I was thinking last night, after the debate, what’s the point?  Not with the debate; what’s the point sitting here and generating a few hundred words of notes about who said what that was right or wrong?  Seriously … is there anyone actually reading these notes who hasn’t made up their mind on this election already?

Maybe I should approach it this way.  Sure – you’re probably already on board for America, which means being on board for Romney in this election.  But during the course of the next few weeks you will encounter people who have yet to come over from the dark side.  Maybe I can give you a few talking points here that will help.

First .. Obama’s repeated statements about Romney paying “A lower tax rate than most Americans.”  This is just plan and simple unadulterated class warfare.  Obama knows that he’s not telling the whole truth here, but he also knows that the accusation works because people believe he’s talking about income taxes, and they don’t like the idea of a rich guy paying a lower income tax rate than they do.  And who can blame them? 

Here’s Obama’s rhetorical trick.  Notice he does NOT say that Romney is paying a lower INCOME TAX rate than most Americans.  That’s because Obama isn’t talking about income taxes.  He’s talking about capital gains and dividend taxes.  The capital gains tax rate – taxes on investment income – are lower than income tax rates.  The purpose here is to encourage people to invest their money in business ventures.  Remember, returns on those investments are by no means guaranteed, so the theory is that if you tax the profits from those investments at a lower rate, people will be more encouraged to take the chance, make the investment, and see if things work out.  The record clearly shows that when capital gains taxes are increased investors make the decision that maybe the risk isn’t worth it – not if you have to pay that high a tax rate on your profits – and they put their money into other, more certain investments.  Tax-free municipal bonds, for instance.  When business investment suffers, jobs and economic growth suffer .. and that’s why we keep capital gains taxes low. 

I’m not sure what the truth is here:  Either Obama understands the nature and the logic of lower capital gains tax rates and is being dishonest because he knows most of those likely to vote for him do NOT understand, or he is clueless.  He’s a smart guy, so I’m inclined to believe he knows the truth; but also knows that he can get away with his class warfare gambit here because of voter ignorance.

So .. here’s the fact:

• Mitt Romney pays EXACTLY the same capital gains tax rate on the same investment income as does any other person in this country. 

• Mitt Romney pays EXACTLY the same income tax rate on the same taxable income as does any other person in this country.

The real shame here is that Romney wasn’t prepped to deliver exactly that response.

Now .. on the matter of Libya.

So Obama wants to wait until the investigation into what happened in Benghazi.  Did he wait for the investigation when he sent Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice out there to blame it on that stupid video?  Did he wait for the investigation before he went before the General Assembly of the United Nations and blamed it on a video?

Why does Obama want everyone to wait for the investigation now?  Because there’s an election in a few weeks ..  and Obama knows that his cover-up of the Benghazi disaster is coming unraveled.  He wants to delay the discussion past the election if he can.  That’s where this “wait for the investigation” crapola comes from.

A few more heated moments and questionable facts …

Oil and drilling permits

One of the more heated exchanges was actually over oil and drilling permits. The bottom line is that Mitt Romney is right and Obama is living in la-la land. According to the Bureau of Land Management, the current administration has actually decreased approval of drilling permits by 36 percent. I believe the rate for offshore drilling permits is even more extreme. Here are more details: Federal Drilling Permits Dropping.  I’ve pointed out for many months that any increase in drilling is thanks to increases on private land, not public land. Romney made that point.

Gas prices

Does Barack Obama really think that Americans will buy the line of Bolshoi that gas prices were lower when he took office because “our economy was on the verge of collapse”?  The fact is that gas prices have risen more under Obama than they did under the Carter administration.

Trust me there are plenty more facts that we will see come to light in the wake of this debate. But at the end of the day, what did the average voter take away … that’s really the question here. Who came across as more presidential? Did anyone do something or say something that truly changed the course of this election? After last night, I don’t think much will change.  Obama needed a decisive win. He didn't get it. Don’t get me wrong … he did very well, but so did Mitt Romney. So because of that, Obama will not get a big rebound from this in the polls. He may not lose as many voters as he did after the last debate, but I would guess that most of the people he wooed last night were people who voted for him in 2008 but were probably not going to vote this time around. In other words, he didn’t gain any new voters based on this debate. But as we know, that’s only part of the story. Did Romney manage to convince people to get up and vote, and take that next step in voting for him?

Maybe I’m off my rocker .. which is completely plausible .. but that’s what the callers are for – to set me straight!