[The Old Hoosier]

To be honest with you, I thought Bush got his arse whipped in that debate, and I am definitely on his side. I can't imagine which debate these guys thought they were watching if they thought he won.

[Stonedog]

They were probably watching the same debate that I was. The one where the President was asked all the hard questions, and John Kerry contradicted himself 3 times in the same sentence. President Bush did miss a lot of opportunities, but he did reasonably well for the first half of the debate. He then got frustrated in the second half and fell back on the same lines too often instead of attacking the obvious gaffes Kerry made (other than the "global test").

[DoughtyOne]

I wouldn't word it the way you did, but I basicly agree with some reservations. Let me explain.

To get your arse handed to you, you have to be doing your best and get whupped anyway. Nobody can tell me Bush was giving it his best. Nope. I've got a rope-a-dope theory a brewing and I'm going to post it on the forum.

We'll see how folks like or hate it.

Even on this forum only 52% of the participants said Bush won. Look and the numbers for Cheney. Cheney won by 92% according to Freepers.

Bush lost the debate. That's okay. He won't lose the next two, and I'll explain why in my short comments...

Bush's Rope a Dope Moment?

Look for it in a few minutes.

[Squantos]

When I was a deputy sheriff in New Mexico I had a number of calls where I got to observe the local noooooze man David Gregory in action. He's a spineless little twit IMO. Purest form of presstitute there is. I fully expect him to replace Rather or Brokaw some day.............He's too much of a professional nuthugger to stand on his own merit. A pure metrosexual poodle that preys on all things panache. That screams pivot "anchor" man these days !

[Dat Mon]

No way mon. Kerry gave the RNC the "Global Test" ticking bomb which will come back over and over to haunt him.

Bush gave Kerry and the DNC....what??. Nothin, nada.

Kerry never laid a glove on Bush. How could he? If you listened closely and followed his arguments....they made no sense.

All this talk of style vs substance is intellectual parlour games, IMHO.

[kimosabe31]

To be honest with you, I thought Bush got his arse whipped in that debate, and I am definitely on his side. I can't imagine which debate these guys thought they were watching if they thought he won.

It really depends on your "grading criteria". Evidently you are more impressed by style than content. You should keep in mind it's more important what a candidate says then how he expresses it. You may recall the eight years of "symbolism" over "substance" during the clintoon admin. Unless I'm mistaken, Kerry also received the questions ahead of time from Jim Lehrer...something the sponsoring networks always do in prez debates to help their cvandidate score points.

[olliemb]

I thought and still think that Bush won. I guess I don't change my mind based on the most recent polls. Tho Bush did miss opportunities to counteract--but you wonder if everyone seemed to know what opportunities Bush could have given Kerry some zingers then I wonder how many people actually knew the obvious.

[twigs]

I thought the President was whipped by style but not by substance. He abounded in that. I find it surprising that Gregory had the eyes to see it. Evan Thomas doesn't surprise me because he's more open-minded.