Posted on 10/09/2004 5:43:32 AM PDT by finnman69
Before last night's debate, a friend remarked that America had seen all four national candidates in action and that three had given good, solid performances. The fourth was President Bush. That's changed. Now all four have proven their mettle.
If you're scoring at home, the debate game is now tied at one victory each for President Bush and John Kerry.
It was a different Bush who showed up in St. Louis last night. Brimming with confidence and energy and enough humor to soften his edginess, he was in command of his thoughts and even his face. And, for him, he was remarkably articulate, especially about the need to stay on offense against terrorism. Despite a few misses, it was a performance worthy of a President. Bush did seem a bit testy and overeager out of the gate, but soon settled into a rhythm of nimble responses both to questions from the audience and to Kerry's claims.
He was a man with a plan - to hammer away on Kerry as someone who changes his mind too often to be commander-in-chief and as a liberal who will raise taxes. He delivered enough facts and examples to put meat on his charges, pointing scornfully at least three times to Kerry's record during 20 years in the Senate.
I believe Bush reminded millions of voters of why they like him and trust him even though they often don't agree with him. And he reinforced doubts about Kerry's leadership and consistency.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Ping
Off the ropes. Snort.
loving this quote:
With the first 35 minutes devoted to questions about Iraq, terrorism and Iran, Bush had an early advantage. He came across as confident and direct. And every time he says the war in Iraq was the right thing to do, you know he believes it.
Kerry's problems in that area were captured in the very first question, when an audience member asked him about charges he is "wishy-washy."
The question was like asking Kerry whether he still beats his wife. The best he could do was say no. He did that but then went on to give examples of where he has criticized laws - the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind - that he voted for to show he is smart, not wishy-washy. To ordinary ears, turning against something you supported defines wishy-washy. In Washington, it's standard practice. But Kerry is running for President, not senator.
My bet is the polls will quickly reflect Bush's strong performance. He lost a lead of about eight points with his peevish, sourpuss appearance last week. He may not get it all back, but he has certainly gotten himself off the floor.
The rubber match, the final debate, is Wednesday. Circle the date. It will be a winner-take-all event.
what's everyone's take on the debate last night? bush did much better...NO DOUBT..still not totally himself...
but it is clear to me at least... he's debating someone who is difficult to debate because the guy is one of these smooth talking vacuum salesmen types, that always has a cum back.
you know the type, the guy when you were young who always had to get the last word,
i think bush should be proud of his record...an ignore the basta****d.
in fact during the debate last night, listening to kerry's endless, "i have a plan etc etc." i realized why you can't circumcize him..."cause there's no end to that pri*k"
over all bush probably did B +, KERRY B.
wish we could vote next tuesday and then get on with our lives...
NICK
Let's see, what's my take...um....
YEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAWWWWWwwwwWWW! Want some wood?"
That's what my wife and I saw. I got a little nervous at first. He spoke to loud, in that high pitched tone he sometimes unfortunately uses. Then he relaxed, his tone of voice dropped lower, became more (literally) resonant, and he slowed down a little, and hit some solid line drives.
When he walked people through the list of "unpopular" decisions he has made, I turned to my wife and said "he's doing very well right now." And he was. He still hit a few clunkers. OK fine. But he did well.
Here's one I think everybody missed. Kerry had just gotten done berating GW for being the first president ever to cut taxes in wartime. FDR and Truman, he said, knew how to draw a sacrifice out of you. Then a minute or so later, he's pledging to do what? Cut taxes during wartime! I wanted Bush to come back with that, but instead he stuck to his script and did some riffs on taxes. And I haven't heard anyone mention it.
One of the few decent articles about Bush's performance last night...
I agree with this.
The rubber match, the final debate, is Wednesday. Circle the date. It will be a winner-take-all event.
Not sure about this. Are ppl really gonna watch 3 of these things? I'd like to know the ratings of the 2nd hour of this one. I went back to baseball. Like the Yankees, last night GW had things in hand.
Kerry's #1 phrase last night was "I have a Plan".
???????? (My translation) But first, my opponent put his socks on left foot first compared to me putting my right sock on first and this makes no sense because to give the richest Americans a tax cut because health care costs are too high and my opponent spent all the money in Iraq, but I have a plan to reduce dependency on foreign oil, but "I have a plan"?????????
More like "I have a spin". Did Kerry answer any questions directly? NO. The only Kerry plan I see is that he wants to be elected President. There is absolutely nothing else in place policy wise that President Bush isn't already doing. Only Kerry says his plan will be faster, bigger, and he won't raise taxes. Spin spin spin.
Kerry is pretty slick in his presentation, but anyone really paying attention to his statements should be intelligent enough to know he is empty beyond promise.
Kerry's worse than that. How many times did he "respond" to Bush by firing off four or five or six utterly unrelated comments? How do you even decide which one to go after in 30 seconds?
Your assessment is close to mine. I think that the President was actually at his best during the domestic issues. Kerry must be cursing the ladies who asked about 2 of the hot button moral issues - embryonic stem cell research and partial birth abortion. As a Catholic, I see that there is a surprise coming for Kerry. He is not only out of line, but heretical on these points. The president scored heavily here with traditional dems who happen to be Catholic or other conservative faithful. Kerry droning on about how deeply he respects these ladies' beliefs came across condescending and fake. Bush won some more hearts last night!
Huck:
That is an EXCELLENT point... I missed that as the debate went on but you are ABSOLUTELY right...
Kerry berated the Pres for being the first president to want to cut taxes during wartime and then a few minutes later he promised to cut taxes during wartime.....
typical Kerry
Maybe you should email the RNC and Karl Rove in case they missed this CLASSIC flip-flop.... I know I did, but you put your finger DIRECTLY in Kerry's mixed-up soul....
8 points? I don't think so.
I'm thinking maybe you can help out with this?
Huck:Howlin, UncleSamUSA is referring to the 3rd paragraph of my post #7:
That is an EXCELLENT point... I missed that as the debate went on but you are ABSOLUTELY right...Kerry berated the Pres for being the first president to want to cut taxes during wartime and then a few minutes later he promised to cut taxes during wartime.....
typical Kerry
Maybe you should email the RNC and Karl Rove in case they missed this CLASSIC flip-flop.... I know I did, but you put your finger DIRECTLY in Kerry's mixed-up soul....
Here's one I think everybody missed. Kerry had just gotten done berating GW for being the first president ever to cut taxes in wartime. FDR and Truman, he said, knew how to draw a sacrifice out of you. Then a minute or so later, he's pledging to do what? Cut taxes during wartime! I wanted Bush to come back with that, but instead he stuck to his script and did some riffs on taxes. And I haven't heard anyone mention it.
If someone will look up the transcript. I think they happened one after the other. I couldn't believe it. Howlin can you pass this along?
"I like the car salesman from Harvard analogy better, F'ing is incredibly scripted and has obviously rehearsed every conceivable answer out there which is easy to do when you have no core values, but "he has a plan".
GW needs to stop respopnding to every cheap shot f'ing takes and go after him more, even more aggressively not necessarily screaming like Lurch but using his head and blasting his 20 year record of nothing done in the Senate."
You're right. Kerry is like these big jerks you'd go to school with...and no one would take them on. Then finally you call him out and they back down.
Bush needs to call this guy out on his Senate record. Pick just a few points and slam them home. Dick Morris' pre debate article was excellent on this.
I get the feel that Peggy Noonan is weighing heavily too. Anyone hear her yesterday or see Ann Coulter on Larry King?
nick
Kerry WAY overused the I have a plan thing.
I took that as a good sign :-)
"I believe Bush reminded millions of voters of why they like him and trust him even though they often don't agree with him."
I hope so. The media spin is driving me NUTS! And I'm usually immune to it. I was listing to Fox this AM and one of the editors of Newsweak was quibbling with Bush's quote that he didn't know he owned a lumber co. She was saying (without any proof herself) that Bush did own a small ownership in a lumber co. Hey, technically I own a small ownership in GM. I don't go around saying I own the largest car manufacturer in the world though. Bizzare.
But it gets worse. She then said "I don't think Kerry would make up a fact like that." Huh? Aren't journalists supposed to be skeptical of everything and take nothing for face value? Isn't that what journalism is about? And here is a editor of a large US news weekly saying "I'm going to give Kerry a pass here and go after Bush instead." In a couple of days we are probably going to find out that Bush, in fact, owns 100 shares of Georgia Pacific in a blind trust that a money manager bought last week and the media is going to shout Bush is a liar. Gimme a break. I gotta just turn my TV off until the election is over.
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