We are in absolute agreement on this.
Bush did not have to win the debate, or any of the future ones.
What he must do and did do was hold his own by defending his policies and connect the war on terror to Iraq in the face of the opposition to that idea.
In my mind he succeeded.
He did not win out right, but won because he has the title belt and the challenger needed a knockout to take it from him. That knock out did not occur, and in fact never materialized.
Could Bush have done better?
Sure, he could have, but after a full day of viewing hurricane damages and comforting hundreds of people he was a bit flat.
I also believe that something was distracting him in the audience. The sound was muted in that direction but I sensed a distracting occurrence in the direction of the audience. I hope we get some reports about that.
The Dems have nothing of substance from this debate to use against Bush, but on the flip side there is much that Kerry said that was untrue or misrepresented. Kerry also danced around several points that Bush made and never completely answered anything. he simply diverted to other subjects. (pivoting)
Bush or anyone else for that matter, will have a very difficult time beating Kerry on a debate. Kerry is just too good at it. But he does not need to. Kerry can't connect with the average Joe and acts like a smart ass. His words are thick and meaningless to most.
Those on this forum and others who say Kerry won decisively are either in agreement with his Bull crap or are grading on style.
We know our Bush pretty well, and he cannot do what Kerry does in the style category.
It must be said, that style alone does not make a good president. Substance is the issue and Bush won the substance battle without question. It is unfortunate that debates are graded on style, but voters vote substance.
Could Bush have done better?
Yep, but what all the relentlessly negative Freepers and trolls still do not realize. Kerry HAD to do better and he didn't.
Perhaps Bush should not have spent "a full day viewing hurricane damage and comforting hundreds of people."
He should have made a quick "compassion" photo op for the evening news, then spent the rest of the day in a more relaxed manner.
If you say Bush's willingness to spend "a full day" on compassion for hurricane victims speaks well of him, I would disagree. This election poses a mortal danger to this country and the world, because it could result in a Kerry presidency. In that case, Bush's highest duty is not to the victims of acts of God. It is to win this election. And the debate was more important than a marginally better story on the Florida evening news about compassionizing.
Stylistically, Bush could have looked better. Sadly, many voters make their judgements on shallow stuff like that.
For the next debate, Bush should look refreshed. Bush should be genuine like he was tonight, but should be sharper. I do worry about the next two debates. The ad war and the ground game is going to be critical.