Without watching the debate and paying attention to solely the pundits, I declare this debatea draw or a modest Bush victory. All the predictable persons on theright proclaim it is a Bush victory, all the predictable persons on the left decalre it a Kerry victory. The talking heads on all the channels are unable to spin this as a Kerry victory, and when you factor in the automatic anti-Bush bias, that means Bush must have done pretty well for them to fail to make the Kerry case.
Debate
by John Cole| 14 Comments
This post is in: Politics
The Lonewacko Blog
No, it just means Bush didn’t slobber all over himself (line stolen from: Jane Galt).
Kerry looked presidential; Bush jumped up and interrupted Charlie Gibson. *Charlie Gibson*.
George Bush
Thank you for supporting me, each and every one of you on all of the internets.
Justin O.
Got wood?
Penn
My humble opinion: Bush managed to revitalize his campaign without causing any significant damage to Kerry. He restored his image as a war leader but was largely unable at the debate to undermine Kerry’s position.
In short, Bush won — but just barely.
[Industrial Waste]
Dodd
Penn is wrong. Bush pulled out a win in a contest where both looked and sounded good, yes, but Bush dinged Kerry several times, and a few will still sting tomorrow. And Kerry handed out several more free gifts for the Bushies to use a talking points (none as obvious as the “Global Test”, but they were there – I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new ad or two targetting Catholics in the next few days, for instance).
Glen England
John,
You didn’t see the debate, but based on the opinions of spinners (who work out their opinions in advance), you’ll declare Bush the winner. Gosh, you’ve got the makings of a modern pundit.
h II
Only a spell of uncharacteristic modesty is keeping ol’ Andrew Sullivan from nominating himself for one of his “Sontag Awards.”
Ricky
Interesting at how the folks on the right who said that Kerry easily won the first one are now saying that Bush won (or it was a draw) while those on the left who said that Kerry won the first one, Edwards won on Tuesday, Mondale won, Ferraro won, Dukakis won, Gore won…..keep their perfect streak alive by refusing to say that Bush may have won.
Cal Ripken would be jealous of such a long stretch of consistency.
John Cole
Glen- I thought it was pretty clear this post was oozing with sarcasm.
wr
I believe it was Evan Thomas (Newsweek) who said the media bias was worth 15 points to the Democrats.
Therefore, yes – according to the Demos and the media – the debate was a “draw!”
The Lonewacko Blog
Got Wood?
Heh.
CadillaqJaq
I watched the town hall debate and discovered that John Kerry “has a plan.”
He might next take a page from Martin Luther King’s style and get more oratorical: “I have a plan…” similar to King’s famous “I have a dream…”
It would really appeal to the black voters, unless of course it didn’t.
Justin O.
“I have a wood…” speech