[wtc911]

This was a national debate for the undecideds. A beauty contest. Style wins over substance. Kerry won the style battle and our guy blew too many chances to punch back with the substance of a clearly defined response rather than simplistic talking points repeated and repeated and repeated....

No way to honestly make this look good for us.

[AndyJackson]

Kerry won the style battle and our guy blew too many chances to punch back with the substance of a clearly defined response rather than simplistic talking points repeated and repeated and repeated

What this debate shows is how hokey high-school debating society rules are. Kerry was great at throwing out "facts." The problem is that he made up a lot of facts on the fly and they were wrong. They ought to change high-school debate rules to take off points for making up lies.

Second, Bush may have missed many opportunities to rebut Kerry's absurd claims, but he got in some good telling blows. Kerry's points about letting the Chinese off the hook in NK's nuclear problem, turning our defenses over to international bodies, his contempt for Americans and his contempt for our allies were pretty well answered.

This isn't about style. It is about who you want to have as President, and Kerry with his arrogance, inability to make a decision, and recklessness with security lost it.