.

Worked really well for the next Clinton to try it, right?

[Politico]

The strategy Politico sketches for Romney, of cleverly winning in November by strategically losing in January-September, reminds me of Giuliani's equally clever strategy of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 by losing badly in the first four primaries.

It is more akin to Clinton's clever strategy of avoiding Iowa in order to triumph with a "comeback" second place finish in New Hampshire that leads to more wins down the road, and ultimately the nomination.

Worked really well for the next Clinton to try it, right?

Clinton tried in Iowa. She lost because Edwards beat her at retail politicking, and Obama had a better turnout operation due to his Chicago boys.

[minionofmidas]

Where are the "initiate_zinger.exe" references?

[afleitch]

So the debate is going to be like an even more awful 'Tonight Show'?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's probably to Romney's good that he's scripted his zingers in advance unless his infamous $10,000 bet was a scripted zinger instead of the botched attempt at humor most people think it was.  However, Romney's displayed sense of comedic timing leaves me doubtful he can deploy them appropriately.  He also can't use too many zingers or people will think he's running for Comedian-in-Chief instead of Commander-in-Chief.

[Earthling]

Talking about your zingers before the debate is not wise. Now, people will be watching for them and may be disappointed when and how they are used (if they are even used at all).

Romney should stay serious. A joke is always welcome, but trying to be funny too much and it will backfire for sure.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

The problem with this is that zingers, in order to be effective, have to be used with an ear for context and timing. Not only is there no indication that Romney has any sense of the latter, the former seems to be pretty alien to him as well. If he does this once or twice he could get some positive spin out of it and do better in the polls. If he does it a bunch of times he doesn't create a better image for himself, just a slightly different bad one.

Anyway, my official debate prediction is 'a hot mess', and I'll stand by that.

[Averroës Nix]

Obama will crumble under Mitt's legendary wit and flawless comic timing, but what man wouldn't?

ZING

The amount of thought and planning that has gone into this is unprecedented.

Which shows how scared they are...

ZING

Oh i can't wait for these "zingers" (gaffes) from romney tonight.

ZING

Where are the "initiate_zinger.exe" references?

ZING

So the debate is going to be like an even more awful 'Tonight Show'?

ZING

[old timey villain]

Please, Romney has no idea how to check someone that doesn't involve firing them.

[Likely Voter]

I think one of the problem with Team Romney's notion of zingers is that they still act like they are in the bubble of the GOP primary. It appears the "we built that" thing they thought was a huge winner is a fizzle. Same is true with the gotcha "redistrubiton" tape they floated. Whenever they think they really nailed Obama it was only something that works with fellow conservatives.  So while FOX, Limbaugh, etc might cheer some of these zingers, the rest of the country (including the swing voters) may just go "meh" or even WTF?

[King]

Where are the "initiate_zinger.exe" references?

Lehrer: Governor Romney, how do you respond?

Romney:

[Devils30]

Zingers work for the charming types such as Clinton and Reagan. I could see Romney using one at an awkward moment and everyone cringing.