My take on the debates is that it was basically a draw, with perhaps minor lean to the D's. Edwards recited his talking points well, and they were aggressive and on point. Cheney was not as aggressive or forceful as he could have or should have been. He had some good hits, the meeting Edwards for the first time was funny...but he needed to land punches on Kerry not on Edwards. I think there were more than a few missed opportunities. I think he offered a valid defense of the administration, but did not stick to and push the administrations talking points.
The biggest example is flip flop. That is a devastating charge, and Cheney had multiple opportunities to nail it home and missed. He brushed up against it late, but missed some great opportunities. When the question was about the global test and Edwards was talking about Kerry said no veto I thought Cheney was going to unload on him. He didn't. When the followup question was about flip flopping I was almost ecstatic it was such a perfect set up...but it was weak. If Cheney had said, "You asked about the global test and what it means. It means a french veto. The senator said Kerry said there would be no veto...and he's right. Kerry said that. But the point is that Kerry said BOTH. THAT is a flip flop. He wants it both ways."
Another example, Edwards suggested that if neccessary for security purposes we should train Iraqi troops outside of Iraq. Cheney should very briefly and quickly SLAMMED Edwards. Something along the lines of, "Here is a perfect example of them saying they have a plan, and then talking about what this administration is already doing. If he had shown up for work, he would know that Iraqi forces are already being trained in Hungary, Jordan, the UAE and other places." That would have turned their 'we have a plan' BS into a joke.
When Edwards went off on Halliburton, I was very disappointed with Cheney's response. Go to factcheck.org?!? The response should have been something like, "There has always been kook fringes on both sides. This is a prime example of the Michael Moore wackos having taken over the once great democrat party. The inmates are now running the asylum."
When there was a question about partisanship, Cheney had a great opportunity. He should have said something like, "You're right Gwen, there has been a dramatic increase in partisanship. These VP debates are a great example. I've personally sat on this side of the table both now and four years ago. Four years ago it was cordial and polite. We had our policy differences, but we could work together. This year, it is bitter and partisan. It is still me on this side of the table. It is the other side that has changed."
You were obviously watching a different debate than I.
Halliburton won a competitive bidding process for LOGCAP in 2001. So it was natural to turn to it (actually, to its wholly owned subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root) for prewar planning about handling oil fires in Iraq. "To invite other contractors to compete to perform a highly classified requirement that Kellogg Brown & Root was already under a competitively awarded contract to perform would have been a wasteful duplication of effort," the Army Corps of Engineers commander has written.
Then, in February 2003, the Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton a temporary no-bid contract to implement its classified oil-fire plan. The thinking was it would be absurd to undertake the drawn-out contracting process on the verge of war. If the administration had done that and there had been catastrophic fires, it would now be considered evidence of insufficient postwar planning. And Halliburton was an obvious choice, since it put out 350 oil-well fires in Kuwait after the first Gulf War.
The Clinton administration made the same calculation in its own dealings with Halliburton. The company had won the LOGCAP in 1992, then lost it in 1997. The Clinton administration nonetheless awarded a no-bid contract to Halliburton to continue its work in the Balkans supporting the U.S. peacekeeping mission there because it made little sense to change midstream. According to Byron York, Al Gore's reinventing-government panel even singled out Halliburton for praise for its military logistics work.
The village is searching for you, the other idiot isn't working out well.