A Cry for Help

Before the media gives me my opinion, here are my first reactions (slanted as they may be).

Kerry did slightly better than I expected. I expected him to do well, and I think he did.

Bush did not do as well as I expected. I was surprised, actually.

There were no major flubs at all. Bush was halting in his speech sometimes, but nothing new there. Kerry looked better for talking opposite Bush. There was one point (on NBC10's coverage) where Bush looked like he got punched in the face. Kerry looked better when listening, except when he was stupidly nodding at some of Bush's points.

Both candidates looked pretty good. Kerry was less tan than earlier this week, Bush dyed his hair a little bit, I think. No funky ties, no sweating.

Kerry made a lot of points that I was screaming at the television, so I was very happy about that. I still wish someone would ask Bush, when he talks about defending us from Saddam, what weapons exactly were threatening us? Other than that, I think the out and out lies and mischaracterizations were at a minimum (At least for this type of thing).

I don't think the "wrong war, wrong time" thing was a winner. Bush kept hammering it. But then, I have no idea what independents think about this. Bush keep putting words in Kerry's mouth, I don't like that. Bush did a much better job of repeating his themes, which any advertiser will tell you is a must.

Kerry's close was very good, I think, "looking in the voter's eye." Bush's was also good, though he seemed to be answering unasked questions/addressing what Kerry wasn't saying.

Based on that (modeled loosely on this), I think Kerry won that debate. Not by a blowout, by any means, but I would give him the edge. I'm sure everyone is shocked. Now, let the spin begin…

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2004 at 10:42 pm and is filed under 2004 Election. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.