Posted on 09/30/2004 3:58:38 PM PDT by Cableguy
CORAL GABLES, Fla. Sept. 30, 2004 After a deluge of campaign speeches and hostile television ads, President Bush and challenger John Kerry got their chance to face each other directly Thursday night before an audience of tens of millions of voters in a high-stakes debate about terrorism, the Iraq war and the bloody aftermath.
The 90-minute encounter was particularly crucial for Kerry, trailing slightly in the polls and struggling for momentum less than five weeks before the election. The Democratic candidate faced the challenge of presenting himself as a credible commander in chief after a torrent of Republican criticism that he was prone to changing his positions.
Bush was expected to confront questions about leading the nation into war on the still-unproven premise that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He also has faced accusations that he lacked a strategy to deal with the violence and chaos that have left more than 1,000 Americans dead and that the Iraq war has diverted U.S. attention from al-Qaida and other terrorists.
With a record of four years in office to defend, Bush had a debate strategy of being optimistic about Iraq but acknowledging that times were tough. His stance is that Americans know he is a decisive leader even if they don't always agree with his decisions and that Kerry has taken conflicting positions on Iraq and can't be trusted to lead the nation.
Although Kerry voted to give Bush authority to invade Iraq, he says he would not have followed Bush's path to war a path that alienated allies and, the Democrat says, left Americans less secure. Kerry argues Bush is out of touch with reality, paints too rosy a picture about Iraq and lacks a strategy to end the crisis.
Kerry also says Bush has neglected other major problems like North Korea and Iran, two nations suspected of pursing nuclear weapons.
Kerry, in a taped interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday, said, "George Bush is scaring America. He's talking terror every day, and people see terrible images of what's happening in the world, and they're real."
Bush spent the morning comforting hurricane victims on his fifth survey of Florida areas hit by storms. At the Martin County, Fla., Red Cross center, Bush thanked volunteers for showing "the true heart of America. We long to help somebody when they're hurting."
The debate's focus on Iraq was sharpened by bombings in Baghdad Thursday that killed three dozen children.
Ahead in the polls, Bush could afford to settle for a debate draw while Kerry needed something to break the status quo. Some Democrats saw the debates as the last chance for a Kerry breakout.
Thursday night's meeting at the University of Miami was the first of three Bush-Kerry debates over a two-week period. Neither side was underestimating its importance with a TV audience of 30 million to 40 million expected. Almost a third of people surveyed say the debates will be a deciding factor in how they vote.
The first debate drew the nation's attention to hurricane-battered Florida and its political importance. Florida swung the presidency to Bush in the disputed 2000 election and could determine whether he wins re-election.
The debates were staged under a rigid set of rules negotiated by the candidates' representatives to limit spontaneity and opportunities for back-and-forth exchanges.
Typical of the alphabets......lots of words saying absolutely nothing.
Yes. It seems like a shell or first draft of a (biased) story.
This surprises me not.
The Main Stream Media are dinosaurs. Let's give them a purpose in life and employ them to hand out ice in Florida and actually make a difference in people's lives.
Lampham must be getting as old as Brokaw, Jennings and Rather which is TOO OLD. They made their fortunes and reputations by tearing down the US and building up a World government. They are Media Elites, including Lampham.
Agreed.
When I was in radio I did this all the time (not the bias part) - of course it wasn't being posted on a website back then!!!!
Everyone's gotta be prepared for the media spin job for the Kerry campaign following the debate. This is their last real chance to give Pumpkinhead a boost in the polls, and we all know the lib media will do their best to do just that.
This article was put out for the early editions (by mail in many cases) that are printed at around 6pm. They want a debate story so the early edition isn't totally worthless. The last edition, going to bed, say, after 11pm ( the one that ends up at your door the next morning)will have the pre-event story lifted out of the space and new story inserted.
Mark Levin on 770 WABC gave FreeRepublic a good plug re this thread on the air tonight!
If you are using Internet Explorer, simply click on "File/WorkOffline" and then enter the URL of the original ABC article. You will get an exact copy from your cache to post.
LOL! And it hasn't even started!
The story is still online in the Boston Herald, with just the tenses changed. I don't see this as dishonest, because it's setting the stage for the debate; there's no attempt to portray the debate itself.
http://news.bostonherald.com/election/view.bg?articleid=46833
Check out the tense. It is all past tense. The AP guy wrote it as 1st draft, and will probably add to it during the debate. These guys have strict deadlines. The mistake is releasing it beforehand. Not necessarily writing it beforehand.
There was a similar post a while ago. They make these articles and just add a little after the fact. It's actually pretty funny, because it all is a bit predictable.
How the hell do you purse a nuclear weapon?
Oh, I lost all interest in this article when the headline cited ABC news as the culprit, because (really) who even watches ABC anyway?
I haven't cared to watch any news article by the A(merican)B(bureau)C(of cretins) since Jennings and his clowns at the network has the great patriotic country singer Toby Keith canned from the '02 Independence day special for not towing the "peace" and "sensitivity" lines that the news network espouses daily. Besides that Jennings has altered (with the extreme complicity of the network news division) the facts of his evening reports to benefit America's enemies from the communist Sandanista's to Hussein's Iraq.
More than CBS even, ABC puts the "programming" into news programming.
Where was the part that TaRATza was thrown out of the venue for screaming SHOVE IT after Scheiffer asked a question she didn't like?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4525968,00.html
Bush, Kerry Prepare for Debate in Fla.
Thursday September 30, 2004 7:16 PM
AP Photo FLRE102
By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - After a deluge of campaign speeches and hostile television ads, President Bush and challenger John Kerry will get their chance to face each other directly Thursday night before an audience of tens of millions of voters in a high-stakes debate about terrorism, the Iraq war and the bloody aftermath.
The 90-minute encounter will be particularly crucial for Kerry, trailing slightly in the polls and struggling for momentum less than five weeks before the election. The Democratic candidate faced the challenge of presenting himself as a credible commander in chief after a torrent of Republican criticism that he was prone to changing his positions.
Bush was expected to confront questions about leading the nation into war on the still-unproven premise that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He also has faced accusations that he lacked a strategy to deal with the violence and chaos that have left more than 1,000 Americans dead and that the Iraq war has diverted U.S. attention from al-Qaida and other terrorists.
With a record of four years in office to defend, Bush had a debate strategy of being optimistic about Iraq but acknowledging that times were tough. His stance is that Americans know he is a decisive leader even if they don't always agree with his decisions and that Kerry has taken conflicting positions on Iraq and can't be trusted to lead the nation.
Although Kerry voted to give Bush authority to invade Iraq, he says he would not have followed Bush's path to war - a path that alienated allies and, the Democrat says, left Americans less secure. Kerry argues Bush is out of touch with reality, paints too rosy a picture about Iraq and lacks a strategy to end the crisis.
Kerry also says Bush has neglected other major problems like North Korea and Iran, two nations suspected of pursing nuclear weapons.
Kerry, in a taped interview on ABC's ``Good Morning America'' on Thursday, said, ``George Bush is scaring America. He's talking terror every day, and people see terrible images of what's happening in the world, and they're real.''
Bush spent the morning comforting hurricane victims on his fifth survey of Florida areas hit by storms. At the Martin County, Fla., Red Cross center, Bush thanked volunteers for showing ``the true heart of America. We long to help somebody when they're hurting.''
The debate's focus on Iraq was sharpened by bombings in Baghdad Thursday that killed three dozen children.
Ahead in the polls, Bush could afford to settle for a debate draw while Kerry needed something to break the status quo. Some Democrats saw the debates as the last chance for a Kerry breakout.
Thursday night's meeting at the University of Miami was the first of three Bush-Kerry debates over a two-week period. Neither side was underestimating its importance with a TV audience of 30 million to 40 million expected. Almost a third of people surveyed say the debates will be a deciding factor in how they vote.
The first debate drew the nation's attention to hurricane-battered Florida and its political importance. Florida swung the presidency to Bush in the disputed 2000 election and could determine whether he wins re-election.
The debates were staged under a rigid set of rules negotiated by the candidates' representatives to limit spontaneity and opportunities for back-and-forth exchanges.
Then it has to be methane retention - hope no one lights up near him.
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