Of course Kerry knew the questions. Lets don't be niave, google Jim Lehrer folks. If Bush would have notes he could have bumped himself out of the "hard work" rut, notes are invaluable. Furthermore after watching it I think that Bush saw him do this. The Kerry campaign requested the no note policy so Bush wouldn't have any.
If Bush saw this what could he do? Make an international incident on live TV? No he was disgusted. Notice that the usually friendly Bush did NOT shake Lehrer's hand afterward. Notice how he got off the stage quickly.
The DNC will say it was a hankerchief or a tissue. Think college cheat notes. Coded words that represent pre-memorized answers. Kerry was practiciing this slight of hand in Wisconsin. Notice how his hands tremble for the first moment at the podium.
I know he had the questions before hand. They were basically. These are the collosal mistakes Bush has made and what do you think of them.
All just speculation but it could answer Bush's demeanor.
actually, Pres. Bush did shake Lehrer's hand. someone brought that up the other day.
also note that when Kerry looked at his cheat sheet during the debate, his eyes were always shifty, I noted he looked almost Nixon-esque at times, right after the debate, but the media only focused on the side-by-sides when Bush was aghast at Kerry's lies & Moore-onics. Look at the pictures of Kerry when he looked at his cheat sheet & how guilty he looked right after, looking shiftily side to side to see if anybody had noticed or caught him.
If a team cheats near the start of a game and the other team notices it, it can be very difficult to call attention to the cheating without it being perceived as an admission that one wasn't certain one can win.
If a team manages a narrow victory, and then after the game can show that they managed their victory despite the other team's cheating, that's what will really cement their performance.
In the immediate afterglow of the debates, Kerry came off ahead. But I think that will fade if people ask themselves "What is Kerry's Iraq policy anyway?". If people's opinion of Kerry starts to falter a little bit and then they discover that he cheated, their opinion is going to plummet far more than if they'd been aware of the cheating from the get-go.