Gore: Altitude threw Obama off (no, really)
(CNN) - Former Vice President Al Gore's analysis of President Barack Obama's debate performance Wednesday: the Mile High City may be to blame.
Pundits and a CNN poll of those who watched the debate both found GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's showing to be stronger than Obama's, who some described as appearing tired and long-winded.
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"I'm going to say something controversial here," Gore began. "Obama arrived in Denver at 2 pm today, just a few hours before the debate started. Romney did his debate prep in Denver.
"When you go to five thousand feet, and you only have a few hours to adjust, I don't know," Gore said, as other panelists in the post-debate discussion chimed in.
The video of Gore on his television channel, Current TV, was posted online by several right-leaning websites, as well as media-watching websites.
Obama flew on Sunday from Washington, D.C. to Henderson, Nevada, where he held a rally that evening. Between Sunday and his Wednesday flight to Colorado, Obama and his debate team prepared for the big night in a hotel ballroom there.
Henderson reaches just shy of a half mile up from sea level, according to the Henderson Executive Airport's website, while Denver stretches a mile above sea level.
Obama campaign senior strategist David Axelrod defended his candidate on a Thursday conference call with reporters, saying he would leave evaluation of Obama's "performance" alone because he is no "theater critic."
"While Governor Romney had a very crisp performance, both candidates got points across," Axelrod said. "Both candidates got something out of the debate."
Romney, meanwhile, arrived in Denver Monday evening and also held a rally before hunkering down with advisers for his preparations.
Both candidates rewarded themselves with field trips between study sessions. Obama visited the Hoover Dam on Tuesday and stopped by a Nevada office for his campaign on Monday. Romney and Sen. Rob Portman, who was aiding in his debate preparations, stopped in at a Chipotle restaurant on Tuesday.
- CNN's Jessica Yellin and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report
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Without a doubt, Romney was tne aggressor, but to think he honestly won the debate other than in style, you would have to disregard the fact that he is a chameleon.. It must be exciting to be Mitt Romney and wonder who you will be the next day.. Seriously! This man has so many faces, it is scary.. I'm sure the President will have to be able to debate any one fo the multiple personalities of Mitt Romney, but it is difficult to debate someone whose position is a daily surprise and is based totally on saying whatever he thinks he needs to to get elected. I don't know who the right think they are voting for, but he may actually change his name to Barack Obama before this is over.. and now he says he was totally wrong about the 47%... he was totally wrong, but does anyone think that he believes that?? sure, and the cat played the fiddle and the cow jumped over the moon.
I think Al Gore lives in the thin air!!!
Good to see that the Obama apologists are out as usual! He's busy running the country? He has been campaigning for the last two years – except when he is golfing! We got to see the real Obama Wednesday night – and it was eye opening for a number of people. Unfortunately, so people will never see the truth.
Lamest. Excuse. Ever.
Gore? His name is Latin for Moron. Good lord, do the Dems and Liberal Media actually think people are stupid enough to buy this reasoning? I guess they do since the majority of Americans voted for an inexperienced community organizer last time. Have you noticed Obama supporters like him because he's "oool?" Or, they bash Romney because he's rich? Well, Sinatra was cool. How would he have don as POTUS? Kennedy was rich. Why didn't Dems bash him?
shocked that ANYBODY would stick up for this guy.....
funny to listen to commentators on CNN and MSNBC try to find another reason for Obamas poor showing as anything other than a lack of competence........they have blamed it on everything from the PBS (left wing) Leher to Big Bird....
The President didn't challenge any of the MANY false statements that Romney made but he did make the points that he wanted to make. Thin air? No, that's a joke. The air wasn't any thinner for the President than it was for anyone else in the room. 🙂
Do any one think that Pres. Obama is all that stupid??? Folks it is what we call politic games. You must be smart to know how to do it. On Wednesday night it was not about debate. It was about acting. Romney was an actor and with honour so did Pres. Obama!
Biden and Gore ............... the Magical Pair. Like the Blues Brothers.
The question is did Obama's arrogance sway the debate, the answer is yes. He is an extremely arrogant individual. When challenged by anyone he will make remarks that demean the indiviudal, a heckler he will ridicule and his followers laugh instead of thinking what this person said. Does he have a point.
The other big issue that swayed the debate was his record. it is horrible, as a nation we are further in debt, as individuals we are further in debt, there are fewer jobs, unemployment is truly at 16% or higher, more people are on assitance programs (food stamps, welfare), we still are in Afghanistan, Iraq (still have a presence), Somalia (why?) , bombed Libya, Yemen, and were heavily involved in a regime other throw as well in Egypt. I did not realize until the other day that Obama has pumped in 90 billion dollars into enegry companies like Salindra and they shut their doors. He has failed.
Now because this was exposed and he couldn't come up with a lie to answer (no teleprompt) he is now resorted to calling Romney a liar. He may well be but if Romney did this he would be called a racist. That is what he and his followers run to as their trump card. I don't like his policies and where he took us and I don't care what color he is but I am considered a racist to some.
You people are just going to open up a pandoras box if you start blaming pressure changes on peoples performances. What's next? Humidity was too high? Solar output wasn't 6500K???
Foolish you are.
and to think this guy was almost elected president..... he has two brain cells and they must be fighting each other
Did Romney have different air on his side of the stage????? maybe it was Bush that caused him to SUCK!!!!
Last I checked both Romney and Obama were breathing the same air that night. Perhaps if Obama wasn't a chain smoker the Colorado air wouldn't be an issue. Obama's real problem is that he didn't have the media or the moderator helping him cover for his lies and failures.
I found it funny that the media immediately lambasted the president and declared Romney the "winner", in spite of the fact "winner" in this case is largely undefined, and having watched the thing from start to finish, it didn't seem either of them did particularly well. Both stumbled at times, and neither landed any major shots. By the end I thought: "Romney did hold his own and talked a good game, and although Obama failed to shine like 4 years ago, he stayed on point, so really it seems like a tie,", yet within seconds most networks were pilling on derision for Obama's failure, and praising Romney. It was almost as if they all had a pre-planned narrative.
Is it because you've all inflated the mythical image of Obama that you keep in your heads, that no perfomance would be good enough? If Babe Ruth shows up, it's either 3 homeruns or a total failure, is that it? It makes no sense. It was like watching a boxing match with no clear winner at the final bell, then hearing the score cards read unanimous decision.
Unemployment 7.8%. I'll take a slow recovery to a free-fall any time.
And the government agencies are predicting 12 Million job growth no matter who is president, so for Mittens to try to take credit is just another bald-faced lie.
We've had all the corporate welfare we need. really big bucks to oil and Ins., and they want to cut Sesame street – .001% – give me a break.
Hilarious and pathetic. Always looking to blame, never accountable.
Romney seem like a angry man on the stage.
Romney was lying about everything.
Romney is a liar.
Under the direction of King O'Bamma the EPA is poised to close 100 coal plants. What will that do to your energy bill? This is legislation without representation.
you lost mr. albert "the bore" gore, give it up. i guess there was just too much hot air in the denver sky, thanks to george bush and his global warming. face it, if bush is still influencing politics that much, maybe we need to bring him back.
-TheBigSarge
Al Gore continues to prove what an idi0t he is, and why it's a good thing he lost the presidency.
Would all these clowns please stop making up excuses for this traitor to the American people? The fact of the matter is that HE HAS NOTHING TO SAY. The economy and all the other issues they debated on speak for themselves. This country has never been in such dire straits, and there's really no excuse for that.
Well unemployment is now 7.8% & the eocnomy is back and everyone should be happy now right? Obama policies are working right CNN?
Obama seemed like an angry man on the stage.
Obama was lying about everything.
Obama is a liar.