The Happy Liar

Update: In his column titled "Romney's Successful Debate Plan: Lying" Jonathan Chiat noted: "Romney won the debate in no small part because he adopted a policy of simply lying about his policies. Probably the best way to understand Obama’s listless performance is that he was prepared to debate the claims Romney has been making for the entire campaign, and Romney switched up and started making different and utterly bogus ones."

First Read adds: "If Romney won the instant reactions from last night’s debate, it is more than possible that the Obama camp can win the next 24 hours. Why? Because Romney said several things that could make life difficult for him today or in the next debate."

The media consensus is that Mitt Romney decisively won the first presidential debate on style points and that President Obama lost it.  That's going to drive a real frenzy of coverage over the next few days.  Perhaps it will even overwhelm the fact-checking, which will show that time after time, Romney brazenly and breezily lied--about his own proposals and about the President's. 

Within the debate's first minutes, Romney lied about his signature tax proposal, to cut taxes for the wealthy.  It was only the first of a number of etch-a-sketch moments, running away from his rabid right proposals and blithely and aggressively selling deceptions.  Unfortunately, too many of his worst lies, especially about President Obama's proposals and record, went unanswered.

But even the insta-poll showing that viewers overwhelmingly named Romney the winner also showed that his favorables did not increase, and that President Obama was rated even higher on caring about people's needs and problems.  While the clear consensus was that Romney won, there was no consensus on its effect on the race. 

It was disappointing because President Obama might have put Romney away for good with a sharp performance tonight.  It will take longer for Romney's lies to be exposed.  So now we know this race is likely to get more intense.  And we know how persuasive a liar Romney can be-- a more dangerous man than we thought.

Though it was a consensus judgment, it wasn't unanimous.  Some professional viewers just thought it was pretty boring.   Leading that chorus was Andy Borowitz:

DENVER (The Borowitz Report)—Millions of Americans lost consciousness on Wednesday night between the hours of 9 and 10:30 P.M. E.T., according to widespread anecdotal reports from coast to coast.

The sudden epidemic of sleepiness prevented voters from watching more than a minute or two of the first Presidential debate between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, which the few observers who remained awake have called the most tedious in American history.