My ONLY complaint about Kerry last night.

[skypilot]

Kerry was given the oppurtunity to clear up the whole voted-for-then-against the 87 billion dollars thing and instead of explaining that there were two separate bill involved, one of which he favors and the other which he did not, he simply said that he had spoken badly or something like that. That was the ONE time that my heart sank a bit. Otherwise, I was really pumped by his performance last night. The rightwing talking heads have abandoned that crap about looking for gestures and gaffes and other "stylistic" points because they know that Bush came off poorly in this regard. NOW they suddenly want to talk about substance.

[tom_paine]

1. Somebody else mentioned that to me.

I will be "reviewing the tape"

If that was his worst moment, we are in VERY good shape.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. I actually disagree totally

Most people wouldn't flat out understand that there were two bills, so why not look humble and kill the issue at the same time? Bush can't run that ad anymore because now he'll just look stupid.

[skypilot]

8. "not flat out understand"????

What's not to understand? There were TWO bills. One that Kerry liked (raising taxes on the rich to pay for the war) and one that he did not like (borrowing the money and driving up the deficit).

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. You're overestimating people.

I don't think the average american would get that there are typically multiple versions of the same bill that go through Congress at the same time.

[skypilot]

15. We'll have to agree to disagree here.

I know that there are a lot of stupid people out there but I think that this issue can be explained simply and succinctly. I think that even the dumbest folks out there would come away with a little more information than they would with Kerry basically saying that he mispoke. We've all heard too much of that over the last four years.

[Vickers]

17. "I think that even the dumbest folks out there"

Dude, I understand your position on this, but I think you have misunderestimated the depths of stupidity we are dealing with.

:P

[skypilot]

19. I know that some depths are deeper than others...

...but I look at it this way: I for one am pretty dumb. There are some major gaps in my education, especially about government but when the whole "two votes" thing was first explained to me I got it right away. Fuck the ones that are so dumb that they will never understand, it is the ones who DO have the ability to understand but have never had the oppurtunity to hear the explanation that I am thinking of. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[Vickers]

10. Yup...I posted kinda the same thing further down

Any hammering they do on the issue after this will look petty and stupid.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. The other moment for me that I wished for more....

was when * continually stated that the Iraq inspections weren't working, etc, etc - Kerry should have hammered that NO WMD were found - the inspections worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vickers]

4. I think it was a way to put it behind him...avoids the "making excuses"

charge they would surely level at him.

Admit you're wrong, move forward, and they have nothing to argue about.

Smart move.

[gbwarming]

5. He kind of neutralized it early. the emotional issue is the body armor

And JK brought that up long before the 87B came up.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. MY only regret is that he didn't give bush a karate chop to the neck!

The 87 billion vote was right on and fits his consistent message. I feel he addressed it fine but its not a black and white soundbite thing - it has nuance which the sheeple don't seem to get

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Karate chop would've been nice.

I think it would've shown decisive leadership qualities as well! :evilgrin:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

13. As well as demonstrating that he knows when it is right to use force

:)

[xray s]

7. He should have hit Bush hard for threatening to veto the $87 billion

Bush was going to screw our service men and women to protect a tax cut for the super rich and no bid contracts for Halliburton.

I have to agree with you. Kerry had a chance to go for the jugular and take Bush down hard and he missed it.

[trotsky]

9. Yeah, I thought the same thing.

He especially could have pointed out that Bush threatened to VETO the funding unless it was under his conditions! That's what I was more disappointed in.

But his performance the rest of the debate more than made up for it.

[AussieDave]

14. Yes he COULD have expanded on that more...

but I was really waiting for him to use the analogy I first saw on another thread here a few days ago. Congress (and Kerry) gave Bush the keys, but then Bush crashed the car - THAT would have been a telling moment !!!!

[rock]

16. Well, I want to be fair (and not criticize)

So far Kerry has shown better judgement than I have. When he's done something I would have criticized, in every case, after calming down I realized his was the more stately (let's say) course. He is extremely astute in politics.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

18. As I recall

They didn't give him very much time for rebuttal. He probably thought he couldn't adequately explain this to the public in the time frame allotted.