Friday, October 01, 2004
Everyone has their two cents...
...and here are mine regarding last night's debate. I'm no pundit, but I'll say that I did watch the entire thing and, right up front, I'll say that Kerry won it. Not a landslide, by any means. Bush certainly held his own for a while. But towards the end of the 90 minutes, you could sense the frustration growing within the incumbent. Kerry's style came off sounding more authoritative and decisive which I think will play well with voters. He also finally got his opportunity to nail Bush on Afghanistan and North Korea -- and nail him, he did. I don't believe, however, that Bush lost too much ground because he was still able to spew the buzzwords that idiots who only pay attention to buzzwords will recognize.
I really dug the format of last night's debate. It's precisely the kind of debate that I think this country wanted to see and needed to see. Each candidate pretty much spelled out what their stance is on foreign policy and if you still can't tell who is for what regarding things like Iraq and nuclear weapons, God help your stupid little brain.
Bush came off a few times as insincere. "You're forgetting about Poland." Yeah, they have what? 400 troops in Iraq? "It's hard work." Know what? I'm sure it is. But he said that about 13 or 14 times and with each subsequant utterance, the "hard work" seemed more like a stall tactic and eventually downgraded itself to just a souless phrase. Although I think perhaps my favorite bit was when the two candidates were exchanging jokes and compliments about their personal lives and families. Kerry joked that Bush's daughters made him chuckle on occasion. Bush's light-hearted response was "I'm trying to keep 'em on a leash," to which Kerry responded, "I found that doesn't really work." This is a highlight to me because in the past, Bush's jockular one-liners always played well to whichever room of loyalty-oath-signing people were present. But this time it was Kerry who got the last laugh and -- just maybe -- hinted to America that his listening and reasoning skills are just a little bit better. I might be reaching with that, but I think to shut down Bush in such a manner as that is definitely something the public should pay attention to.
Finally, although the "flip-flop" issue will no doubt continue to be brought up ad nauseum like a dead horse that's been skinned and shipped to the glue factory, Kerry was able to declaritively announce where he stands on foreign policy and where he has always stood on foreign policy. Something that I think was very important for Americans to hear. He really needed to get after Bush and be aggressive and alert everyone in as obvious a manner as possible of the mess that is now our presence in Iraq and he did just that. Right from the first question, he was a bulldog.
Anyway, just in case you think I'm biased, the polls also say that Kerry won.
One of my favorite politicians, John McCain, is quoted as saying in the article:
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), the Arizona Republican who informally advised Bush on how to debate his friend and Senate colleague, told reporters in Miami on Friday that the debate was probably Kerry's "brightest moment" in the last six weeks. "He presented himself well, John did," McCain said. "Kerry came out slugging."
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I really dug the format of last night's debate. It's precisely the kind of debate that I think this country wanted to see and needed to see. Each candidate pretty much spelled out what their stance is on foreign policy and if you still can't tell who is for what regarding things like Iraq and nuclear weapons, God help your stupid little brain.
Bush came off a few times as insincere. "You're forgetting about Poland." Yeah, they have what? 400 troops in Iraq? "It's hard work." Know what? I'm sure it is. But he said that about 13 or 14 times and with each subsequant utterance, the "hard work" seemed more like a stall tactic and eventually downgraded itself to just a souless phrase. Although I think perhaps my favorite bit was when the two candidates were exchanging jokes and compliments about their personal lives and families. Kerry joked that Bush's daughters made him chuckle on occasion. Bush's light-hearted response was "I'm trying to keep 'em on a leash," to which Kerry responded, "I found that doesn't really work." This is a highlight to me because in the past, Bush's jockular one-liners always played well to whichever room of loyalty-oath-signing people were present. But this time it was Kerry who got the last laugh and -- just maybe -- hinted to America that his listening and reasoning skills are just a little bit better. I might be reaching with that, but I think to shut down Bush in such a manner as that is definitely something the public should pay attention to.
Finally, although the "flip-flop" issue will no doubt continue to be brought up ad nauseum like a dead horse that's been skinned and shipped to the glue factory, Kerry was able to declaritively announce where he stands on foreign policy and where he has always stood on foreign policy. Something that I think was very important for Americans to hear. He really needed to get after Bush and be aggressive and alert everyone in as obvious a manner as possible of the mess that is now our presence in Iraq and he did just that. Right from the first question, he was a bulldog.
Anyway, just in case you think I'm biased, the polls also say that Kerry won.
One of my favorite politicians, John McCain, is quoted as saying in the article:
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), the Arizona Republican who informally advised Bush on how to debate his friend and Senate colleague, told reporters in Miami on Friday that the debate was probably Kerry's "brightest moment" in the last six weeks. "He presented himself well, John did," McCain said. "Kerry came out slugging."
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