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.
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.
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.
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.
I'm surprised this was printed in the New York Daily News...
"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."
The two most important points here. Last night, the likeability factor kicked in. Voters gravitate to the most likeable person, and President Bush was the best candidate in this category by far. People were reminded why they didn't 'take' to Kerry in the first place.
.....So goes Australia so goes America!!! (Don't believe the polls this race ain't close!!!)