It really depends on your "grading criteria". Evidently you are more impressed by style than content. You should keep in mind it's more important what a candidate says then how he expresses it. You may recall the eight years of "symbolism" over "substance" during the clintoon admin. Unless I'm mistaken, Kerry also received the questions ahead of time from Jim Lehrer...something the sponsoring networks always do in prez debates to help their cvandidate score points.
Look, Kerry was dead wrong about everything, but you know you're in trouble when he starts talking about trusting the North Koreans and is able to make it sound good to the unlearned. You know you're in even more trouble when your guy cant even refute such a stupid position.