The Empty Chair; "Taken 2" Takes Box Office Title
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to STARTING POINT. Clint Eastwood's address at the RNC raised a lot of eyebrows because of this scene when he was talking to an empty chair. The chair, of course, represented President Obama. This week's cover of "The New Yorker" picks up on that theme, a commentary about the president's performance at last week's debate against Mitt Romney. Why don't you since you work for "The New Yorker" Ryan Lizza, put that cover up again?</s>LIZZA: This is Barry Blitz, one of -- I think one of the most -- a lot of people, one of my favorite cartoonists at "The New Yorker," he famously in 2008 did a cover that was controversial of Barack and Michele Obama in the oval office, remember this -- the terrorist misstep. Happen to have a piece in that issue, sort of overshadowed ahead on this issue. But yes, I think he captured what everyone's reaction to that debate was.</s>O'BRIEN: Not the 2 percent of Republicans.</s>CONWAY: The 70 percent of independents that thought Romney won --</s>LIZZA: I love the Jim Lehrer detail on this.</s>CONWAY: And your cartoonist quoted as saying he never realized how difficult it would be to caricature furniture. He learned a new lesson.</s>O'BRIEN: It will be interesting to see back to the poll numbers, we heard obviously Congressman Ryan saying you get the -- no effect at all in that debate. I think --</s>LIZZA: We don't have the data yet. Everyone is like --</s>SKOLNIK: Waiting --</s>LIZZA: Dying for the first poll.</s>CONWAY: Here's the thing.</s>O'BRIEN: You're a pollster.</s>CONWAY: That's right. Here's the thing too. The last 2 minutes of anything, everybody here has spoken, you speak for a living. When you're told you have a two-minute close, that's got to be perfect, though. It's got to be devoid of any hesitation, perfect. You have to look at the man in the mirror and practice it. Content, plan B, so I feel even there, there was a certain lacking.</s>O'BRIEN: I thought the close was a metaphor for the 90 minutes. It was just like -- nothing there.</s>LIZZA: These debates are all about expectations and after a disastrous debate you go into the next debate and people think he can't even talk now. The expectation theme in the next --</s>CONWAY: None of it would have mattered as much had people not been gleefully and single minded calling the race over three weeks before the debate.</s>O'BRIEN: I agree with that.</s>SKOLNIK: I was on that bandwagon.</s>O'BRIEN: I've taken the wheels off your wagon. People declare the end and it all restarts.</s>CONWAY: Voters hate being told what to do and how to think.</s>O'BRIEN: I agree with you.</s>CONWAY: Voters ask themselves who can lead.</s>SKOLNIK: I agree. The Democrats, folks may look at this and say we have to go to work, 30 days to the election. We have to go to work. This isn't going to be so easy.</s>LIZZA: Complacency was setting in.</s>O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, a former Harvard professor who spent his life advising and inspiring entrepreneurs had a brush with death. He changed the life of one of his former students who has written a book about the famed professor. The author will join us live up next. It's nice to see you. STARTING POINT is back in a moment.