Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was unarguably the winner of last night’s first 2012 general election debate. A major contributing factor to his win was his ability to connect with viewers and make his points through humor.
Here’s a look back at his top 10 zingers:
10. Romney holds Obama accountable for not cutting the deficit like he said he would
“You’ve been President four years. You said you’d cut the deficit in half. It’s now four years later; we still have trillion-dollar deficits.”
9. Romney sets the record straight on his tax plan
“Virtually everything he just said about my tax plan is inaccurate . . . So if the tax plan he described were a tax plan I was asked to support, I’d say, absolutely not.”
8. Romney makes a moral case for reducing the national debt
“I think it’s, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to passed on to the next generation, and they’re going to be paying the interest and the principal all their lives. And the amount of debt we’re adding, at a trillion a year, is simply not moral.”
7. Romney turns Biden’s “buried” gaffe into a slam on Obama
“Under the President’s policies, middle-income Americans have been buried. They’re just being crushed. Middle-income Americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. This is a tax in and of itself. I’ll call it the economy tax. It’s been crushing.”
6. Romney teases Obama about his anniversary in opening statement
“And congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your anniversary. I’m sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine… here … with me.”
5. Romney exposes Obama’s lack of business experience
“Look, I’ve been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I maybe need to get a new accountant.”
4. Romney chastises Obama for meddling with the free-market and funding green energy companies like Solyndra, which eventually went broke
“I mean, I had a friend who said you don’t just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers. So this is not the kind of policy you want to have if you want to get America energy secure.”
3. Romney reminds Obama that bearing the title of “President” doesn’t give him the right to lie
“Mr. President, you’re entitled as the President to your own airplane and to your own house, but not to your own facts.”
2. Romney calls Obama and Biden out for lying about his tax plan
“Look, I’ve got five boys. I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it.”
(Sidenote: The candidate got help with this zinger from his wife Ann.)
1. Romney says he loves Big Bird, but he’ll defund PBS
“I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”
(The “Jim” Romney referenced was the debate’s host Jim Lehrer, host of PBS News Hour.)
