My $.02 on the debate this A.M.
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My $.02 on the debate this A.M.
| Fri, 10-01-2004 - 9:15am |
So from what I got from the debate...
Bush is tired. (I can imagine that spending the day with hurricane victims and relief workers can be pretty draining, what did Kerry do all day? I can only imagine.)
Kerry did better than I expected, although, I completely disagree with him.
One thing really stood out...Kerry wants to deal one-on-one with Kim Jong Il and leave out important allies like China and South Korea, and yet says the war in Iraq is a bust b/c we don't have enough allied support?!?
Just shows me that Kerry will disagree with ANYTHING the President supports and support anything Bush disagrees with.
Hey, it'll give the "anybody but Bush" crowd a boner!

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I don't envy the job of president. I'm sure that he was tired. As for speculating on what Kerry did yesterday, you are correct. You can ONLY imagine. I imagine that he was most likely preparing for the debate.
Kerry did about as well as I expected. I watched a number of the Democratic debates during the nomination race. Bush did not do quite as well as I thought he would. He seemed a little on the defensive and not quite as "down home" and relaxed as he sometimes comes across.
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That's not at all what he said. He said that they should go ahead with the planned bilateral talks that the Bush administration scrapped earlier AS WELL AS bringing in other nations that have an interest. He particularly said that China had a large stake in the outcome.
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Both candidates admitted to agreeing with some of the things their opponent said. The difference is how the two of them approach the issues.
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Hardly, however for those who have not taken the time to actually listen to Kerry speak and debate before and relied mostly on the spin (e.g. quotes constatnly taken out of context and beaten to death, character assassination etc...) they might see that there is some substance to him. It might make some of those in the "Anybody but Bush" crowd feel a little better about Kerry as a viable alternative.
This idle speclation hardly adds anything productive to the debate. Got any opinions on what was actually said?
So you think a couple of ragged cuticles could have lost the election for Kerry?
I'll also turn your question around... why are Kerry's fingernails important to you? If it shouldn't matter, why did you raise the issue?
Edited 10/1/2004 11:36 am ET ET by rayeellen
I don't like Kerry because, to me, he comes across as a pompous-ass who cannot make up his mind, who has no conviction, who will sell us out to France, Germany, etc. and who is incredibly impressed with himself. I don't find him impressive or inspirational. And maybe its because I'm southern, but his entire demeanor totally turns me off, probably the same way that Bush's "cowboy" demeanor bothers some northerners.
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He did talk about the training of 100,000 plus security forces in Iraq and a couple of other points a number of times etc...I'm still not sure that Bush knows a lot of the specifics in detail. I think he relies heavily on his team and advisors to keep on top of these things. It did hurt him that he kept saying over and over that it was hard work and good people were "working hard" etc...I use that language when speaking with my ten year old about school. I think the American people are capable of grasping things that are a teeny bit more complex than that.
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I actually think that it was raised a couple of times and that Kerry came back with a good response. I don't think that it would have been in Bush's best interest to keep returning to that only to have Kerry repeat that he gave the president authority in order to pressure Saddam (with caveats) and that Bush failed to live up to them.
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Kerry already explained his vote for funding the troops. However in a debate the American people would have had the opportunity to hear his reasoning (which again would have pointed to another of Bush's failings). It's much easier for the Republicans to do damage to a person's character when they keep repeating the same old quotes out of context.
Kerry said when asked why he voted against it:
"rather than have a $690 billion tax cut over the next 10 years, why don't we just settle for a $600 billion tax cut and we can pay without adding to the deficit for this entire war? The Republicans and George Bush rejected that shared sacrifice. And I said that's wrong, and that's why I voted against it." He said that he knew it would pass anyway and would never begrudge the troops in Iraq the proper equipment and added:
"I voted against that support at that time as a statement that we should get the policy right. And because they were unwilling to fund it in an appropriate way."
If Kerry said that again to a national audience, the Republicans would have had a much harder time trotting out that old argument that has done plenty of damage to Kerry's reputation. If they had mentioned his voting to cut military spending in the past (pre 9/11, Kerry could have come back with the fact that the world has changed since then and also point out that a number of Republicans have also voted along thos lines in the past.
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I think that I'm sure Bush missed some opportunities to attack and probably passed up a few as well for fear that it could be turned around on him. It's much easier to attack someone when they aren't around and twist their words (or only tell a fraction of the story) than it is when they are facing you in public and have a full 2 minutes to make their points.
How do you "bring in the other nations" when they are not invited to the talks? Isn't this just what Kerry complained about with Iraq? Isn't he complaining that we didn't get enough support and now he wants to have bi-lateral talks with North Korea. You can't have both -- you either have the other nations participate fully or you don't -- by not inviting them to the talks is like saying your opinion really doesn't matter -- we are going to do what we want no matter what -- but hey, we'll tell you what was said!
In this case N Korea wants to have bilateral talks with US. Bush is ignoring North Korea.
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