Salon: "After a disastrous week, Bush is wobbly but still standing"

"Kerry wins on points, but misses the knockout
After a disastrous week, Bush is wobbly but still standing"



http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/09/debate/index.html

1). John Kerry won Friday night's debate on points -- two network instant polls gave him a slight edge -- but he also let Bush back in. Bush was staggering coming into the second debate, bruised on jobs, bloody on Iraq, but Kerry never found a way to put the boot in. Too often, he fought on Bush's turf, wasting precious time defending himself against the flip-flop charge when he could have been nailing Bush on his record.

On Bush's remarks re: the "oil for food" program as a reason to go to war:

2). Score one for Bush. He said something implausible, something laughable, and Kerry not only let him get away with it, he reminded voters of what they don't like about him in the process. Kerry communications director David Ginsberg said the candidate made a conscious choice to attack the flip-flopping "caricature" that the Republicans have drawn of him. It might have been a good strategy for the first debate, where Kerry had to establish himself as presidential, but it's harder to understand in the second debate, when that basic burden suddenly seemed to be on Bush. Kerry came off as presidential in the first debate, and he did it again in the second. But by failing to go harder after Bush Friday, Kerry let the president seem presidential again, too.

3). The Bush arrogance was on full display Friday. Late in the town hall-style debate, a voter asked Bush to describe three mistakes he had made as president. Bush couldn't even think of one. He said he was right to go to war, that he was right to cut taxes. He finally confessed that he "made some mistakes in appointing people." Did he mean Donald Rumsfeld and Condi Rice, or did he mean Colin Powell and Paul O'Neill? Or appointees "to boards you never heard of" that Bush mentioned early in his answer? Bush didn't say. He was happy to pass the buck to his underlings, but he wouldn't say who they were.

4). ...before Kerry can execute any of his plans, he's got to come up with a plan to overtake George W. Bush. He made huge progress in the first debate, and a week's worth of bad news for Bush has been good news for Kerry. But the bad news won't last forever, and neither will the campaign. Kerry gets his last clear shot at Bush Wednesday night in Arizona. He'd better be ready to take it.

"Kerry gets his last clear shot at Bush Wednesday night in Arizona. He'd better be ready to take it."

Yes indeed.

wobbling but not falling down.

but there was no way Bush was going to be as bad as he was in the first debate, so a knockout was never going to happen. You need to have the cooperation of your opponent in order to have a knockout.

Also, I'm not sure Kerry focusing on undercutting the caricature of him was a bad strategy. He's concentrating on making the sale now to people already unhappy with Bush.

1). "Kerry focusing on undercutting the caricature of him" worked on the second debate. It should be completely absent from the final debate. This should be 100% about who John Kerry is and what he plans to do for America. Any time spent "defending" himself in the final debate will just be handing Karl Rove and Karen Hughes EXACTLY what they want.

2). "He's concentrating on making the sale now to people already unhappy with Bush"...YES, but that's the critical point. He should focus on making the sale. Not because people are unhappy with Bush. He's made that point about as well as he can make it. I can't see the American people having some kind of epiphany between now and the final debate, saying "WAIT A MINUTE...our President LIED to us!" Any "undecideds" at this point should become DECIDED as the result of being impressed with the Kerry agenda, delivered with detail and conviction.

3) "there was no way Bush was going to be as bad as he was in the first debate"...you're right, he probably got coached by Rove and Hughes and YELLED AT by Poppy and "Bar." I don't know if you caught this or not, but SOMEONE taught him a new "facial maneuver." Every time last night, when he wanted to react, he would have his mouth open a little bit and his jaw clenched into a very weak smile. That worked EXCEPT for RIGHT BEFORE the "Charlie Gibson / Furious George" incident. They showed a closeup of his face when Kerry made the comment about "the world and the military getting to the point where they feel good about what we are doing" and his eyes narrowed, he blinked, and within 30 seconds he was out of his chair and attempting to climb up Kerry's ass. So yes...he wasn't as bad as the first one, but in the eyes of many people, the Charlie Gibson thing was "Poppy looking at his watch" and "Al Gore Letting out a heavy sigh."

:toast:

had Kerry gone after him from the get-go, it would have put off the so-called "fence sitters". Now he has changed minds and garnered support - and can now knock the turd out without as much criticism. Bravo, I say.