The New York Times weighs in...

Sorry.

They were all set w/ the "Kerry broke the rules!" whine-spin and got CHUMPED!! Now they got nuthin' but the facts, and the fact support KERRY! Ha Ha!

I hate registering--getting all kinds of emails.

Thanks.

THE OVERVIEW
Bush Sees a Safer America, While Kerry Sees a 'Colossal Error'
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Senator John Kerry argued last night that President Bush had made a "colossal error of judgment'' in invading Iraq, while Mr. Bush belittled Mr. Kerry as a weak leader who would embolden the United States' foes, as the two men offered starkly different visions of the war that has dominated this campaign.

***

Mr. Kerry hammered away at the issue of the president had taken the country to war, saying he had failed to rally international support for the invasion or plan for what would come after Saddam Hussein was toppled.

"I'll never give a veto to any country over our security," Mr. Kerry said. "But I also now how to lead those alliances. This president has left them in shatters across the globe, and we're now 90 percent of the casualties in Iraq and 90 percent of the costs."
***

Leaning over the lectern and staring intensely into the camera, Mr. Bush said: "I understand what it means to be the commander in chief. And if I were to ever say this is the wrong war at the wrong time at the right - wrong place, the troops would wonder, 'How can I follow this guy?' "

But Mr. Kerry, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, portrayed Mr. Bush as a headstrong leader whose rush to war in Iraq had isolated the nation in the world community, enraged the Arab world and permitted Osama bin Laden to remain free.

At one point, Mr. Kerry went so far as to quote from the memoirs of Mr. Bush's father in arguing what he said was the folly of trying to unseat Mr. Hussein without a clear plan for how to get out.

***

Aides to both candidates viewed the debate as a moment that could shake up a contest in which Democrats feared Mr. Kerry had been at a disadvantage since Mr. Bush's nominating convention.

The debate, at the basketball arena of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, was held under stiff rules agreed to by both sides, intended to limit exchanges between the two candidates, as well as camera shots showing reactions of the two men as their opponent spoke.

But the rules were discarded - both by the candidates and the networks - almost as soon as the 90-minute debate began. Mr. Bush jumped in and asked for time for an additional rebuttal as Mr. Kerry started pummeling the president for his handling of the war in Iraq, a topic that took up the first 70 minutes of the debate.

And for much of the debate, television networks showed a split screen, displaying Mr. Bush often scowling and grimacing as Mr. Kerry challenged his management of war in Iraq. At one point, Mr. Kerry criticized Mr. Bush for failing to enlist the help of the United Nations and other allies before going into Iraq, saying that as a result the United States was enduring a disproportionate number of casualties and costs.

"When we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States," Mr. Kerry said. "That's not a grand coalition. We can do better."

"Well, actually you forgot Poland," Mr. Bush said. "And now there are 30 nations involved, standing side by side with our American troops. And I honor their sacrifices, and I don't appreciate it when a candidate for president denigrates the contributions of these brave - brave soldiers."

At another point, Mr. Bush said that he went to war in Iraq because "the enemy attacked us, Jim, and I have a solemn duty to protect the American people to do everything I can to protect us."

A moment later, Mr. Kerry said: "The president just said something extraordinarily revealing and, frankly, very important in this debate. In answer to your question about Iraq and sending people into Iraq, he just said the enemy attacked us. Saddam Hussein didn't attack us ; Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us."

Mr. Bush looked sternly at Mr. Kerry and motioned that he wanted a chance to respond.

"Of course, I know Osama bin Laden attacked us - I know that," he said, adding: "To think that another round of resolutions would have caused Saddam Hussein to disarm, disclose, is ludicrous, in my judgment. It just shows a significant difference of opinion. We tried diplomacy. We did our best."
***

Although Iraq was took up nearly two-thirds of the discussion, the candidates offered conflicting views on how to deal with nuclear weapons in Iraq and North Korea. Mr. Kerry said that Mr. Bush's refusal to engage in bilateral negotiations with Kim Jong Il, the North Korean president, had permitted the country to develop nuclear weapons while Mr. Bush was preoccupied in Iraq.

"For two years, this administration didn't talk at all to North Korea,'' he said, adding: "Today there are four to seven nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea. That happened on this president's watch. "

Mr. Bush said that bilateral talks, by excluding the Chinese, would remove what he said was now leverage the United States had on North Korea. "The minute we have bilateral talks, the six- party talks will unwind," he said. ''It's exactly what Kim Jong Il wants."

***

But when Mr. Bush was asked whether Mr. Kerry had character issues that should prevent him from becoming president, Mr. Bush sighed loudly as he referred to that as "a loaded question."

After praising Mr. Kerry's military service, his parenting and his 20 years in the Senate - "though I'm not so sure I admire his record," Mr. Bush said - he went on to highlight what he called Mr. Kerry's changing position on Iraq.

"We can change tactics when we need to, but we never change our beliefs," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Kerry responded by suggesting that Mr. Bush's certainty might hurt him in his as job as president. "It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and you can be wrong," Mr. Kerry said, adding later that "certainty sometimes gets you into trouble."

Mr. Bush responded: "What I won't do is change my core values because of politics or because or pressure," adding: `you can't wilt under pressure."

And Mr. Kerry said yet again that his position on Iraq had been consistent. "I have no intention of wilting. I've never wilted in my life."

"Kerry...met his threshhold test of being able to stand on the same stage as the commander in chief and not look diminished. Kerry has kept the contest alive for the next round."

In the real debate, Kerry kicked W's ass!