Count syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan among the commentators that felt Mitt Romney won Monday's presidential debate in Boca Raton, Florida.
Speaking on Fox News shortly after the event's conclusion, Buchanan said that by the end of the debate, "Romney was smiling, he was relaxed, he looked like a winner, and the president seemed, was making some petty attacks on him I thought, and seemed like he was frustrated that it was not ending the way he wanted" (video follows with transcript):
PAT BUCHANAN: Well, the criteria that I have is that Mitt Romney had to come in here and show himself to be able to be the first diplomat in the country. He had to show himself to be the Commander-in-Chief, and he had to show himself knowledgeable in foreign policy, and I think he accomplished that. So that is a victory for him. And I also believe that he avoided the pitfall of this debate which was the Democrats and President Obama wanted to push him out there into sort of a bellicose individual who is going to, you know, give certain weapons to the Syrians, get us into that war, get us in war with Iraq. Mitt Romney avoided that consciously I think and deliberately. He was a very reasoned but tough here.
So I think overall, I mean, Mitt Romney did everything he had to do. If you had made the debate on points, there clearly were areas in there where the president beat Romney clearly, but I think overall it was sort of even debate. But you have to say Mitt Romney is the winner. He accomplished what he came to do.
