Kerry was perfect! Of the debate and the media

We were all excited last night and I replied to many posts, started some but want to summarize my observations.

Kerry was perfect! Like many I was worried that he won't be able to be succinct; that he might talk above the level of the ditto heads; that Bush would use his "folksy charm" of not being too smart. And I was hoping that Kerry would be able to handle his vote on the IWR and to change the topic to the economy.

But Kerry was succinct and to the point. And he did control the debate and did state his stand on Iraq and tied it to the economy - as I was hoping. And Bush was agitated and irritated and, I thought, really really was hoping not to be trapped in choosing between nukeelar and the correct pronunciation.

Kerry was great when he cited poppy's book: "I chose not to invade Iraq because there was no viable exit strategy. And he said our troops would be occupiers in a bitterly hostile land. "

Most of us talk about soldiers, or the troops. But it took the uniqueness of Kerry to talk about "war and warriors."

Bush appeared petulant and lost, kept repeating the same "sound bites" that, no doubt, were drilled in him in the past week, or so. He almost talked like "a woman" - please forgive me - about emotions and feelings.. in the manner of "Venus and Mars." When he was talking about the dead in Iraq I almost expected him to shed a tear.. I suppose he debated between this and keeping is macho image.

My spouse had not have chances to really watch Kerry but exclaimed: "He is an orator!" when Kerry had his concluding remarks.

At some point my spouse was looking away and commented about how whinny Bush was. And I remembered that when poppy was in the White House I often thought that he reminded me of the Peter Sellers character in Dr. Stangelove - the president character - whining to "Dimitry" "I am sorry..."

And when Bush gave his closing remarks my spouse noticed the rapid blinking, commenting that Bush must be internally reading his sentences that he memorized.

And now, the media. We watched the debate on CBS - to give moral support to Dan Rather. But when he first talked to Bob Schieffer I knew that we could not expect a real assessment, since Schieffer is the moderator of the last debate. Switch to CNN which, while was great to see the Kerry Edwards signs behind them appeared to be so careful as to be walking on eggs. I had to wonder whether the W.H. is having some kind of an implied threat on the heads of Network reporters: be nice, if you want access to news reporters.

Only Jon Stewart had it right and I am hoping for a rerun early this evening.

Even today. The guy from Gallop Poll (who looks like Frazer's brother Niles) had all those impressive charts but... had a but. CNN keeps talking about yes, now Kerry won but wait for tomorrow, or the day after. Why? Apparently - I don't remember - four years ago Gore won but his victory was taken away two days later... So what?

What all these pundits and commentators don't realize is that these elections cannot be compared to any previous ones. Why? Because of the Interment. Because of the rapid spread of news and opinions and analyses and, yes, polls.

OK. I am feeling better now.

...and, therefore, will not admit the obcious in th eevent that Kerry wins. Sumner Redstone, of Viacom, has said that he prefers Kerry, BUT, Viacom does not, as Repubs are more friendly to deregulation.

I was at the Kerry rally today at USF in Tampa. He was even better than last night. I'd estimate 20,000 plus attended. Great speech.

* sounds like a petulant woman. Petulant men are awful as well.

his hand went to his heart. That spoke volumes.

On the other hand, chimpys body language all indicated dishonesty: The blinking, the dry mouth, the contorted face, the long pauses.

bush's hand goes to scratch his ass.