September 30, 2004
READY TO RUMBLE?
Loyal Intrepids are in luck, as I'll be LIVEBLOGGING the debate tonight (your luck deriving from the fact you'll actually be watching the debate).
Update: Sip.
Update: Sip. Hmm...
Update: Kerry's not orange. That's a plus. And his fucking fingernails look great.
Update: Bush executed the word proliferate. That's a plus.
Update: Bush executed the word vociferous. This thing's over.
Update: Kerry brought up his combat experience on the 2nd question. I guessed he would wait until the fourth question. I'm down a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon to my parakeet.
Update: Makeup is a wonderful thing, but not foolproof. Lehrer should have checked those bags at the door.
Update: a natural height advantage is a plus, but Bush looks like he's debating a necrotic butler from a '60's monster sit-com.
Update: that round went to Kerry. He's staying on message: do more and do it better. Bush response: shucks, folks, just let me go kill some more evildoers. Also: Kerry earlier mentioned a lack of body armor, and Bush didn't jump on the vote against the $87 billion... squandered a HUGE opportunity.
Update: Oops. Spoke too soon. Kerry had to admit to poor communication skills.
Update: Bush regroups. Scolds Kerry for dissing our true allies. Speaks of his constant discussions with world leaders. Smart. Mentioned the coerced and the bribed.
Update: K-Lo's right. Kerry's eye contact is all with Lehrer, never for the camera. What are we? Chopped liver? Nope. Pate.
Update: Lehrer tried to stab Bush in the heart with the body count question, but played in to Bush's strength: he was able to well up a tear, and go anecdotal with stories of personal grieving with widows, etc. Kerry could only bring up his combat service again.
Update: Kerry is certainly more polished, more senatorial, more stentorian, perhaps. He's holding his own from a debating skills and mien standpoint.
Update: Bush seems more anxious than Kerry, as opposed to a reserved, thoughtful Kerry. I'm not so sure that's a bad thing for Bush, however. He seems anxious to make his point, not anxious to hide the fact he cooked this whole fucking war up in Texas. You knew he did that, right?
Update: who gave them matching lapel pins the size of a post office flag? From here if you hit mute it looks like a Politburo debate over who's going to lose Gulag Musical Chairs the next week.
Update: this debate, hinging on foreign policy, makes the last five election cycle debates seem like high school debates on the pros and cons of the supersonic transport. It kicks ass.
Update: Cliff May's right: Kerry fucked up the Pottery Barn Rule. It's not If you break it, you fix it. It's If you break it, you own it. Even if it can never be fixed.
Update: Doh! Bush said Nukular (forgivable, it's expected by now) but he also called the mullahs the moolahs. Although it's beginning to grow on me.
Update: did Bush just say he wanted to put the leash on his daughters?!? I sympathize with the sentiment, if not the timing. At least he didn't say he wanted to take the tawse to them.
Update: Bush has been all over the place, effective in places, alarmingly bemused in others. He's the hare to Kerry's tortoise. Bush needs to finish strong. Get back on message.
Update: winding down. I'll ponder a bit, but initial reaction is Kerry won a split decision. Maybe even a TKO. But I still think he needed a blood-splattering KO for a bump in the polls. I may be wrong. If he picks up 2 to 3 points on this debate it's neck and neck again.
Update: Oh My God, Becky! Laura and Teresa were wearing almost identical pink suits! This debate is officially a draw!
am i the only one who's waiting with baited breath for the first time that stupid buzzer goes off when one of them wildly breaches their time limit?
Posted by: mr. helpful at September 30, 2004 9:50 PMLehrer's finger is on the kill switch. Guess who gets buzzed?
Posted by: Velociman at September 30, 2004 9:52 PMbefore the debate, my money was on kerry gettin the buzz...but bush has gotten unbelievably close in a couple of instances already...
Posted by: mr. helpful at September 30, 2004 9:56 PMand even though kerry is definitely more "senatorial" being "senatorial" is not what america is all about...which is why bush has maintained such a lead in the polls despite being hammered by everything but the kitchen sink over the past nine months
Posted by: mr. helpful at September 30, 2004 9:57 PMhey...we've got our own little version of "the corner" going on here, eh?
heh heh heh
Posted by: mr. helpful at September 30, 2004 10:00 PMYes. I am Jonah. You are Ramesh. We are both K-Lo.
Posted by: Velociman at September 30, 2004 10:08 PMive been called worse, you know. heh heh heh
but just so you know, i am a LOT closer to being like Rich...except he doesnt appear to be participating....
Posted by: mr. helpful at September 30, 2004 10:16 PMi dont see it that way. i didnt hear kerry say a single thing he hasnt said before...unless i missed something. i didnt hear anything groundbreaking. sure, kerry's obviously an accomplished debater...so what...it takes more than the ability to debate to run a country...
Posted by: mr. helpful at September 30, 2004 10:31 PMThe pink suits brought Bush back up to par. And that's all he needed.
Posted by: Velociman at September 30, 2004 10:33 PMBush should've said that he would build as many nuclear bunker-busteres as he possibly could. 90% of North Korea's army is hiddin in rock mountains. All of Iran's nuclear facilities are being constructed underground.
Posted by: Jack Straw at September 30, 2004 10:33 PMJack Straw is thinking from prudence and pessimism, as should we all. Hell, these questions were discussed and dismissed, back in 1948, by R.A. Heinlein. His solution to the existence of nukes was to disperse all of our asses to the countryside. I think it's still the only method with any chance of success.
Posted by: Justthisguy at October 1, 2004 12:37 AMI can't help commenting that the first statement I made on the debate is completely coincidental to your third update.
"Kerry's not orange any more, which is a plus"
Honestly, it was the first thing I noticed. I didn't notice the fingernails, because, as my wife pointed out, Kerry had his hands all balled up doing that weird "point with your thumb" thing.
I'm also glad to see, from the other comments, that I wasn't the only one wondering whether one or the other would get buzzed and completely lose their grip.
Posted by: Patton at October 1, 2004 2:17 AMI dunno... I thought Bush was inarticulate at times (but he often is) and I thought Kerry said a lot of stupid shit, but said it well.
I call it a draw, which is good for Bush and bad for Kerry.
Posted by: Acidman at October 1, 2004 8:58 AMMr. Helpful, you need to lay off the squid. The ladies don't go for "baited" breath. Just trying to be helpful..
Posted by: mike at October 1, 2004 9:27 AMThe debate was mediocre. In a draw, Kerry benefits--the bar was set so low. Bush seemed tired toward the end and had WAY too much time left on several answers. He could have and should have put this debate away, and he didn't.
Posted by: Belinda at October 1, 2004 9:37 AMLehrer should have checked those bags at the door.
Yeah - it's like he and Brit Hume are fighting to be the new Mike Wallace.
Posted by: Andy at October 1, 2004 9:42 AMI was astonished by how similar last night's debate was to the 2000 debates. Kerry/Gore, so polished and forceful. Bush, so fumbling but sincere.
What is the obvious implication?
Vman,
Live blogging something certainly beats Dead bloggin it. Congrats to you. I watched it, it went something like this. Kerry looked French. It looked like he wanted to kick the French's ass. A couple time's I thought he was goin to. Colin Powell told him through an earpiece, "Don't do it, we don't wanna waste all that money we spent helping those f*cktards after WWII, plus after another couple hot summers they'll do themselves in." so he didn't. Y'all better hope good ol' level headed Colin's around for a while.
Crap, I couldn't resist. Vman, how's it feel to be in the belly of a whale since you're "Jonah"?
Posted by: BryanH at October 1, 2004 6:57 PMFuck it - Bush lost.
He lost because he can't think on his feet. He lost because he cannot speak articulately. He lost because he is no match, one or one, for John Kerry.
The Republicans can do better, and maybe in 2008 they will. But for the next 4 years, it's President Kerry.
Jack,
I disagree. While "watching" it, I'd tend to believe what you're saying. He seemed unually "uncomposed". Don't know if it had to do with visiting with folks in the war torn State of Florida or not. But, that is one of the presidents jobs, and not a job of the also rans jobs. JFK was getting his orange "atan" disolved and his nails done.
George wasn't at his best last night, no doubt. I don't imagine he spends alot of time in spas. I honestly thing he's tired of hearing the BS fed from the other side, and who could blame the man.
He's been President for 4 years. If folks aren't used to the fact that he doesn't always speak like a statesman, well, they've probably been asleep for 4 years.
Even though he doesn't always "articulate" in the most majestic way, his message comes through to people that have the ability to sort through the bullshit. If you fuck with America, it's gonna be hell to pay.
I don't know how "fancy" you have to say that to get the point acrossed. Actually, I prefer the straight to the point talk he uses. Don't mince words. Don't be "vague" with what you're gonna do and DON'T change your mind evey time the wind changes directions.
If he's says, "If you don't stop that crap, we're gonna kick your ass", it doesn't sound like a poem. It's not supposed to. It sound's like what The President of the United States words should sound like. It sounds like a FACT. With the steadfastness that he's served the this country in the last 4, other Islamotards are starting to realize that if he says something, he ain't chaging his position on it.
Translation... If he says, "We're gonna kick your ass", be damned sure we're gonna kick your ass and we ain't gonna wait for no "Global Test", no never ending UN bullshit when it comes to Islamotards f'ing with America. You do it, you support it, well, you're in a world of shit.
Do you think JFK could put the fear of the Lord into other countries like that or do you think they'd snicker and keep it business as usual?
PS
I saw you're email address and realize that you're probably related somehow to Vman. I tried to be polite. ;)
Bryan,
Don't get me wrong, I think Bush' sincerity comes through every time he speaks. Most Americans are poor public speakers, and they don't hold that against Bush. But when your poor communication skills impede your ability to deliver your message and, in a debate, to expose the opposition's lies, then it is possible that you are not the best candidate.
Bush' awkwardness was not fatal against Gore, but Kerry is smarter than Gore, and has fewer psychological problems. Like Bill Clinton, Kerry is an anti-social personality with no regard for his words and deeds except as they relate directly to himself.
Watching Bush is frusrating because about 5 million of us watching could have finished Gore off handily. Our candidate, however could not.
Fair enough Jack. Fair enough.
Posted by: BryanH at October 2, 2004 9:12 AM