October 01, 2004
Friday Morning Quarterbacking
As I savor my first cup of coffee and chew on all of the commentaries from last night, I think most pundits can agree that last night was a draw. Kerry had to step up last night, and he did.
In the post-game analysis, the partisan pundits pulled no punches to promote his/her candidate, but, as I mentioned in last night's piece, no one's opinion was truly changed by last night.
Plenty of commentary and analysis from the usual suspects here on the web.
LaShawn thought Bush was far superior to Kerry, as did Hugh Hewitt, In The Bullpen, Weapons of Mass Discussion
In the "tie" department (along with me), was DC Thornton, Right on Red, INDC Journal, Blogs of War
Expertise, along with The Komissar, Wizbang, VikingPundit and QandO thought that Bush dropped the ball.
Finally, Dean Esmay points out that memory is a strange thing -- so many thought that Al Gore won the first debate four years ago right after the debate, but later most thought (and still think) that Bush cleand the floor with Gore in that debate.
And of course that's just at a quick read this morning. There are plenty of others who both liveblogged and have an opinion this morning. You know the routine: your mileage may vary.
Posted by mhking at October 1, 2004 08:03 AMMy gut is telling me that long-term this won't have helped Kerry. But I am pro-Bush, so YMMV. But I try very hard not to be a rabid partisan, and I really think that while Kerry came off well, he left himself so wide open to subsequent attack it's a huge gamble for him.
But we'll see. To be honest, if he wins this election, he'll deserve it, and I'll do whatever I can to support him without bashing him at every turn.
Posted by: Dean Esmay at October 1, 2004 08:41 AMI thinkthe body language was just pure disgust by Bush. Apparently no amount of debate coaching a weasel canprepare you for the REAL WEASEL.
Beyond the body language I think the rest of the debate was pure strategery. Alot of talk was generated about why Bush chose to debate this topic first. My answer is strategery, and it helps that Bush didn't go overboard attacking Kerry. The strategery is VP Cheney.
The VP debates mayy get some really good ratings, the women will tune in to see the Breck Boy.
Cheney is the most experienced VP in history and Edwards is the least. Cheney will joke about his own looks then go for the kill. He will pretend like Edwards isn't there and go straight for Kerry, cleaning up where Bush missed and attacking the weasel words Kerry used in the debate. As long as Cheney remains calm it should put the Kerry campaign back on their heels wehere they belong.
Sure, Cheney has done this before in his stump speech but nobody heard it. Hopefully this time they will...
Posted by: vanyogan at October 3, 2004 10:47 AM