I was flipboarding, as I do every day, in order to keep informed and to find sources for my posts when I fell upon this headline, Buzz Bissinger: Why I’m Voting For Mitt Romney. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.  However I decided to read the article after I read the sub-heading:

After the president’s debate performance in Denver, this lifelong Democrat has made a difficult decision:  he’s given up on Barack Obama.  Even if his own wife doesn’t approve.

Still not remembering who he was, I read the article, which I urge you to read in its entirety.   Mr. Bissinger explains that the tipping point for his decision was last week’s presidential debate. Throughout his post, he is scathingly critical of President Obama for everything from his debate performance to his appearance on The View, by saying:

“I don’t see Obama spending much time running the country, unless you count his recent appearance on The View, where he was far more animated and charming than during the debate.”

On the other hand, he is incredibly lenient with Mitt Romney, complimenting him with sentences like:

“…he also revealed compassion that, during the entirety of this absurdly long march, had never been in evidence before. He recognized the needs of the poor. He recognized the need for regulation.”

Never mind that while Romney was recognizing the needs of the poor on Wednesday night, he was still standing by the 47% remark that he made a few months back.  He finally admitted (on Fox News) that his 47% remark was “just completely wrong” one day after his “stellar” debate performance.  To borrow a phrase from SNL’s Church Lady:  “How con-VEEN-ient!” Other incredibly fawning sentences over Romney include:

“I believe that Romney’s move to the center is not yet another flip-flop sleight of hand, perhaps naively. I believe he will send to the political Guantanamo those dirty old white men of the party ready to bomb Iran…”

And:

“At the debate, Romney did not simply act like he wanted to be president. He wants to be president. He showed vigor, and enthusiasm, and excitement, a man who wants to lead.”

What Mr. Bissinger calls vigor, enthusiasm and excitement, is actually called the Gish Gallop whereby a candidate overwhelms his opponent with so many lies and frenetic delivery that it’s impossible “to answer every falsehood in real time.”  It’s also incredible that Mr. Bissinger does not see Romney’s rejection of the positions he’s held for the past 18 months as flip-flopping for political expediency but as a move to the center.  Somebody, please, gag me with a spoon!

Yes, that’s an ’80’s reference as well as the Church Lady’s, just as is Mr. Bissinger’s non-fiction book:  Friday Night Lights on which the critically-acclaimed movie and TV series by the same name were based.  For the sake of expediency, I won’t go into how discovering that Mr. Bissinger is the author of Friday Night Lights has soiled the memory of one of my favorite TV series of all time.

You see, I don’t get how a lifelong Democrat can so easily dismiss President Obama’s first term accomplishments and accuse him of not running the country.

I don’t get how a lifelong Democrat can reward the GOP with his vote in 2012, after seeing what they did during the 8 years of Bush’s presidency  and during the last two years, since gaining majority in the House.  How can a lifelong Democrat turn his back on President Obama because he had a bad day  debate?

I don’t care how angry or disappointed you are, this is not the time to give up on President Obama.  This is the time when a lifelong Democrat should be saying, “Mr. President, I not only have your back, I am carrying you on my shoulders.”

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Author’s Notes:  

According to  Politico, Ann Romney sent a campaign email on Sunday, October 7 borrowing Friday Night Lights’ phrase:  “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” one day before Bissinger’s endorsement on October 8th. 

Peter Berg, Friday Night Light’s TV series writer and director, has asked the Romney campaign to stop using the phrase he coined for the series, saying, “Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series.”  Read full article here. I thank Mr. Berg for restoring FNL to a special place in my heart.