Posted on 10/01/2004 12:34:21 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Spin is underway, and a variety of polls are suggesting a Kerry victory in the debate last night.
Truth be told, Kerry exceeded expectations, but when it came to substance, he came up short.
The flash polls still suggest Kerry won the debate, which Democrats think makes Kerry suddenly unstoppable. Historically speaking, that's hardly the case. Otherwise, we would have seen President Mondale, President Dukakis, President Perot, and President Gore.
Since 1984, no Republican has won in the flash polls from the first debate, but has won 3 out of 5 of those elections.
Ross Perot beat both Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush in the flash poll with 47%. Michael Dukakis beat George H.W Bush 38-29... don't forget, this is the same debate Dukakis gave an emotionless response when asked if his wife were raped and murdered.
In 1984, Reagan was said to have lost the first debate 54-35.
Reagan (the Republican incumbant) was reelected after winning 49 states.
The Kerry camp thinks they should be celebrating right now. But the flash poll is not the election. We can debate who won the debate until we're blue in the face, but no matter how you slice it, in the end substance still is more important than style, and Bush had the monopoly on substance.
Well said and helpfull to keep the faith!
Thanks for providing the historical background.
Went against Mondale in '84
And though in debate he seemed to score
We whipped him with a big landslide
Now he's at burger-town, makin' fries.
Met with Gorbachev in '85
To talk about how everyone could stay alive
And though he seemed to be a guy with class
If he don't play ball, we'll nuke his ... country.
Yes, he was.
It turned out to be a good thing that C-Span showed the Mondale/Reagan debate again. Much needed perspective was provided. They are airing more footage of debates tomorrow, do not remember which ones. Should be interesting to watch.
The pudits also gave Gore the win the in the first Gore/Bush debate.
Thank you!!!!
I needed that!! I am optomistic again!!! I felt so bad for bush!! He is president of our United States!!! He is working overtime right now. Not one news reporter is giving him any credit for being the president. The responsiblily of the job is mind-boggling. He does it so well each and every day! Kerry's only responsibility is to his party!!!!He quit the senate long, long ago!!
That makes me feel better. PLus, W is a FAST learner and the next debate is town hall.
Things are looking UP!
We have the transcript and the garbage Kerry spewed will be dissected like a frog and all of its ugly details (or lack thereof) will be revealed to all.
I turned on Hannity a few minutes ago and he was reading an overnight poll....I missed most of it...did anyone hear it?
Fascinating info.
Did he come back and destroy Mondale? I don't think he did. Remember that Reagan didn't really have to do much; he was so far ahead. Yes, the line about my opponent's "youth and inexperience" was cute, but not the stuff that determines the election winner. The big fear going into that second debate was that Reagan would fall on his face again, and if THAT happened Mondale might have been able to make a real race of it. However, Reagan did fine and his performance was reassuring enough that it shut the door on the only small bit of hope that Mondale had left.
I should also add that Bush totally DESTROYED Ferraro in the VP debate which really stopped any momentum coming from the first Presidential debate.
Yes and in the second debate, Reagan made the classic remark "I refuse to make age an issue in this campaign. I will not, for political purposes, exploit my opponent's relative youth and inexperience" or something like that. CLASSIC!
See post 18. Reagan came back in a big way in the second '84 debate.
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