To the uninformed and uncritical, Kerry seemed to win. That impression will fade away, when the reality of all those inconsistencies (and flatly inaccurate statements) settle in on the country --even through our present media milieu.
I think it may take about 18 hours.
I hope you are right.
My first impression was that Bush didn't do well. Throughout the debate I was mentally answering Kerry's charges and finding that Bush was mostly letting them go by with a slap rather than the knockout punch I thought he could have delivered. Kerry held himself well, spoke well, and held his own in terms of style.
Of course, every one of us knows the reality behind every thing he said, and would not fall for any of it. I worry, though, about the "undecideds" who are only now rousing themselves from their torpor to focus for a fleeting moment on election issues. For them what they see on the screen is all there is. For them, I think picking a winner is instinctive, and a Bush who is tired from the rigor of running a war and touring disaster sites doesn't come off well against a guy who has lived his whole life waiting for this moment.
I was annoyed by the after-debate coverage, even on Fox, so I soon flipped to a channel that was replaying the debate, and I was surprised to see that on a second viewing my impression on who was doing well completely reversed. What I saw the first time as a small Bush I saw the second time as very powerful. What looked the first time like a polished Kerry looked the second time to be just the usual Kerry. So your remark that people's impression of the debate may change after a couple of days may be true.
Nonetheless, I worry about the upcoming debate on domestic issues. You can never out-promise a Democrat. If you promise to spend a hundred dollars picking up litter, he'll demand to know why you didn't spend two hundred. If you try to beat them program for program you've already lost.
So very true, unspun!