The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

I watched the debate tonight as all good Americans should. It was very interesting, as presidential debates are wont to be.

Kerry was good. He didn't talk down to people, which was good, though he directed most of his talking toward Jim Lehrer and not to the camera. He did look at the camera, however, when making the points he felt were most important. He never really tripped up on what he was saying and was pretty clear in getting his point across. I thought he did well.

Bush gave a Bush-like performance, which I assume republicans will be happy with. We all know that he's not the most articulate guy on earth, but his answers basically outlined his policies.

There were a couple of times where Bush asked for extra time and then didn't have anything to say. I thought it was kinda weird. Like he asked for extra time just because he thought it would look good. He kinda repeated himself a lot.

A couple times it looked like Kerry wanted to get extra time and Lehrer didn't give it to him. At least Kerry didn't sigh all he damn time like Al Gore and say "lock box" over and over again.

It was pretty clear that all the post debate spin was written days in advance. Rudy Giuliani said at least three times "George Bush talked to the American people and John Kerry lectured them," when that really wasn't true. They also tried to make him look like a flip-flopper within in the debate about his Iraq policy, which didn't really happen either. I saw the John Edwards spin but he didn't really talk about how Bush sucked, but more about how Kerry was dope.

Bush has won every debate he's ever been in pretty decisively, which is surprising. This one was basically a draw, which makes Kerry viable I think.

I get kinda nervous when Bush talks sometimes because of his cadence. It's like trying to listen to John the Stutterer on the Howard Stern show for more than 15 seconds. My stomach just starts to spin. Bush is obviously not that bad, but it's not even what he says that bothers me. I can listen to "Big Time" Cheney or Donny Rumsfeld outline policy and stomach it. I can listen to Colin Powell outline the same policies and think it sounds intelligent and well thought out.

Anyway, interesting debate. The fake town hall debate is going to be wack. Why give people pre-scripted questions? Get a moderator if it's going to be scripted. Do a real town hall, or just have a regular debate.