Yes, Bush missed many chances to counter Kerry's lies, but America is not made of pointy-heads and pencil-necks.
"The mistake this guy makes is viewing the debate from a pointy-headed intellectual point of view, which he is."
I agree. Mr. Nordlinger appears to be thinking along the lines that 100 percent of people are undecided about who they are going to vote for, instead of the 20 percent or so, if we can believe the numbers, who are.
But that's exactly the point. Because undecided voters aren't smart or informed enough to see how liberal Kerry is, Bush has to paint a very clear picture for them. Although he had some strong lines and clearly won on substance, Bush failed to paint a compelling overall picture of Kerry as unacceptably far-left on foreign policy. To do that, he needed to use Kerry's record,
which he barely did.
I believe this to be true. The average American is not interested in political savy and the winner of debates. They're interested in a leader. And a leader doesn't look for the Global-nod, or whatever Kerry said, to make its moves. In other words, we want a President who wont look to the UN first.