avocado8

Debate II

Impressions of tonight's debate, the first part of which I heard on the radio while in the car (everything up to domestic policy), and the second part of which I'm currently watching on TiVo (everything from domestic policy on):

• I'd rather listen on the radio than watch on TV, though being able to pause and think about/discuss points made is nice. I'm finding Bush creepily defensive—at the rate he's screeching his responses, he won't have a voice left by the end—and that impression is heightened when I have to watch him walking around, gesturing at the crowd. When I was listening on the radio, I pictured both candidates sitting still, which was a much more pleasant image.
• Heh heh... he said internets, heh heh.
• During the radio portion, we got a giggle out of the fact that I beat Bush to saying, "I've met with these guys!" by about a second in response to a foreign policy question. I knew he was going to say it because that's the phrase he fell back on time and again during the first debate to prove that he's a world leader.
• Bush has obviously stepped up his game for this debate... but Kerry also stepped up his. Kerry has done a great job of attacking Bush while remaining completely dignified. Bush just seems like an angry bee.
• Bush's 30-second responses can be summed up with a single phrase: "because I say so!" I can't believe he really thinks that repeating allegations Kerry just thoroughly rebutted is a good idea. Maybe he thinks that having the last word is more important than that word being reasonable or logical or even true?
• Kerry just gave a brilliant answer on a question about abortion... and Bush responded by saying he supported (a completely unconstitutional) ban on partial birth abortions. (Bush's response also caused a fight between me and my husband over the Laci Peterson law, which Bush also bragged about supporting. I think it's a thinly-disguised attempt to establish a fetus as a human being with individual rights separate from the mother's, and that it doesn't do anything to prevent violence against pregnant women; Al thinks that adding a second charge of murder on behalf of the fetus will actually deter someone from killing a pregnant woman.)
• I could swear I saw Kerry playing tic tac toe on his notepad while Bush was speaking about tort reform.

Some interesting things I learned tonight:

• Kerry has a plan for everything.
• Congress did all the spending that created the multitrillion-dollar deficit. Bush did all the spending that made our lives better.
• Senator Kennedy is the most liberal member of the Senate. (This is not surprising, but do wonder why Bush would mention it during a debate with Senator Kerry.)
• You don't need a plan to create jobs if you have an energy plan.