Pretty decent debate but a bit boring. Having a debate without dealing with terrorism much in these times is pretty dumb. Kerry bringing up Cheney's daughter was a total cheap shot. Should Bush bring up Kerry's ex-wife? Bush did pretty well and was strong on the marriage issue, taxes and judges. Kerry had a better answer than Bush about the assault weapons ban.
Watching some CNN pundits it seems they saw a different debate as most of them (mostly lefties) thought Kerry won big. I'm not sure how anyone could really think either side had a big week.
The big ad buy needs to be about the Senator to the left of Ted Kennedy.
Posted by Tim at October 13, 2004 08:41 PMGreat blogging tonight! I agree whole-heartedly and posted a trackback to my thoughts. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that thinks Bush won it tonight.
Posted by: John Swords at October 13, 2004 08:48 PMKos is blogging that CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and ABC are showing polling that Kerry won. Consider the source. I'm a Dem partisan. I thought Bush needed a knockout tonight to slow Kerry's surge in the polls. He sure didn't get it. I turned to a Dem friend and said, "I think Kerry just became 'Mr. President' tonight."
Bush's best moment may have been when he talked about his wife.
"...I can't tell you how lucky I am [to have Laura]. When I met her in the backyard at Joe and Jan O'Neill's in Midland, Texas, it was the classic backyard barbecue. O'Neill said, 'Come on over. I think you'll find somebody who might interest you.' So I said, 'All right.' I walked over there. There was only four of us there. And not only did she interest me, I guess you would say it was love at first sight...." (From the WaPo)
With all his fumbling for words during the debate and then the talk about his wife at the end, President Bush seemed incredibly personable and very human, even to a critical Dem like me.
Posted by: Tom at October 13, 2004 09:27 PMMaybe debate scoring has changed since was in a debate while in college. I recall that a key criteria was to stay focused on the question and use only relevent facts and logic. I can't see Kerry winning 3/3 under those rules.
Posted by: Glenn at October 18, 2004 01:30 PM
