2004 Presidential Debate #1
If I had to pronounce judgement on the participants of tonight’s debate, I would have to say it was very close. As far as picking a clear and distinct winner, I suppose that also depends on which type of glasses you wear.
If you are a rose colored glasses wearing Democrat, then I am sure you think John Kerry “performed” very well. He was well rehearsed and he appeared to be calmer than President Bush. Too bad it was all an act, and most (if not all) of his answers were factually incorrect.
If you are a red, white and blue colored glasses wearing Republican, then I am sure you think President Bush did an outstanding job stating the facts and sticking to his guns regarding foreign policy and homeland security. Too bad he could not be more articulate last night, because most (if not all) of his answers were true to form and hit their mark, often splitting the very hairs of the previous bullseye.
Personally, I would rather have seen a real debate instead of a 90 minute political ad full of buzz words, sound bytes, and previous hyperbole. Maybe they will get their act together before next Friday.
A couple of my favorite lines (from each candidate) were:
From John Kerry:
And now we see beheadings. And we got weapons of mass destruction crossing the border every single day, and they’re blowing people up.
and when speaking about pre-emptive strikes,
But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you’re doing what you’re doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.
From President Bush:
I don’t see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. What message does that send our troops? What message does that send to our allies? What message does that send the Iraqis?
and
Let me  I’m not exactly sure what you mean, “passes the global test,†you take preemptive action if you pass a global test.
My attitude is you take preemptive action in order to protect the American people, that you act in order to make this country secure.
You can read the entire transcript over at The Command Post. In fact, after reading the transcript, I think President Bush did better on paper than John Kerry. :smile:
Here is what some other bloggers have said about the debate today:
Blogs for Bush has 10 impressions from the debate
The questions from Jim Lehrer had everything to do with Bush’s record and nothing to do with Kerry’s. Do you think Lehrer was “in the bag” with the media mantra that ‘if this election is about Bush, then Kerry wins; but if this election is about Kerry, then Bush wins’? Looks like his questions were designed to address exactly this strategy..
Stageleft answers the question, So Who Won?
Other interesting things worth noting are that apparently U.S. foreign policy pretty well revolves around Iraq and Afghanistan, with minor roles being played by North Korea, Iran, some old Russian nukes, and genocide in Darfur - Israel got a very quick mention, Palestine got nothing, developing countries got nothing, trafficking in people got nothing, the third world got nothing, world starvation and disease got nothing, climate change and global warming got nothing…. hell, there were a lot of things that got nothing. It’s enough to make a person think that foreign policy and military action, or the threat there of, are what foreign policy in America is all about.
and Little Green Footballs says, “You Don’t Need A Staged Debate To See the Future“,
In my opinion, nobody “won,†although Kerry probably helped his battered image slightly by not collapsing into a quivering mass of orange Jell-o.
Just about every blog out there is commenting on the debate, so if you are looking for commentary away from the Lamestream Media, you will not be disappointed.
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