(U-WIRE) -Without a doubt, Sen. John Kerry won the debate last Thursday night. Not only did Kerry have better ideas for this country, but he expressed them in a much better manner than George W. Bush did.
Kerry was at ease and in good spirits during the debate. He presented himself in a much friendlier manner than Bush did.
For the first time during this campaign, Kerry related to the common people and was succinct and easy to understand when he spoke.
On the other hand, we had Bush. The Bush spin doctors have spent the past few weeks trying to lower the bar for a president for whom expectations are already criminally low. And sure enough, our commander-in-chief and leader of the free world won accolades from commentators for holding his own -e.g., occasionally speaking in complete sentences.
Bush was always on the defensive, which can be attributed to both the better ideas and superior intelligence of Kerry. As usual, Bush was stumbling for words and pausing for extended periods of time while speaking.
Bush was also very rude during the debate. He made strange faces while Kerry was speaking. He constantly interrupted Kerry. It would have been helpful if Bush had spent his two minutes telling the people his ideas instead of repeating the only two things about which he speaks: Saddam Hussein is a madman, and Kerry is a flip-flop.
He sounded like a broken record player. In confusing Saddam with Osama bin Laden, as he often has, Bush committed a classic presidential debate faux pas worthy of Gerald Ford himself.
It is nice to see Bush has not changed his mind about how to deal with international problems. He still continues to isolate our country from the rest of the world and have us continue to do our own thing with no regard to what the rest of the world thinks. But that is fine because Poland is still on our side.
The vice presidential debate, on the other hand, was surprising. I was expecting Sen. John Edwards to totally tear Vice President Dick Cheney apart, but that did not happen. Cheney made a great showing for his ticket. He made a very calm showing and presented his side's ideas in a straightforward and intelligent manner.
He even showed a personal side when he talked about his family and his background.
Edwards did a good job as well, though he was very defensive at times. He did not capitalize on a few opportunities he had, but he did firmly set some platform ideas of his ticket, which is very important. He also showed a personal side and showed that he is a very caring candidate who is thoroughly concerned with the well-being of every citizen of this country.
The vice presidential debate is not going to have much of an impact on the way people vote, because most people vote for the president. The greatest impact a vice presidential nominee has on the campaign is when he or she is announced as the running mate.
Regardless, both men made a good showing for their campaigns, so it is all left to Kerry and Bush. The first presidential debate may not have changed the minds of many people, but Bush did hand Kerry the votes of the four people who were, until this debate, undecided.
Hopefully this momentum continues on to the next couple of debates, and the Kerry/Edwards ticket delivers a deadly blow in November.
17 Archives
Kat Kurtz
