Romney "offensive" in both style and substance in 2nd round

Rivals bring bare fists to rematch
By Jim Ruterberg and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times, October 16, 2012
But at other moments the verbal sparring took on a deeper, emotional resonance, such as when Mr. Romney suggested that the administration was intentionally misleading in its shifting explanations for the attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the deaths of the American ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans there.

“The suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive,” Mr. Obama said, standing and looking intently at his opponent. “That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president.”
The president's charge that Romney's assumption and intimation of that he was playing politics and misleading anyone over the death of the American ambassador to Lybia is "offensive" charcterizes Romney not only in this specific moment, but serves as a metaphor for the Republican candidate, and his campaign.
Offensive Romney was as the bully in the ring, attempting to wrest control of the microphone from the moderator, Candy Crawley of CNN, who wrested it back rather adroitly.
But more importantly, it was the offensive stance to human beings, as if the only thing that matters is how much money is in the retirement account, that depicts both the Republican platform and the candidate who both advocates and then seeks to run from the specifics.
Tightly wired, with a face of jelly and eyes inserted like raisins in deep sockets, Romney's presence, while masked with that pretentious and impertinent smile, every ready to spring from his perch to dominate the clock, the attention of the audience and the moderator's steering of the debate, was offensive.
It is never too early to acknowledge that his combativeness and his pretentiousness, his self-righteous "ministry for my church" helping people in trouble, while likely accurate, is nevertheless overshadowed by his assault on the companies he and his company (Bain) trashed, sent offshore and then pocketed the profits from the destruction.
This businessman is the archetype of the narcissism that Wall Street has inflicted on the world's economy...and that is offensive!
This businessman is the voice of the rich and the tax-evaders, and that is offensive!
This businessman is committed to the pursuit of profit at the personal and corporate level and his attention to the daily and legitimate needs of ordinary people is negligible...and that is offensive.
This businessman is funded by millionaires and billionaires, whose agendas are really the puppeteers writing those mega-cheques for their own self-interest... and that is offensive!
This businessman believes that if he isolates and solves "one problem" he will have addressed the contextual issues is both myopic and unrealistic...and that is offensive!
This businessman believes that government should operate on the principles of profit-seeking businesses, trashing the human component of their enterprise, including the labour movement, the social programs that sustain the needy and the building a fortress of military hardware, while ignoring schools, the hiring of teachers, obliterating Planned Parenthood, appointing judges who will overturn Roe v Wade, and playing the bully in the international arena...and that is extremely offensive!
It is not just that the candidate ( and his mutiple stances on most issues) and his party (and its inhuman policy planks on the rights of women) that offend, but the combination of these two, and the gestalt of pandering to the 1%, at the expense of the 99% that seeks to create two America's, and two sides, their's and the rest of us in the international theatre that is offensive, not only to American citizens but also to those of us who live elsewhere and who watch and speculate on the next four years under a Romney-Ryan administration....and that is offensive!
We do not need a bully in the White House, nor do we need a prevaricator and an archetype for the "establishment"...we need a human being who has demonstrated both his capacity to negotiate and to protect and enhance American interests on behalf of all Americans, including those whose lives have been decimated by the recession and those who are fighting for America around the world.
Score this round for the president, and get your neighbours to the polls to vote for the Democratic ticket...the world needs another four years of his leadership!