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Mitt Romney, on how he would cut the budget and raise taxes on no one while dropping the deficit by $5 trillion dollars during the debate tonight. Hint: Big Bird has to die.

"I will eliminate all programs by this test if they do not pass it. Is the program so critical is it is worth borrowing from China to pay for it? Obamacare is on my list. I use the term with all respect. I will get rid of that. I will stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I like Big Bird. I cannot keep spending money to borrow from China to pay for it."

I really would have liked a retort here about how Mitt Romney had no problem borrowing from German investors to strip companies of their assets and then send the jobs to China. That would have made me smile a little bit, anyway. But alas, this answer was only beginning and by the time Mitt finished four or so minutes later, Big Bird was already embalmed and in his big bird grave, buried by the sheer number of lies Mitt Romney piled up in a short period of time.

And so went the debate, the one pundits were saying had to be a "game-changer" for Mitt Romney. I see a lot of comments around that suggest it was, at least on first blush. At least it was game-changing in the sense that it might boost Romney's poll numbers, assuming one has no use for the truth, because well, Mitt lied. A lot.

As I watched Romney tonight, I saw the guy who made those completely candid 47 percent remarks. When he called President Obama a liar straight up during the debate, I don't think that played especially well. To be sure, Mitt was well-practiced and ready, but I didn't find him pleasant or especially appealing. I found him to be exactly like that dude talking to billionaires about people being victims and dependent on government before sitting down to the cheesecake dessert with his fellow billionaires.

I thought President Obama could have done better, for sure. He missed some key opportunities to be sharper about Obamacare, but he did do a good job of showing Romney's Medicare lies to be what they are.

In the end, people are going to remember that Mitt's down with killing off Big Bird and PBS so he can do his Mitt magic with numbers that just don't add up, no matter how it's spun.

Jim Lehrer kept saying the point of this debate was to define their differences. Unfortunately, the biggest difference didn't come through: one was telling the truth and one wasn't.

In the end, Big Bird's life still hangs in the balance, and Jim Lehrer should never, ever be allowed to moderate anything even resembling a debate ever again.

A few goodies for Mother's Day. Here, here, here, and here,

Blah3: Read this. Then read it again.

The Newshoggers: Pakistan on the brink of disaster

The Raw Story: The Democratic National Committee filed two cease-and-desist letters Thursday with a conservative website and XM Radio regarding comments they alleged were made by DNC Chairman Howard Dean.

Cannonfire: An aide to Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has been indicted for voter fraud...and  there's more

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: The Bush administration's Justice Department has a vested interest in portraying every "plot" it busts as the next 9/11...Jim Lehrer rewrites the history of Iraq...Honest observers see American Journalism in Crisis...The WaPo's hacktacular Howie Kurtz reprinted wingnut attacks on Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, but omitted contrary evidence...Wolf Blitzer looks the other way while a GOP operative lies about CNN's own poll...WaPo publishes ridiculous opinion piece by pathological liar, Richard Perle...The assassination of journalists is protected by States Secrets...Jonathan Alter denies that Dean Broder is an ivory tower thumb-sucker, Jebediah Reed disagrees

In tonight's interview, Jim Lehrer asks Secretary of State Rice if US foreign policy has caused an increase in the number or terrorists.

Download | play -WMP hat tip to David

Download | play -QT

Waging peace for humanity

writes an article about Amnesty International and the Bush Administration:

"On 6/3/05, the Bush administration lacked the courage to face its accuser directly. Jim Lehrer of Newshour on PBS moderated a discussion between Amnesty International and the Bush administration. The topic was Amnesty's recent allegations concerning prisoner abuse in the American version of Stalin's Gulag Archipelago. Amnesty sent William Schulz, their executive director in the United States. Lehrer invited the Pentagon to send a representative. Instead, they sent their proxy, Neil Livingston, CEO of Global Options, a security firm with expertise on the subject of terrorism...Read on

News Hour with Jim Lehrer

David was the moderator at the now famous Davos meeting.

Video

Gergen: I thought he blundered, he went too far, but he also walked it back and that's why I believe sometimes it's terribly sad that he resigned over... and I think the punishment far exceeds the offense.

I finally found some video of someone who was there. It's a good round table discussion on the topic. Gergen clearly is someone who didn't believe that he should have been fired. There was talk of bloggers wanting to take down Eason Jordan. The effect bloggers had on the story itself. Questions about the why the tape hasn't been released. Where was the MSM on the story.

The Democratic presidential candidate's accusation came two days after his first debate with Bush, when he told moderator Jim Lehrer that he avoids saying that the president is lying to the American people.

"I've never, ever used the harshest word, as you did just then," Kerry said. "And I try not to, but I'll nevertheless tell you that I think he has not been candid with the American people."