Another Debate

Bush brought his A game tonight - it was the best debate performance I've ever seen him give. And Kerry still won.

The debate was actually refreshing - hard hitting, fast, furious, and no flukes (that I saw) to decide the outcome. Both of them were strong, in command, and on their game. Both connected with the audience, both made their points effectively, both communicated clearly.

The media is probably going to award it to Bush because he needed it more - to prove to voters that last week's disaster was the exception. But just as important, I think, is that Kerry did not wilt in the face of Bush's performance. If anything, he got stronger. And my hunch is that voters needed to see Kerry stand up to the "real" Bush to really believe that he was strong and tough enough to vote for. So, in a certain way, Bush's strong performance actually helps Kerry.

I think Kerry won, though not by a knockout, because he was able to hammer home the crucial points about Iraq, the economy, and other issues.

Since I haven't seen any spin, I'll just have to guess, but here's the points which I would like to see emphasized. Bush's attempts to cite the Duelfer report in support of his position were brazen and ludicrous - and a smart move, given how devastating the findings were to his administration's case for war. So it all depends on just how credulous the media is willing to be. If they are really going to buy the argument that Duelfer's report offered support for Bush, then it's probably hopeless. But here's to hoping that the media can laugh about something which, frankly, doesn't pass the laugh test.

Kerry's best line was the one about Missouri being the third largest member of the coalition - that was just great. Bush's best line was "I didn't know I owned a timber company" - a funny line, well delivered, but on a completely insignificant matter.

I thought that Kerry was great at knocking back Bush's attacks on his record and his being liberal, and really good on the economic and domestic issues. Like I said above, what viewers will take away from Kerry tonight is that he is strong, tough, commanding, and a good guy. Not bad.

I thought Bush was good, in his own way, on defending his foreign policy and Iraq. As with Cheney, his defense rests on the listeners either not knowing the truth or suspending disbelief - and I thought Kerry did a good job in counterpunching there. But I thought that the defining moment for Bush was the question about admitting mistakes: he couldn't and wouldn't do it. He just can't admit a mistake - and, as Kerry should have immediately reminded people, how can you fix a mistake if you don't see it?

Oh, and I wonder whether it hurt or helped Bush that he was so hyper-aggressive. All that gesturing, yelling, strutting, jumping up before the moderator even offered him the floor - he seemed hyper-caffeinated or something. And honestly - Dred Scott? The National Journal "most liberal" canard again? Not finding WMD was a *bad* thing - he really said that?!?!?

Speaking of the moderator, by the way... absolutely worthless - who was that guy?

Okay, no more for me. As usual, I haven't seen any spin, so tomorrow I'll know what "really" happened tonight!

Comments

[E-mart]

Just curious - why was Bush's timber line his best, when it was deceptive, dismissive, and disrespectful?

http://www.factcheck.org/[email protected]=265

I put this line on a par with Cheney's "I've never met you before tonight" - a very minor issue, but a blatant lie that is tellingly representative of the Bush campaign of deception.

[Sven]

Dred Scott = Roe vs. Wade in wingerland.

[the aardvark]

E-mart: oh, certainly all of those things.. but my sense was that most people don't go to factcheck.com, Kerry's reference to the timber company kind of came out of nowhere, and Bush's response was actually kind of funny. But I seem to be a minority on that.

[Alex]

I agree with the aardvark that the lumber thing came out of nowhere. It's hard to introduce a totally new issue in a debate (especially one that seems so unrelated to anything). I also was disappointed that Kerry didn't smash Bush on the 3 mistakes question (which he clearly did not even come close to answering). My favorite line from Bush: "I guess you could say I'm a good steward of the land." HAH! Amazing.