Get out.
Immediate reactions to a debate are meaningless to its ultimate effect. We're only now seeing the meaning of the debate. It is playing out in the campaign in how each candidate is using it. Kerry is out there spouting off on having "won" the debate.
Bush is out quoting Kerry from the debate.
Who won? Obviously, the winner is the guy who walks away with some goodies to use on the trail. Kerry is getting kicked upside da head for his inanities spewed. Bush very, very careully said nothing that could be misused, misconstrued, or abused by Kerry. All Kerry has to use is that he "won." He has no soundbite, no quotation, no nothing from the President that he can employ. This is no accident.
Bush may not have "won" the debate, but he is winning its aftermath. That is, Bush wins.
It wasn't so much what he said or didn't say that did Bush in, it was his hangdog demeanor.
He could have looked alert and engaged and still had his Kerry soundbytes.