He says the damage won't show up in the polls for a few days.
Krauthammer is not to be taken lightly.
We will see, I disagree. I think Kerry did win the debate, but not big. Bush didn't make any mistakes that Kerry can use. Bush and Co. and hit Kerry with his gaffes like Global Test.
Except that is a tremendous misreading of the situation regardless - Bush did NO harm to himself. The question is how much he may have gained, if any. I contend that Bush was focused on gaining those in the middle and Kerry was focused on trying to sustain his liberal base. Kerry maintained some anti-war support. Bush wouldn't lose anybody because of last night and his cool demeanor scores points with those in the middle and women, especially, who wouldn't like a blitzkrieg that many seem to have been demanding. But the anti-war voters - or those even at all affected by Kerry's appearance - will not ever consider voting for Kerry; they were the ones Kerry was losing to Nader & why he jolted left to stop the bleeding. I like Krauthammer too but he lives in the liberal vaccum and is frequently susceptible to the spin that exists there, despite his otherwise sound reasoning. Same thing happened with people sucking up to Kerry after his convention when only a few correctly determined that was a LOSER (as was this debate for Kerry)
I agree. I was very troubled to hear him that critical of the Pres.
Krauthammer has been wrong before and is wrong this time, too.
I like him all right, but wrong he is.
Hewitt doesn't just think Bush won, he is playing an extended clip that illustrates Bush "pummelled him" (Hewitt's words).
He says the damage won't show up in the polls for a few days.
Krauthammer is not to be taken lightly.
That's right, and that's why I think the premature sigh of relief I've been seeing here is distressing. We can make all the excuses we want about how "everyone knows W. isn't a good debator" to justify how his subpar performance won't hurt him, or--and this I find to be surreal--that it was some kind of "strategy" on Bush and Co.'s part. That's a laugh--maybe I'm being dense, but what kind of strategy is it to purposely turn in a tentative, defensive performance and not use the ammunition you have at your disposal so you can trip up your opponent? Makes no sense. W had plenty of points and countershots he could have made during the debate and, inexplicably, didn't use them.
So even tho' W's polls are holding up now, that means nothing. Trends take a little while to show up. I wonder what we will be saying next week.