Presidential Debate: Twitter Big Weapon in Political Battle Once Again

By Alex Murashko, CP Contributor Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Twitter proved once again to be a very popular social scene during the second presidential debate with both conservatives and liberals clashing while Barack Obama and Mitt Romney battled during the town hall style meeting Tuesday evening.

Much of the discussion included critique about the debate format itself, including digs at moderator Candy Crowley from CNN. Tweets also alluded to a more aggressive debate between the two candidates.

Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church tweeted at the outset of the debate: "All we need is a cage!" and then added, "Yep. And a couple of folding metal chairs."

"Shocker – moderator from #CNN is teeing up Barack Obama in #presdebate #mediabias," posted Bryan Miles, a "Grateful follower of Jesus" and founder of a church outsourcing organization.

Miles later tweeted a popular re-tweet, "No one can watch tonight's #presdebate – and think that the moderator was fair to @mittromney #CNN #nbcpolitics #mediabias"

"All the decided voters r all getting madder by the moment," tweeted financial expert Dave Ramsey.

Here are some more comments made on Twitter during and shortly after the second presidential debate:

"Mitt knows his numbers. Obama probably knows them, too. That's why he's avoiding them. #debates" – Todd Vaters, worship leader

"'We are all children of the same God.' Did Romney just accuse God of being an unwed, single father?" – Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post

"Debate proves again that liberal media pundits should never host debates and supposed 'undecided' voters are a sham." – Steven Ertelt, founder of LifeNews.com

"#Obama is laughing like #Biden #joker2 #debate2012"

"@CrowleyCNN just told Mitt to go sit down after she interrupted him. #Unreal #Debate2012 #fb" – Terri Green, "Christian. Conservative. Pro-Life"

"THANK THE GOOD LORD THIS IS OVER. Obama spoke for close to 4 more mins than Romney!" – Laura Ingraham, conservative commentator

Tuesday night's presidential debate fell short of the first debate's history-making 10 million tweets, which was the most tweeted political event in U.S. history. In the same time period as the first debate, between 9 p.m. and 10:39 p.m. EDT there were 7.2 million tweets during the debate.