OK!!
I've been largely locked out (phone problems) and I bet you can guess I have been going crazy not being able to talk about the debate. I've read a few threads, I can't figure out which is the "main" one, will just go here.
First, there were about 4 times when I jumped up and started cheering for Kerry. That didn't happen the first debate. He really nailed some stuff. (I have the transcript open in another window, [all TWENTY-ONE PAGES], will find the parts I mean.)
Second, there were also about 3 times I jumped up and imprecated him to do or say something other than what he was doing or saying. The two I can remember were when he was given that opportunity to say he wouldn't be raising taxes for everyone, "In short, uncomplicated sentences" or whatever it was and he came right out, good start, but then got off on wonky tangents... he couldn't just SAY it, a full sentence, look in the camera, hold it for a beat, THEN go on the wonky tangents.
The other was the rebuttal to the "mistakes" question. I mean, what a plum target! Bush's response was AWFUL. It should have been jumped all over. It's so representative. NO mistakes except for appointments and he doesn't want to name them on national TV??? Give me a break, dude. Kerry so should have quoted "the buck stops here." Give it some historical context. Pay lip service to hard decisions, etc. Lead up to it with the awesome responsibility of being president. And then whammo, and glare at Bush after doing it.
What he did say was strong; "catastrophic mistake" etc., but it was the same thing he'd been saying all night. I was up there waving my hands in his face yelling "say something NEW! Jump on it!!!" Frustrating.
"Gut-check time" was good.
OK, other comments:
- People here were talking about partisans, (abortion, mistakes), the audience *wasn't* all purely impartial undecideds -- there were equal numbers of leaning toward Kerry and leaning toward Bush, then some smaller percentage of true undecideds.
- I thought Bush's expressions while listening were absolutely hilarious. His effort was so apparent. The fixed, expressionless look. Meanwhile, everything was wafting across his eyes and forehead clear as day. He could NOT stop blinking. He tried so hard, and just couldn't do it.
Then, when he would lean down to take notes, he'd let the mask slip for a second in the transition -- "going from 'listening mode' to 'notetaking mode' now" -- and he'd do this tooth-grinding thing and his nostrils would flare, with mucho blinking throughout.
- The wood joke was funny in delivery but made no sense. Kerry's point was precisely that no, he's NOT a small business owner, that's what's so ridiculous about how Cheney and Bush are talking about 900,000 small business owners being effected -- Cheney and Bush are themselves considered "small business owners" in that formulation.
Just checked factcheck.org, Bush DOES own that company:
Quote:Bush got a laugh when he scoffed at Kerry's contention that he had received $84 from "a timber company." Said Bush, "I own a timber company? That's news to me."
In fact, according to his 2003 financial disclosure form, Bush does own part interest in "LSTF, LLC", a limited-liability company organized "for the purpose of the production of trees for commercial sales." (See "supporting documents" at right.)
So Bush was wrong to suggest that he doesn't have ownership of a timber company. And Kerry was correct in saying that Bush's definition of "small business" is so broad that Bush himself would have qualified as a "small business" in 2001 by virtue of the $84 in business income.
I better pause, will come back.
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