Good analysis, RockinRight.....I agree on the substance thing....Bush -- even though he occasionally "stumbles" over his choice of words -- is rock-solid in his beliefs. I especially liked the way he repeated -- over and over again -- how a Commander-In-Chief must be trustworthy and how he painted a very ACCURATE picture of Kerry as not being a trustworthy candidate for president. I also noticed that Kerry never came out and said that Pres Bush "lied"....he said "prevaricated" and all that wishy-washy stuff because he KNOWS that if he says Pres Bush lied then his (Kerry's) campaign is toast. One doesn't call the Pres of the US -- even if they disagree with them -- a "liar"....overall, like you said, Bush wins on substance over Kerry's "fluff"...Here's another goood article on FR analyzing the 1st Debate:
Keeping Score: A round-by-round look at how Bush and Kerry did during the debate. 