Your vote and mine are not the ones to worry about. It's the undecided voters who may have a completely different perspective. And to be honest, I'd stop short of saying Bush looked more "composed"...he was clearly flustered at several times in the debate.
the problem is putting your views on that of a swing voter.
most swing voters respond to attacks on candidates, but not when done by the other candidate directly. It looks mean. Bush had openings but didn't take them precisely for this reason - maybe that's why he was feeling frustrated. ut john kerry did. He attacked bush in ways that turn off most swing voters. Bush took it and remained generally affable. Probably as close as he could have gotten to the 'there you go again' tone of reagan considering the pinhead he's up against.
Probably more frustrated than "flustered". He had to stand there & listen to lie after lie. I hated this forum. Give them a real debate where they actually go one on one.
I agree with you, unfortutunately. Kerry was articulate and pointed without coming across as aggressive. And before this debate I was, and still am, a very strong Bush supporter. Kerry also didn't come across as pompous to me. While he clearly didn't come across as warm, he didn't come across as a cold fish, either.
And I agree especially about Bush's demeanor. I was quite dismayed to see how tight-jawed and grim he looked. And I at some moments his face looked like it was turning red from suppressed anger. He was like that almost from the beginning which I found startling--he was ahead in the polls, he looked instead like he was coming in with quite a hurdle to tackle. By comparison Kerry looked poised and collected.
I know Bush has been through a lot during the 3+ years and has had to make a lot of tough decisions, I just wished that he showed more spunk and optimism (like in the 2000 debates) and had brought up a lot of points he could have attacked Kerry with. As well as being able to control what appeared to be suppressed anger.
I think what happened is Bush and team got overconfident again--they thought they had it in the bag so they could afford for Bush to be too gentlemanly, and that all Bush would have to do was to refer to Kerry's "mixed signals" (code word for flip-flopper) again and again and they would win.
I couldn't bear to watch. Did Kerry appear flustered or was he at all times composed?
I agree. Although I will certainly vote for President Bush, those on the fence could not have been swayed by last nights performance. The president seemed flustered and anoyed by Kerry and may have seemed smug.
btw......welcome to FR, brand newbie.