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Opinion

10 Hilarious GIFs and Memes from the Presidential Debate

TV by itself is just so boring these days. With the advent of Twitter and Tumblr, watching real-time events on television (like the presidential debate last night) has become a communal, participatory activity in virtual space. We've selected our ten favorite GIFs and memes from the explosion of onl

Kyle Chayka

Kyle Chayka

— 2 min read
(Image courtesy gifwich.tumblr.com)

TV by itself is just so boring these days. With the advent of Twitter and Tumblr, watching real-time events on television (like the presidential debate last night) has become a communal, participatory activity in virtual space. Both Buzzfeed and Tumblr fed their audiences a new form of online entertainment by digesting the first 2012 debate between Obama and Romney into GIFs and image macros as the event unfurled on the screen. We’ve selected our ten favorite GIFs and memes from the explosion of online creativity last night.

The punchiest, funniest, and smartest contributions range from remixes of much-maligned moderator Jim Lehrer to mash-ups that make Obama and Romney friends instead of rivals. Check them out below.

1. Michelle Obama after being wished a happy anniversary:

Michelle Obama (Courtesy buzzfeed.tumblr.com)

2. Mitt Romney jamming out on the piano:

Mitt Romney (Courtesy gifwich.tumblr.com)

3. Obama laying it down:

(Courtesy buzzfeed.tumblr.com)

4. Jim Lehrer calling for calm:

(Courtesy buzzfeed.tumblr.com)

5. Robo-Mitt:

Mitt-Bot (Image by Doug Chayka [author’s cousin], art direction by Jeffrey Alan Love, via onethousandwordsmagazine.tumblr.com)

6. Zooming in on Jim Lehrer:

(Courtesy gifwich.tumblr.com)

7. Poor Big Bird:

Romney wants to defund PBS — and Big Bird. This one seems to have come from the Obama campaign itself! (Courtesy barackobama.tumblr.com)

8. Everyone’s friends here:

(Courtesy tedr.tumblr.com)

9. Rockin’ Jim Lehrer:

(Courtesy gifwich.tumblr.com)

10. And my favorite:

(Courtesy buzzfeed.tumblr.com)