Obvious indeed.

When Palin managed to not choke to death on her own flag pin at her debate with Biden they heralded her surprisingly impressive performance.

The media may love a horserace and all that, but people are already highly skeptical of their motives. If Obama totally pwns Romney, they will just undermine their own credibility even further by declaring Willard the winner. If it's close he'd probably prefer they declare Obama the winner so he can play the victim card that GOP voters love so much and fire up his base.

Elzar: I would pretty much concur with this statement - the media loves a horserace, not a blowout. Romney to win tomorrow's debate - book it done.

I think there is a decent chance Romney does so poorly, and looks so completely out of touch, that there is no other possible narrative than the plain truth.

They're already atwitter over the polls "narrowing".

dudemanbro: The media may love a horserace and all that, but people are already highly skeptical of their motives. If Obama totally pwns Romney, they will just undermine their own credibility even further by declaring Willard the winner. If it's close he'd probably prefer they declare Obama the winner so he can play the victim card that GOP voters love so much and fire up his base.

If Obama just destroys Romney they can still say that Romney won. And they likely will. Maybe not all of them, there will be some back and forth and transparent and meaningless discussions about it to create the illusion of reasonable analysis, but that's all a show. Now, they won't just simply state "Romney won the debate." There's going to be some absurd rationale. I'm imagining something like "While Obama did very well, made some key arguments and really succeeded in every possible metric you can use to measure a debate performance, the real winner of this debate was Romney. He was able to get his face and name out there among the undecided voters and that (random thing from the debate that sounded important) he talked about really connected with some people and he's going to see some significant movement in the polls from this debate."

"The Media" is not an organized group of people. SOME in "The Media" will do this, and we will all focus on those that do in order to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The race will tighten only because that's generally what races do at this stage.

Quasar: When Palin managed to not choke to death on her own flag pin at her debate with Biden they heralded her surprisingly impressive performance.

Well it was impressive, in context. As much as I realize she's totally unqualified, the fact that she was able to go from basically being a nobody, with only a passing knowledge of US history, to having a debate against Joe Biden and *not* have it be an utterly humiliating fiasco is probably the one moment of her political career for which she deserves a bit of respect.

Elzar: I would pretty much concur with this statement - the media loves the ad-space sellers need a horserace, not a blowout. Romney to win tomorrow's debate - book it done.

FTFY

Does the fair and balanced media actually remember Mitt during the Republican debates? The same guy who casually offered to bet Rick Perry $10000 like it was a one dollar bill? The guy who RICK PERRY LOOKED AT LIKE HE WAS A RETARD?

This is the guy who is going to win a debate with President Obama?

TheBeastOfYuccaFlats: Elzar: I would pretty much concur with this statement - the media loves the ad-space sellers need a horserace, not a blowout. Romney to win tomorrow's debate - book it done.

FTFY

This right here. Wouldn't want all those rich SuperPAC donors deciding that they're wasting their money on Romney.

GAT_00: shower_in_my_socks: SOME in "The Media" will do this, and we will all focus on those that do in order to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There is not one traditional media organization that will report anything but a draw or a Romney win Thursday.

I'm expecting a lot of 'Romney takes offensive, challenges Obama record' headlines over stories that talk about how both candidates were poised, the questions weren't terribly challenging, and the debate was substantively a draw. It may not be a Romney win, and they may not report it as such, but the headlines will almost certainly slant that way.

I'm also expecting lots of 'Obama lead widens to double digits' headlines by the middle of next week. Time will tell.

ghare: Mentat: They're already atwitter over the polls "narrowing".

My bookie still has Obama up by the same amount

I'm sorry, you don't seem to understand the narrative. The polls have NARROWED.

TheOmni: dudemanbro: The media may love a horserace and all that, but people are already highly skeptical of their motives. If Obama totally pwns Romney, they will just undermine their own credibility even further by declaring Willard the winner. If it's close he'd probably prefer they declare Obama the winner so he can play the victim card that GOP voters love so much and fire up his base.

If Obama just destroys Romney they can still say that Romney won. And they likely will. Maybe not all of them, there will be some back and forth and transparent and meaningless discussions about it to create the illusion of reasonable analysis, but that's all a show. Now, they won't just simply state "Romney won the debate." There's going to be some absurd rationale. I'm imagining something like "While Obama did very well, made some key arguments and really succeeded in every possible metric you can use to measure a debate performance, the real winner of this debate was Romney. He was able to get his face and name out there among the undecided voters and that (random thing from the debate that sounded important) he talked about really connected with some people and he's going to see some significant movement in the polls from this debate."

POLITICO IS STEALING MY POSTS!!!!

Note to self: Flash green light to Apollo, tell him my legs are open.

I don't give a crap what the media scores it as, i'm going to watch the debates & will come to my own conclusion, then reinforce that with the FARK status quo.

/i like FARK.

Quasar: When Palin managed to not choke to death on her own flag pin at her debate with Biden they heralded her surprisingly impressive performance.

Remember, Palin went through debate boot camp. I was honestly surprised by her performance, which was pretty bad but not wheels-fall-off bad. Granted, the bar was set pretty low, but she was against what I consider among the most sly and resume-heavy Dems out there.

This will be the first and last time you ever hear me compliment the scourge from Alaska: She didn't sink the Titanic.

Gyrfalcon: POLITICO IS STEALING MY POSTS!!!!

Note to self: Flash green light to Apollo, tell him my legs are open.

Go on....

Superjew: dickfreckle: she was against what I consider among the most sly and resume-heavy Dems out there.

Biden was underhanding whiffle balls to Palin all night to avoid looking like a big mean ol' bully. You'll see what he's really got in the VP debates against Lyan.

/ooops, my mis-speak.

Everyone loves to trot out Biden's gaffes. Well, I happen to like most of is gaffes. This is a True Believer.

But Ryan isn't exactly an idiot. He has the whole propaganda thing nailed down, is handsome, and can work up a froth when things aren't going his way (standard GOP procedure).

The Biden/Ryan debate is no doubt my most anticipated one. Obama/Romney just seems like a waste, given the polls and the fact that only enthusiastic voters (already made up their minds) will watch.

IlGreven: But remember, the media is totally in the tank for Obama. Everyone in the media says so.

such as?

js34603: Fark will declare Obama the winner regardless of what actually happens.

because FARK generalizes and jumps to conclusions?

TommyDeuce: So what is the Governor's Fark handle?

Skinny... something

js34603: Fark will declare Obama the winner regardless of what actually happens.

Romney's leaked memo has already set the standard. It cited Obama wining all three debates against McCain based on Gallup polling. So there you go. Seems as good of a metric as anything else. I predict Obama wins the debate based on this standard.