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.
Comments (2)
In his responce to question about what kind of a Supreme Court justice he would consider appointing should the need arise,I found his referance to "Dred Scott" bizarre.
George brought it up to say that slavery was not in the constitution and that judges had inserted their personal opinions to make slavery legal, which is actually completely backwards.
I've since heard that he brought up "Dred Scott" as a way of speaking in code to the anti-choice crowd. They like to assert that "Dred Scott" in some way is the same as denying a fetus it's rights.
So, even though he got it wrong, he got his message out to the extremeists. "I'll appoint a judge to the Supreme Court that will take away a woman's right to choose."
Posted by Stephen | October 12, 2004 11:32 AM
Posted on October 12, 2004 11:32
Apparently you are quite correct--that the only people who found the reference to Dred Scott baffling were liberals like us. See the Slate article "Why Bush Opposes Dred Scott -- It's code for Roe v. Wade" at http://www.slate.com/id/2108083/ for more info.
Posted by Lori | October 12, 2004 12:33 PM
Posted on October 12, 2004 12:33