Bush is doomed.

[freedomburns]

Kerry is winning this debate.  He looks and sounds more presidential than the President does.  Kerry is like a fish in water with these debates.  He sounds good and he will do even better in the next two after he gets his footing in this one.

Bush is doomed.  Whoever agreed to three debates with Kerry was a loon.

freedomburns

[stry_cat]

Kerry is winning this debate.  He looks and sounds more presidential than the President does.  Kerry is like a fish in water with these debates.  He sounds good and he will do even better in the next two after he gets his footing in this one.

Bush is doomed.  Whoever agreed to three debates with Kerry was a loon.

freedomburns

Both are horrible. IMHO Bush gets a D- and Kerry gets a D.  

[badnarikin04]

It is after this when we notice why Republicrats want to keep third party candidates out of the debates. Most of them are so witty, personable, and charismatic, they'd appear to be pet rocks compared to them!

[Horus]

Bush lost this debate and has probably lost a few points in the polls. This was supposed to be his best topic and he performed well below par. At the economic debates, Kerry needs to firm up his message even more. That's where Kerry shines and if he can beat Bush in Bush's best subject, he can be right back in the race.

[mddem2004]

Round 1 = KERRY hands down........

Kerry rocked Bush's world! Even the cable outlets are saying Bush was thumped. Bush looked shaken and visably angry at Kerry at times - Kerry was in his element, was calm, collected, consise, and articulate.

If this was Bush's strong suit....I pity the fool.......

[Serenity Now]

I fell asleep during it (not because of the performance of either candidate, but because it started at 2 AM here in the UK). It didn't seem that there was any particular knock-out blow, from what I can tell after this debate things seem pretty much the way they were before. However I'd have expected this debate to be called for Bush, as according to the polls National Security is supposedly his strong point.

[Silent Hunter]

Bush isn't doomed. This pushes the race from a clear Bush lead to a narrow Bush lead, but still a narrow Bush lead.

I think that Bush can win and still win.

[Gustaf]

I'm surprised that more people haven't commented yet...didn't see the debate, but from what I hear Kerry won it clearly.

So now he might finally have a shot, will be interesting to see whether he can finally get back in the race, this is probably his last chance.

[J. J.]

I'm surprised that more people haven't commented yet...didn't see the debate, but from what I hear Kerry won it clearly.

So now he might finally have a shot, will be interesting to see whether he can finally get back in the race, this is probably his last chance.

I think we were expecting a lot more from each candidate.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

It is after this when we notice why Republicrats want to keep third party candidates out of the debates. Most of them are so witty, personable, and charismatic, they'd appear to be pet rocks compared to them!

I agree with this post.

Although my natural inclination is to support the Republican, Bush sounded so incoherent, and backed his positions so badly, that listening to him is like scraping my ears with a cheese grater.  I don't think I'm voting for him, and if he loses in November, the Republican party is better off without him.

Not that Kerry was any better.  THESE losers are the two most qualified people in the country to be President?  I may end up voting Badnarik after all - he didn't even need to show up at the debate to win it.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Kerry is winning this debate.  He looks and sounds more presidential than the President does.  Kerry is like a fish in water with these debates.  He sounds good and he will do even better in the next two after he gets his footing in this one.

Did you watch the same debate that I did?  Kerry was attrocious.  My brother-in-law, a high school debate team star, could have defended Kerry's candidacy better than Kerry did last night.

[rockhound]

Bush wasn't quick enough to paint Kerry with his waffling even in the debate.   Maybe his campaign will make an ad showing Kerry's comments from the debate--both backing the attack on Iraq, and then not backing it.  Within 90 minutes he held both positions at least twice.

[minionofmidas]

"Bush is doomed"? Not yet. Unfortunately.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

I don't remember a debate in the history since '60 which was as tough as this one. Kerry called Bush a liar right to his face. Nothing in the debate really surprised me. It was a repeat what the two have been saying all along.

And yet, it's still better than the 2000 debates, where Bush and Gore pretty much agreed on anything and everything.  What fun is that?

[AuH2O]

I would have easily dominated either of them. Personally I would much rather debate Kerry than Bush, though...

[Democratic Hawk]

As to whether Bush is doomed, I couldn't say - but I was well pleased with Kerry in the debate last night and that was always going to be his toughest.

Dave

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I'm surprised that more people haven't commented yet...didn't see the debate, but from what I hear Kerry won it clearly.

Kerry won by default because Bush forgot to bring his tongue with him!

[2952-0-0]

I couldn't see it on TV. It started at 9 am on October 1st, in China. I did get to pick up a few minutes on Shortwave but then the signal went out. Can you tell me what the highlights of the debate were?

[freedomburns]

Kerry is a golden-tongued virtuoso of words compared to Bush.  He won the debate hands down, and he will almost certainly win the next two.  He compares very favorably with the President on a stage like that.  I think Bush is doomed.  I truly do.  The debates will do him in.

I just hope Edwards doesn’t drop the ball on Tuesday.  He is an untested rookie for this level of performance.  Cheney is the very picture of a bulldog waiting to chew him up into little bitty bite-sized nuggets of future prospective Vice Presidential candidate.

arf arf

[khirkhib]

The expection game doesn't play well for Cheney either.  It could ge interesting.  What are they discussing?  What are your bets that they remove the lights  for the next presidential debate.  Bush went both short and had to keep stammering and then long and repeatedly got blinking lights.  I bet the Bush team asks that they be removed.

[khirkhib]

Top ten Bush excuses for his poor debate performance:


Stage lighting got in his eyes and he couldn't see Karen Hughes' lips

Picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue

Boy, this debating stuff is hard work

Battery in microchip receiver implant ran out at the most inopportune time

Seemed a little tired from his hurricane relief work so Karl Rove switched his decaf for espresso and his sugar for crystal meth without telling him

Nobody told him there would be, like, actual questions and stuff

Talking point index cards got shuffled when he dropped them on his way to the podium and he couldn't find a thing

Relied on faulty intelligence saying Kerry was a girly-man who would run away at the first scowl

Laura forgot to tell the White House laundry light starch for his boxers

And the number one Bush excuse for his poor debate performance...
1. Strategy to trick Kerry into misunderestimating the master of low expectations backfired

[shankbear]

11.  A lot of people are easily swayed by the hollow vacuum of LIBERAL ideolgy spewing from Kerry.

[freedomburns]

11.  A lot of people are easily swayed by the hollow vacuum of LIBERAL ideolgy spewing from Kerry.

Gole dang bear, you say that like it's a BAD thing.

[shankbear]

It's simply an ideology of failure.  Lessened expectations.  Lessened acknowledgement of personal responsibility.  Doom and gloom.

[freedomburns]

I think you've got it all wrong there bud.  It is a phillosophy of progressivism, possiblity, forward thinking, communalism, socially conscious, conservation and personal freedom as well as personal responsibility.

Liberalism is the political philosophy that is sweeping the country.  The Republcians are going to find themselves in a very small minority in future years.  This is a very progressive country.  Americans all agree on progressive ideas in all the polls.

But it is the two party system that must really be fixed.   This is a power hungry and unfair system.  Let new voices be heard.  People like Nader and Cobb and Badnarik and Perot.

freedomburns