Debate #1: Bush vs. Kerry

September 30th, 2004

I couldn’t liveblog as I was at work — but I did watch the C-SPAN feed.

Who won? I’m not really sure here. Although I consider myself a Bush supporter, I’m not a lock-step partisan. IMHO, the debate turned out to be a draw.

John Kerry proved himself to be the better orator, while President Bush showed himself to be on-point. In my gut, I felt that Jim Lehrer lobbed mostly softballs at Kerry and didn’t ask questions challenging his foreign policy record as a long-term senator. Bush appeared to be tired, impatient, and missed many opportunities to hammer back at Kerry, but he in turn showed he could hold his own in debate.

Kerry overall looked like a debate winner, but lost points in my opinion for inconsistency, lack of clarity, pomposity, and naievete, especially when he favored bilateral nuke talks with North Korea (a BAD idea). It’s going to take more than charm and nuance to beef up his polling points, but his performance tonight has shown that he’s not giving up easily.

And of course, mileages may vary.

Two more presidential debates and one Veep show to go…

Related: Thoughts from Michael King, Laurence Simon, Ravenwood, Serenity, and Dean Esmay.


Filed under Commentary, Politics | Comments (3)

3 Responses to “Debate #1: Bush vs. Kerry”

  1. Ramblings' Journal on October 1, 2004 October 1, 2004 - 5:05 am

    Friday Morning Quarterbacking
    As I savor my first cup of coffee and chew on all of the commentaries from last night, I think most pundits can agree that last night was a draw. Kerry had to step up last night, and he did.In…

  2. La Shawn Barber's Corner on October 1, 2004 October 1, 2004 - 5:45 am

    Bush 1, Kerry 0
    There’s plenty of buzz around the blogosphere to keep you busy, but here’s my brief assessment.

    Let me say this for the record: I am a biased conservative. I went into the debate with the full expectation that PBS’s Jim Lehrer would throw softbal…

  3. Booker Rising on October 1, 2004 October 1, 2004 - 10:50 am

    The Presidential Debate: Bookeristas Comment
    What do our black moderate and conservative peers say?

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