Final Round

Last night Al and I watched the third and final presidential debate on split-screen with the Red Sox/Yankees game (the debate was on the TiVo, the game was live). It was a little disjointed this way, since Pedro and Manny and Johnny were often much more mesmerizing than either Bush or Kerry, but it was a perfect use of TiVo. TiVo is my favorite way to watch debates because you can go, "wait a minute, what did he say????" (We also used it to hilarious effect during the vice presidential debate to replay—over and over and over—the sound of John Edwards ripping a strip of paper off his notepad while Cheney was talking, until we couldn't breathe, we were laughing so hard. Don't ask me why we found it so funny; we just did.)

Anyway, here are the (occasionally very rough) notes I took as I watched; I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks over the next day or two, as I have time to think about what I heard (and how I feel about it). My overall impression: Bush wasn't much better than he was in the previous two debates, but Kerry was generally worse. If I had to say that somebody "won", I'd declare a tie.

  • Oh geez, now Bush has a plan—a comprehensive plan, no less. God help us.
  • That stupid smile is almost worse than the smirk. Wipe that smile off your face, boy.
  • Bush, responding to a question about the shortage of flu vaccine: "we relied upon a company out of England." Was that code for "can't trust our allies!"? Oh wait, we're working with Canada to get more vaccine! So now pharmaceuticals from Canada are safe?
  • I'm frustrated with Kerry for being so "on message" that he isn't responding to what Bush is saying.
  • Is Kerry sick? He sounds like he's losing his voice, and he looks gray and lifeless.
  • "Plan... plan... plan..." How many times did Kerry just say "plan"? (According to the transcript, four times in that one sentence: "Every plan that I have laid out -- my health-care plan, my plan for education, my plan for kids to be able to get better college loans -- I've shown exactly how I'm going to pay for those.")
  • It's impossible to even remember what the question was when Kerry really gets rolling.
  • Bush is throwing out ridiculous numbers about Kerry's votes in the Senate. I love the smile on Kerry's face that says, "those numbers are so wrong, you stupid schmuck—you have no idea what you're talking about, do you?" But wait, what the hell—where's the 30-second follow-up where Kerry actually gets to SAY that and not just smile it? Demand your 30 seconds, you idiot!
  • Did Bush just say, "Whew! I just cain't keep up with this cowboy and all his plans!"? Oh, no; I see from the transcript that he said, "Whew! Let me start with the Pell Grants..."
  • What is this bullshit about "telling people how to live their lives?" Can I just say that among the other lies that the Republicans tell Americans—including two I've already talked about on this site, that they're for smaller government and that they're the party of fiscal responsibility—this one ranks as perhaps the most egregious. They say all the time that the Democrats want government to run your lives, and Republicans don't... and yet they're the party that wants to legislate prayer in the schools, that wants to teach only abstinence and not offer sex education, that wants to tie doctors' hands by banning abortion and similar procedures, that wants to amend the Constitution to deny marriage to homosexuals... I could go on.
  • Bush just gave a fairly coherent response to a question about homosexuality, but I think he needs to stop talking about "activist judges" right the fuck NOW. Judges in this country are interpreting case law and the U.S. Constitution, not making new law. Amending the Constitution is making new law.
  • How come Bush gets 30 seconds rebuttal and Kerry doesn't? BECAUSE HE TAKES IT, and Kerry doesn't. Stop being so polite, Kerry!
  • "That's why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this earth. That's why I fight for equality and justice." I think Kerry just said he's Superman.
  • Bush: "Heh heh heh heh, huh huh." Gads, I thought the smirk was creepy... the laugh is worse.
  • Did Bush just say "we need to introduce technology to health care?" Jesus, have you been to the doctor lately? (Oh right, you haven't—you postponed your yearly physical until after the election.) I sometimes wonder if health costs are going up *because* of increased use of technology. Are we undertaking procedures because we can, without asking whether we should? It seems a little cost-benefit analysis is in order.
  • If Bush is so keen on "market forces" applying to health care, why did he shackle them in his Medicare prescription drug plan? And for pete's sake, why didn't Kerry ask that? Big puck-in-front-of-the-net moment, Kerry, and you chose it to defend—FINALLY—your voting record. Keep up!
  • Bush: Just as incoherent as ever.
    Kerry: More wooden and unresponsive than usual.
  • Bush: "We're increasing the border security of the United States. We've got 1,000 more Border Patrol agents on the southern border." Why just on the southern border? Aren't you afraid of those Canadians streaming down from the north with their cheap prescription drugs?
  • Kerry, it's not enough to say, "he hasn't done it right, and I will!" You have to say HOW.
  • Aren't " temporary worker cards" just insourcing? Bush said that such cards would allow "a willing worker and a willing employer to mate up, so long as there's not an American willing to do that job." I'm wondering if it's not the job that Americans would find repulsive, but the wage. What American can support himself, much less a family, on $5.15 an hour? As Bush himself pointed out, however, $5.15 sounds like a princely sum to someone currently making 50 cents an hour.
  • Bush, please don't flat-palm the podium like that. You look like a 1 year-old in a high chair.
  • Kerry's response to a question on faith and religion was pretty good—and I think he was right to connect "loving they neighborh as you do yourself" to school funding, which is very have and have not right now—but he also qualified quite a bit. He seems incapable of finishing a thought without pausing to qualify it every which way to Sunday.
  • Kerry: "My friend John McCain...." If you can't get McCain to endorse you, at least point out that you're better friends with him than he is with the guy he's supporting. (And notice how Bush made sure we remembered that "John McCain is for ME for president.")
  • I'm so glad that Edwards was the Democratic talking head CBS got to analyze the debate. He's so good at getting the Kerry message across—better than Kerry is, actually. Funny that Rather described him as "the bottom half of the Democratic ticket"; it'd be more accurate to describe him as the clearer half.
Posted by Lori in politics at 12:09 PM on October 14, 2004

Comments (1)

Healthcare this is technology. Technology this is health care.

Those two wore me down last night. Bush couldn't stop talking about education. I died when his answer to job loss was education.

How much education do you need to work for $5.15 an hour?

I think John Kerry was dead, that's why he looked so gray.

Comments

Healthcare this is technology. Technology this is health care.

Those two wore me down last night. Bush couldn't stop talking about education. I died when his answer to job loss was education.

How much education do you need to work for $5.15 an hour?

I think John Kerry was dead, that's why he looked so gray.

Posted by: Stephen at October 14, 2004 5:49 PM

Comments are now closed.