Saturday, October 09, 2004
The Second (Big) Debate
This was not as weird as the first one. Bush managed to keep his mouth under control, though there was something interesting going on with his eyes. Bush amped himself up for this with occasionally weird results. Early on he just started yelling - not in a way that demonstrated consistent control. He still sounded irritated. It wasn't as bad as last week, but it was noticeable.
Worse yet was his brazenly challenging the bemused Charles Gibson so he could vent about Kerry allegedly insulting our allies. It was mostly an odd moment - the point itself is pretty contrived and Dubya's apparent passion misplaced.
Kerry was just as able to land blows this week. Nicely, he updated his repertoire. Devising new attacks is key to staying ahead; it hurt John Edwards somewhat to be reprising Kerry attacks in his own debate.
By far the best points Kerry made involved citing things that Dubya said 4 years ago. It meant a lot more than Bush ranting about Kerry's Senate record. Kerry was a Massachusetts senator then. Bush was campaigning for president. He made promises to the nation as a whole about things like Canadian drug importation.
Kerry missed a very very fat pitch after Dubya failed to say a single thing he'd done wrong. Maybe it didn't matter - Bush's failure was so obvious and explicit that it scarcely needed saying.
I'm getting tired of the Iraq talking points. Suffice it to say I think Kerry continued to hold his own and Bush continued to sound like someone in denial. The daily headlines coming out of there just aren't going to help him. Nor was the fact that he once again just started repeating himself
If you're reading this blog, you know where I stand and it won't surprise you that I'm handing this one to Kerry. The best thing that can be said for Dubya's performance is that it didn't suck as badly as last Thursday's. That still doesn't give him momentum. I'm sure he's pleasing his base, but I doubt he's making inroads.
The third debate will play to Kerry's strong suit - he can rail about failures in health policy, the economy and the environment and piss Bush off. Arizona should be good.
This was not as weird as the first one. Bush managed to keep his mouth under control, though there was something interesting going on with his eyes. Bush amped himself up for this with occasionally weird results. Early on he just started yelling - not in a way that demonstrated consistent control. He still sounded irritated. It wasn't as bad as last week, but it was noticeable.
Worse yet was his brazenly challenging the bemused Charles Gibson so he could vent about Kerry allegedly insulting our allies. It was mostly an odd moment - the point itself is pretty contrived and Dubya's apparent passion misplaced.
Kerry was just as able to land blows this week. Nicely, he updated his repertoire. Devising new attacks is key to staying ahead; it hurt John Edwards somewhat to be reprising Kerry attacks in his own debate.
By far the best points Kerry made involved citing things that Dubya said 4 years ago. It meant a lot more than Bush ranting about Kerry's Senate record. Kerry was a Massachusetts senator then. Bush was campaigning for president. He made promises to the nation as a whole about things like Canadian drug importation.
Kerry missed a very very fat pitch after Dubya failed to say a single thing he'd done wrong. Maybe it didn't matter - Bush's failure was so obvious and explicit that it scarcely needed saying.
I'm getting tired of the Iraq talking points. Suffice it to say I think Kerry continued to hold his own and Bush continued to sound like someone in denial. The daily headlines coming out of there just aren't going to help him. Nor was the fact that he once again just started repeating himself
If you're reading this blog, you know where I stand and it won't surprise you that I'm handing this one to Kerry. The best thing that can be said for Dubya's performance is that it didn't suck as badly as last Thursday's. That still doesn't give him momentum. I'm sure he's pleasing his base, but I doubt he's making inroads.
The third debate will play to Kerry's strong suit - he can rail about failures in health policy, the economy and the environment and piss Bush off. Arizona should be good.
