At this point two things are clear about the debate: 1. Romney won the night by being confident and aggressive while Obama was hesitant and passive 2. Romney said many things that simply weren’t true — and not just about budget math, which he might be able to obfuscate (although he shouldn’t get away with it). These ranged from the just plain dishonest assertion that he has a plan to cover preexisting conditions, to his completely false claims about government energy loans.

The question now is whether the revelation that he was making stuff up matters. Is our system shallow enough — and in particular, are our media so much into appearances rather than reality — that it’s OK to lie to win an argument, with no further consequences?

Time will tell.