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I hate to say it but I refuse to be a blind partisan! President Bush disappointed me last night. Why did he let Kerry get to him? From what I understood the president watched past Kerry debates which showed that Kerry is an expert at getting under his opponents skin. President Bush was completely on the defensive and bumbled all over himself! Why didn't the President open up Kerry's senate record and rip him to shreds? John Kerry himself is avoiding his Senate record on purpose because he knows it is his weakness. Why didn't the President tell America that we are looking for Osama bin Laden as we speak. Why didn't the President quote John Kerry in which he said "It would be irresponsible to vote against the 87 Billion supplemental"! why didn't the President mention how the events of Sept. 11th forced him to look at the world in a different perspective and that he refuses to allow that awful day to happen again? Why didn't the President mention Abu Abbass, Abu Nidal, Zarqawi getting medical treatment in Baghdad during the Afghanistan war? Why didn't he mention Ansar Al Islam which is an Al Qaeda affiliate which operates out of Northern Iraq? There are two President Bushes. One is straight foreword, calm, confident and comfortable with himself. The other George Bush is a bumbling fool who can't even spit out the most simple thoughts! Don't get me wrong! I love the guy and I believe if given the chance he can deliver a pretty serious blow to the terrorist and that is the guy I want in the white house. John Kerry is a fraud and President Bush must expose him to the American people if he wants to win. The next debate is domestic policy and John Kerry is going to have plenty of material and if President Bush wants to win he must be armed to the teeth with John Kerry tax increases and other big government votes from John Kerry's senate record. The President must proudly defend his record and put John Kerry on the defensive about his far left liberal record. The President must not make faces or slouch and he must be on the ball! We should all send an email to both the white house and the Presidents reelection site and implore him to not let this country down and to rise to the challenge and be the determined strong leader we all know and admire. If he does not take John Kerry seriously then he is not taking America seriously and he deserves to lose and the whole country loses with him!

My first impression of the debate was that bush could have been better and kerry was smoother, but I thought it was not as bad as the MSM is making it out to be. But beyond that, I think you're missing the point. These debates are not about legalistic argumentation, that would just confuse the TV viewers. If Bush used half the arguments you list he would come off as too aggressive. I wish he had used more humor, and he did pounce on the biggest gaff kerry made, which was the "global test" line. That line is going to haunt kerry from now until election day, and may yet turn this debate on its ear.

I'd say kerry will get a modest bump in the polls that perhaps lasts a week from this performance, no more. The long term effects as his statements are turned into commercials could really hurt him, though, a far more lasting effect.

The first rasmussen tracking poll results to include significant post-debate interviews will be posted at noon tomorrow, but it will take until monday for the rolling average to fully reflect the data.