Bi-Polar Bear wrote:bush had his usual advantage...all he had to do was not suck to the ends of the earth and it was a good night for him. He accomplished that.
Kerry on the other hand has to do well without a low bar.
neither man did great, but bush was 100 times better than Miami.
I think the most telling thing about bush is how he switches on a dime from the charming good old boy, the aw shucks sincere concerned compassionate conservative to the irritated barely holding in his temper bully and how he can do that switch on a dime 100 times in 90 minutes. I don't trust his emotional health or his character one bit.
I heard it said that men would admire the way he bullied himself past Charlie last night at that one point but I think real men probably immediately recognized that it was the power of the office that did that. george bush regular guy talking in a bar would never have the balls for a move like that, and he's not fooling me among others.
So bush, from swaggering cowboy to belly up cutie puppy every ten seconds and Kerry, a little too stiff and a little too pat in his responses.
When bush said he might yet let people get their medicine cheaper from Canada ) I wonder if anyone believed that) Kerry missed a great opportunity to say that the real shame was for American citizens to have to go to Canada for affordable drugs.
When bush said you can't take life to save life then Kerry should have made the point that it's too bad bush doesn't believe that when he sacrifices our young people on the battlefield in the name of "freedom' in a flawed and failed pre emptive war.
Many missed opportunities.
I think Kerry won the debate because well...considering his opponent how could he not, but I was hoping for a stronger performance.
Exactly, BPB, except I don't think Kerry won because as the challenger, the bar was set higher for him. So, rather than a win, it was a tie at best.
He should've nailed him on the medicine, could've nailed him on the deaths of our soldiers in Iraq (maybe it would have been construed as insensitive to the families of the fallen soldiers, though, might've backfired, kwim?) He also should've nailed him on his environmental record and the deficit. He needed to nail him so that our incumbent was standing there lost, not just grinding his teeth. He needed to wipe the floor with Bush, but he hit soft and it didn't happen. I don't know how many undecided people either candidate persuaded in this debate. I hope Kerry does better next week, though. It's only domestic issues, and I can't think of a one place Bush has any ground to wriggle on there...
