The Student Newspaper of Mississippi State University

The Reflector

The Student Newspaper of Mississippi State University

The Reflector

The Student Newspaper of Mississippi State University

The Reflector

Romney’s remarks in debate raise questions

Last Wednesday, we saw the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and former governor Mitt Romney.  After the debate ended, another debate began; a debate arguing which candidate won the presidential debate overall. 
The loudest voice argues Romney won due to the fact he boldly took control of the debate toward the beginning and made it difficult for either Obama or the moderator, Jim Lehr, to speak. 
While this is true, remembering Romney used to be a business man is important.
Speaking the way the former governor did is exactly the same way one would speak if he or she was trying to sell something.  Be loud, find a point and stick to it and bad mouth the competitions claims. 
Every time the debate began to head a new direction, Romney would steer it back to whatever point he was making. If you watched the debate, or if you now go and watch the debate (which I recommend), you can see what I’m talking about. 
The second group argues Romney lied and can’t be given the win for simply being a bully to the moderator and talking over him.  Several of the facts Romney used have been proven false.  However, Romney was not the only one telling false statements.
Some of what the President said was also found to be untrue.  For example, Obama pushed his $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan which, when checked, was found $1 trillion of that was already reached last year. 
Obama also brought Romney’s tax plan into the debate saying, “Governor Romney’s central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut on top of the extension of the Bush tax cuts… and $2 trillion in additional military spending that the military hasn’t asked for. That is $8 trillion.” 
This is true to an extent; however, it is untrue due to the fact that Romney has yet to release his plan for cutting taxes. So saying that it will be $5 trillion is simply speculation. 
Romney is not in the clear however.  As I stated before, Romney’s statements were not immune to fact checkers. 
Romney stated, “Health care costs have gone up by $2,500 a family.” Which is simply not true, the average health-insurance premium cost for families increased by $1,300, so while they have gone up, they have not gone up near the amount Romney uses. 
Romney declared he had no plan to cut funding for education, but back in the spring, reporters heard Romney say, he would make, as president, the education department “a heck of a lot smaller.”
While the Romney-approved House budget does not specify how cuts would affect particular federal programs, the White House’s own study on the budget finds  it drops 200,000 children from Head Start as well as other early education programs, and gets rid of 38,000 teachers and aides at underprivileged schools as well as 27,000 special-education teachers.
Our nation is already dropping behind the rest of the world in educational rank, pulling 25th among 34 countries in math and science, behind nations like China, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Finland.

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The Student Newspaper of Mississippi State University
Romney’s remarks in debate raise questions