Snugs, one thing to remember is that the next debate will be the "town hall" venue. President Bush always does much better when he is talking directly to the people. He's never comfortable in this type of setting. Someone mentioned that although the President's style is sometimes stumbling and hesitant, we remember what he says. Does anyone recall anything Kerry said? Were there any memorable lines? We will remember that "the biggest threat is nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists."
I didn't think he looked tired. I thought he looked like a fully engaged man who was totally p*ss*d *ff at the deracinated spin coming at him from his opponent, and was just trying to keep it under control.
Mainly I thought he looked disgusted at the cr*p extruding from Kerry's horse face. [BTW, Kerry is (unfortunately) MY senator... and he's thoroughly disgusted me for some 19 years by now, and has given me no reason to change my opinion of him in recent times.] FWIW.
God bless the president: I thought he performed magnificently tonight. Although I do have to say, I checked out Fox for post-debate commentary, and left in disgust after 5 minutes. I couldn't figure out if they had watched the same debate I did.
My main takeaway from the debate tonight is this: Kerry is obviously totally "logic-challenged." Do the math with me here:
(1) He berates President Bush for not adopting a more multilateral strategy in the prosecution of the war in Iraq. Kerry says Bush didn't go to the UN; but clearly Bush in fact went to the UN, and even got a UN sanction (#17) out of the Security Council that, if interpreted according to the plain language and meaning of the UN Charter of 1948, gave the United States a "go-card" in the matter of confronting Sadaam Hussein.
But then, having said the multilateral route is ever the way to go in international "diplomacy" (such that no war need ever be fought ever again anywhere for any reason), he berates President Bush for not turning the multilateral engagement of North Korea into a US - Pyongyang "dialog" -- which would instantly gut the multilateral effort, and probably insult our colleagues China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia into the bargain. (Try getting a party together including those governments anytime soon, for any reason, if Kerry got his way in this.)
Then Kerry waxes eloquent on the joys of cultivating foreign leaders in multilateral cooperation in order to solve world problems. Then what does he do next? He trashes Ayad Allawi -- and Boris Putin!!!
Personally, I think Allawi is evidently a stand-up guy with a constructive vision for his country, who puts his life on the line every day. Not so with Putin, who is, after all, ex-KGB and probably of authoritarian proclivities to boot. Still, Putin is a pretty solid ally in the war on Islamofascism. Kerry absolutely burned Putin tonight.
Next world crisis comes along, and (God forbid!!!) Kerry is president, does anybody reasonably believe that Boris Putin would be warm to sign up to help us, after the public thrashing he got from Kerry tonight?
Like I said, Kerry is totally "logic challenged." I wouldn't trust him to baby-sit my pet cats, let alone to serve as President of the United States, head of state responsible for state diplomacy with other nations, and Commander in Chief of U.S. military forces.
FWIW.