the only thing he won on was attacking.
Fromthe live thread, most people were complaining that bush wasn't attacking.
They forget that attacks BY the candidate turn the swing voters off. attacks by proxy (commercials, spokesmen, other politicans) DO work. But having the candidate do attacks is VERY dangerous. Kerry had to take that risk because he's so far behind. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't win even if he succeeded on leveling numerous attacks. Because the voters will see HIM as the attacker.
For those that doubt this, recall lazio / hillary 2000.
The counter attack will be done over the next week by all parts of the RNC machinery. And bush's hands will be clean while the kerry campaign takes the brunt of the blows.
Too many people fret and panic over the little things and forget the big picture.
Exactly. That's what you have surrogates in a campaign for. President Bush sought to stay presidential tonight. Mission Accomplished. As for Kerry's gaffes, people will pick up on them over the next few days and his poll numbers will start to go down to where they were before. To put it differently, if Kerry wanted to become President, he had to put President Bush away tonight. If he didn't get it done now, its not likely to happen in the subsequent debates. When you're behind you have a mountain to climb. The only way Bush loses the election now if he says something incredibly stupid or is caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl. For Kerry, the object now is not to win but to avoid a humiliating loss in November.