No, not "arguably". It's not even close. Lee had a good performance if he could manage to sing in tune.
"But she did not even attempt to make her self likable by the audience, and she really, really wasn’t."
Depends on what it is people want to like. Don't know where the "really, really wasn't" comes from. I didn't find anything about Crystal that dislikable.
I’m OK with disagreeing.
The difference was that Bowersox was only the most appealing with one’s eyes open. When you listen to her with your eyes closed, she could be anyone. She isn’t even as original sounding as Siobhan. When you see this hippie-looking little gal, and hear that she really can rock it, it’s kind of a first impression thing.
Whereas Lee sounds great aurally. He has a great quality to his voice. You want to keep hearing it, because it’s NOT like everyone else. So what if he misses a couple notes — they can clean that up in the studio.
Crystal doesn’t care whether you like her. Screw you if you don’t. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not endearing. What she tries to put forth as confidence is actually a kind of F U bravado of the counter culture.
Lee nearly passed out, peed, and vomited in delighted shock that we all liked him and voted for him. That’s endearing!!