Dense fog is back along California’s northern coast, creating a sense of depression, gothic-sadness and a feeling it’s foggy all over da world.

Lede from Bloomberg this early morning screamed volumes: Where has this Mitt Romney been? And where did that Barack Obama come from?
One wonders.
And ponders the obvious — Sucker-punch this: Comedian Bill Maher tweets, “Romney won the debate, Obama had the facts on his side, and Lehrer sucked. Next debate, get @SethMacFarlane to host!”

(Illustration found here).

Last night’s debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama was to me sort of like watching a Sacha Cohen movie — funny-awkward and way-uncomfortable — and the fall-out from Obama’s performance will be carried high and heavy for a few weeks because the president appeared a doofus, his face often spattered with a dumb-ass ear-to-ear grin.
He was timid, tired and toothless (not that goof-ball smile, but from absolutely no political bite).
I watched the event on my laptop, live streaming via CNN (there’s something most-intimate about the full screen effect off a laptop — watched a few minutes of ‘Lawrence of Arabia‘ last week on Crackle (seen it probably a dozen times in my lifetime) and the effect even with a wide-screen, epic film becomes really personal — and checked out the various sites live blogging the debate.
I couldn’t believe others were also experiencing the same stomach churn.

The horror behind the performance — from Slate:

Romney seemed alive to the challenge, almost like he was enjoying himself.
He looked in command, like he belonged on stage with the president.
Voters polled by CBS after the debate showed a dramatic increase in the number who thought Romney cared about them.
Before the debate, only 30 percent said they thought Romney “cares about your needs and problems.”
After the debate, 63 percent believed he was more empathetic of others.

Seemingly, the exact opposite of real life.

Political and media analyst Jeff Greenfield concurs, adding:

Most surprising, the whole evening felt as if Obama thought he was back in 2008, needing only to demonstrate a sense of cool, calm collectedness to persuade the voters that they could do what they desperately wanted to do: change course.
…
Even on the most basic political points, Obama seemed clueless.
When you argue as a Democrat that you and your Republican opponent share wide areas of agreement on Social Security– especially when recipients make up a chunk of Romney’s “47 percent” of indolent spongers — you have thrown in a fistful of high cards.

Although there were no high-fire zingers during the debate, Romney strategist Stuart Stevens unloaded a zapper afterwards: “The president has a hard time when he has to answer for his record,” Stevens said. “It’s not just that he had a bad night. He’s had a bad four years.”

And if Obama actually lost the election last night, bad is nowhere the word for what’s coming.
During the RNC in August, Romney mocked the real, most-important issue facing not only the US, but all of humanity: “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans. And to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.”
The ignorant, dumb-ass audience jeered and laughed.

HaHaHaHa…choke!