Romney did his job last night.

Image from eclectablog.com

Sweating like Nixon.
Image from hisvorpal.wordpress.com

He’s led even the stupidest of the undecided voters to believe he is really every bit as smart as Obama. How? By agreeing with Obama on just about everything.

Even so, he will cull some meager votes from this strategy. Why? Because by embracing everything Obama has done, he avoided the “extremist” label in some voters’ minds.

Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC took the “embracing” idea further. Sharpton said that Romney looked like a boxer who, rather than trying to land a punch, instead wrapped his arms around his opponent to try and last until the bell.

Environmental advocate Van Jones said on CNN: “If the debate went on thirty minutes longer, Romney would have endorsed Obama.”

Naturally The Rude Pundit weighed in. “Romney lost big time. It was embarrassing at times how little a major party candidate seemed to know or care about the rest of the world. Romney acted like Sarah Palin, a talking point machine who couldn’t string together a proposition or thought. He looked like Nixon on meth, sputtering, useless, and, goddamn, so sweaty. He tried to shift to moderate mode again, but this time Obama was ready and he repeatedly called Romney out on it, at times eviscerating Romney. He tried to shift to domestic policy, and Obama went right along with him, kicking his ass every step of the way.”

Bill Maher texted: “Mitt keeps taking issue with being criticized tonight – did they tell him this is a debate?”

And writer BeyondGeography posted this on Democratic Underground:

“The irony of Romney’s mail-it-in performance last night is, if he were to become President, he’d spend a lot more time on foreign policy than he presently believes. All Presidents do. He has no interest or ability to even approach competence in foreign policy. He is an impatient, often intolerant man. The outside world would find the manipulator extremely easy to manipulate. Their defiance would unnerve him. Hopefully, enough registered voters show up on Nov. 6 to spare him, and us, this pain.”

Mittens is like a long-lost relative who shows up at a funeral to announce he’s really been a loyal family member all along, and so the inheritance should be his. Don’t let him take it.