Features

Emu · #1

STARTS NOW ;<

El Blanco · #2

2 minute statement
1:30 rebuttal
1 minute further discussion if Lehrer so decides.

I'm not expecting much

Rez · #3

"remaining on the offensive and at the same time spreading liberty"

boink?

kerry's running down a list of military figures?
lehrer's making him get to the point of "colossal mistakes", which is good, because he hasnt before.

oh god, the inflated 200 billion dollar figure.

Preechr · #4

I'm sorry... Bush looks small. He looks less presidential here than Kerry. I'm watching this trying my best to think like the "average American voter," which means I got pretty drunk before 9pm.

Dubya just isn't coming off like the leader of the free world. He looks like someone that simply does not need to be in that position. Kerry is not doing what I'd call an incredibly impressive job of attacking the incumbent as much as the sitting President is looking like an incompetent.

As drunk as I am, it's pretty obvious George is repeating himself, regardless of whether or not my drunk ass heard him the first 3-19 times he said Kerry flip-flops. I'm wondering what his practice for this consisted of at this point...

"Miffed marlat... No, no... Morled merloge... wait... I'll get it this time... MIXED... yeah, that sounds right... MIXED marbles. No, that's not right. Mess. Mess- idge. MESS-IDGE. He's sending MIXED MESS-IDGE... Ok guys, let's wrap it up for tonight... Yeah... High Five.... High Five... Somebody bring some beer? Hey, is that a baggie of coke?"

Preechr · #5

Ok... Here comes the SPIN.

No matter what was said, this is what will decide the election.

Emu · #6

MSNBC poll says that 69% of the pollers think Kerry won the poll (as of 9:40 central time)

Ant10708 · #7

Well the pollsters were right. He won that poll.

Ant10708 · #8

I think kerry did a better job then Bush thou on the debate. The format wasn't as terrible as I was expecting.

Esuohlim · #9

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS SAYING IS WRONG IT'S WRONG THE PRESIDENT IS WRONG I WAS IN VIETNAM HE'S WRONG

ALSO BEING PRESIDENT IS HARD WORK IT TAKES HARD WORK GUYS IT'S HARD WORK BEING PRESIDENT WORK HARD BECAUSE IT'S TAKING A LOT OF HARD WORK

That's all I gathered.

Preechr · #10

I think you pretty much nailed it.

Stark · #11

Kerry: 1
Bush: 0

Bush's made several mistakes here. He interrupted Kerry, he lost track of what he was talking about and towards the end the moderator actually had to coach him along.

PWNED

Preechr · #12

I gotta say, I was pretty frustrated with Bush's performance most of the way through, but I think he pulled it out at the end.

Personally, I call it a draw, because even in my inebriated state I can tell they both failed to fully engage any relevant topic sufficiently. However, as a slightly buzzed American, I can see where Bush probably said what was needed, in his own special way, to make this debate entirely irrelevant to the outcome of the election. In that respect, as he's obviously the verbally disadvantaged of the two, Bush won this debate. Kerry really should have smooshed Dubya. I've been pretty sure Kerry's abysmal campaign to this point was due to the Clintonites that have infiltrated his campaign from the beginning, but now I'm pretty much blaming Kerry's failures on him alone.

He should have easily won this, and there's a question as to whether he did that. That means he lost.

Preechr · #13

My local news is showing the local Bush supporters as cheering Bush's obvious victory. I'm sorry, but that's like cheering for a Special Olympics participant.

Now they've moved onto the Kerry partisans. They're just as pathetic.

Vote Badnarik, people. Hell, vote Nader or Cobb.

Please don't help stick us with one of these morons for the next four years. Please take this election seriously.

AChimp · #14

You're a schmuck. Kerry trounced Bush in every respect.

Bush stuttered and mumbled over everything. He also looked like a dope.

Preechr · #15

You're a Canadian.

Preechr · #16

Did Bush sucessfully label Kerry a flip-flopper? No. This would have been pretty easy to do, and Dubya failed.

Did Kerry successfully convince anyone that he'd do what Bush did but better? No. This would have been much harder to accomplish than the simple thing Bush needed to pull off, but that was the direction he chose in his own campaign. He failed in the job he needed to do.

Iran, North Korea and Africa were just wasted time. No points were made in anything other than the Iraq question, and Kerry failed to make that seem to be something other than an intregal part of the larger War on Terror. If the majority of Americans go to vote on November 2 believing Iraq to be part of the WOT, Bush wins, assuming Iraq is the decisive issue. I think it will be, and I think Kerry has thrown the election with his campaign of "What he said, but better."

El Blanco · #17

Kerry stumbled several times also.

I think a lot of Bush's pauses were an attempt to look thoughtful. That and he looke dlike he was getting a little pissed with some of Kerry's barbs. Although, he should have seen them coming.

Preechr · #18

LMAO... Andrew Sullivan: "No president who has presided over Abu Ghraib should ever say he wants to put anyone on a leash."

conus · #19

Kerry won by comparison. Bush seemed like some pitiable little guy who just didn't quit drinking soon enough to avoid the unfortunate brain damage.

ScruU2wice · #20

I think kerry won because this was the moment he struck down the flip flopping crap, made himself look better for not calling bush a liar, and exposed himself to an american public that didn't know who he was before and what his positions were. but I picked up alot of it from ABC and NBC afterwords :/

Brandon · #21

Kerry's Iraq position was a little muddled, and Bush attempted to harp on it with the "mixed message" theme. Kerry successfully evaded, though, and never broke stride. I'd say it was a clear victory for him.

Bush got pulverized in every regard. It became painfully obvious that he didn't know what the fuck he was talking about, and he looked confused, disoriented, childish, and agitated.

Killer Manatee · #22

Both of them failed to engage a relevant topic sufficiently? No shit. It's not like they had a real conversation about the issues at hand. It was parallel campaign speeches on both sides. That's what happens when you have a 32 page document to decide on the rules.

Kerry did come out on top, though, and easily. He spoke more eloquently, had better body language and didn't get lost in the dregs of his own material like Bush did. And the only times he repeated himself was to rebut what Bush continued to repeat. Bush was also desperate to have the last word. Bush could do nothing but attack Kerry, while Kerry, for once in the campaign, came out and clearly and concisely stated his position.

mew barios · #23

blehg. that was the most crapass crap i've ever seen :/ it only leads me to pray for a viable 3rd party

bigtimecow · #24

some funny things:

jim: "what colossal misjudgements do you believe the president has made?"
kerry: "where do you want me to begin?

" (face and everything kind of)

everytime bush would say something against kerry but kerry knew was true kerry would nod his head, agreeing that was true.

everytime kerry would say something against bush bush would just sit there. god he looked like he was completely pissed.

everytime bush said something kerry knew was wrong and/or if bush stuttered or mumbled, kerry kind of laughed to himself and wrote something down.

oh yes, and bush was laughing a lot, and i actually think he made a joke in the beginning and the crowd was kind of laughing.