An hour after tonight’s town hall debate in St. Louis, the immediate spin seems to be that it was a draw, mainly because Dubya didn’t scowl and sputter to the extent he did last time around. (The “soft bigotry of low expectations” strikes again.) But it must be a Two Americas thing, ’cause that’s not the debate I saw…most of the time I was waiting for Rove and Cheney to run on stage, hold a light to Dubya’s eyes, and squirt some water in his mouth. As before, John Kerry radiated calm, determination, and a quick, roving intelligence. In a word, leadership. Dubya, on the other hand, was once again all hat and no cattle, trying to shirk, smirk, weasel, bluster, and lie his way through the proceedings. “Flip-flopper,” “global test,” tax-and-spend, etc…Dubya sought to evade every single question about his dismal record with a insult or a threat, even going so far as to throw around “Liberal” desperately, a word still verboten since his Daddy ran it through the mud in ’88.
Kerry’s been surging since last Thursday, and I expect it’ll continue after tonight. But I confess, I really can’t wrap my mind around how anyone could have watched tonight’s event and think Bush would be the better choice between these two men. With the possible exception of the canned Red Sox quip, there wasn’t a moment when Kerry didn’t seem presidential and didn’t hold the upper hand. And, as for Dubya…based on tonight, I wouldn’t trust this guy to run the local chapter of the Elks, much less the Oval Office. No mistakes made at all, Mr. President? Who wants a President so blatantly unreflective about life-and-death decisions? I mean, he could have at least tried to look one up on the Internets. Would forgetting about your timber company count as a mistake?
That being said, I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that, when considering the inevitable Supreme Court appointments over the next four years, Dubya has at least promised not to overturn Dred Scott v. Sandford. Phew! Say what you will about Dubya’s godawful judicial nominees, at least we know they’ll hold up the Thirteenth Amendment. (Civil rights and civil liberties, of course, are another matter…) Update: Ok, now I get it. It was a coded pro-life message to the right-wing fundies. (Via Blivet.) Update 2: Tim Noah talks more about Dred.
I don’t know, Kevin… I had a bad feeling after that debate. I thought Saletan’s article hit it head-on. I don’t think Kerry lost anyone that wasn’t voting for him, but I’m not sure he gained anyone, either.
Well, Saletan thought Edwards was the second coming in the veep debate, and I didn’t really feel that either.
But I guess it seems pretty clear I’ve lost critical distance from all this, though. To me, Kerry seemed thoughtful, Dubya seemed petulant…in fact, I even thought I saw the in-house crowd turning on the Prez while he was yelling and stumbling about.
Yeah… two Americas is right. Like, Kayne, Katia, my sister Cara, all thought that Kerry did great. Of course they’re all voting for him. I don’t know… I just thought that Bush “seized more TV moments.” You know, where his words were rolling and he just seemed to make more sense, even if his words were utter, bald-faced lies. Since nobody who’s apathetic and undecided will bother to check up on the lies anyway.
I think Kerry needs to be more concise in his attacking so that he can spend more time saying what he would do differently. He’s got to be more than the anti-Bush at this point.
I guess it all comes down to how many votes get stolen on Election Day.