The President did what he had to do tonight: called Kerry on his major lies about the Bush record and on the fictitious candidacy that Kerry’s trying to create for himself. He should have done this last time, but probably wasn’t prepared for the intensity of Kerry’s rudeness and deceptiveness. But after the opening round, and Edwards’ chihuahua dog performance Tuesday, it’s clear that these people have nothing to run on but misdirection so he rolled up his sleeves and jumped on into it. We’d all prefer to see campaigns rise above the mud-slinging, but when one sets a nasty tone the other has to match him blow for blow or see his candidacy dissolve under a pile of lies.
I’d like to see the President present a bit more detail on his environmental policies next time, because Clear Skies isn’t well understood, and it’s been demagogued by the Democrats. I’d also like him to explain more clearly that the combination of two circumstances — a war and a recession — caused the deficit to blow up, and how policies that are good for dealing with these things in isolation make no sense when they’re happening together.
You can’t always raise to taxes to fund a war, not when you’ve inherited a recession. I think he made that point well enough for those of us who already understood it, but perhaps not well enough for the less-well-informed.
All in all, the President lost a lot of ground last week, but got some of it back Tuesday night and the rest of it — and maybe a little more — tonight.
Next week is the rubber match, and it’s pretty clear what Kerry’s going to do. He approaches these debates the way a skilled debater always does, by finding the points that are easiest to make and most damaging. These points are typically at odds with Kerry’s strange voting record, so the President has to point that out but not to such an extent that it obscures his real record.
If I were him, I’d say something like: “Sen. Kerry, if your record were consistent with the promises you’ve made tonight and in the other debates, I’d vote for you myself, but we both know it isn’t.”
Bush was, as usual, non-presidential, an inconsequential bully against John Kerry.
His inability to let the moderator moderate the debate shows that he simply has no regard for other people.
His lie about not owning a timber company is already being pounced on by the media.
Kerry, was spot-on in mentioning the similar debate with Gore, and that I’m sure hurt: Bush has no credibility at all in what he says he will do, whether it’s lowering health care costs, or lowering taxes.
I guess they’ve been reading my my blog.