Gibson picked the questions and the order... How did he do?

[bain_sidhe]

I got a sense part way through that Kerry was getting more "hostile" questions than Bush was. I also got the sense that Gibson was trying to give bu**sh** a "do over" on foreign policy, since well over half of the questions seemed (to me) to be on fp - and all of the first six or seven or so.

But, I could be biased (nosh*t, says the little voice in my head)... what do you all (or should I say, y'all) think?

[JI7]

1. he should have called out Bush on his breaking the rules

i don't mind tough or even tougher questions to Kerry. but he should have kept the chimp in line with the rules the chimp wanted.

[bain_sidhe]

3. Yeah, I agree - but I was thinking more about

the "pre-planned" aspect of his moderating. He couldn't know what bu**sh** and Kerry were going to do, but he DID have prior control over the questions and the order...

[donco6]

2. The questions were decent, IMO, except no pro-choice

question in the face of 2 anti-abortion questions.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. He lied.

Before the debate began he said that he was going to hold each debator to their time limit and I distinctly felt he also was going to stop the candidates from jumping in with the rebuttals without his permission. But Bush acted like King George and did whatever he wanted to. What's worse, it looks like he got away with his petulant behavior.

[realFedUp]

5. I thought he bailed Bush out two times

[Tamyrlin79]

6. I also disagree with the 'pledge' question...

If such pledges are disallowed by the rules, I think its shady to allow such pledges to come in as a question. The question should not have been phrased "will you pledge...," it should have asked Kerry's position on the issue in question.

[Chichiri]

7. He was pretty clearly biased towards Bush

although not so much that he wasn't honestly amused at the "sorry, Charlie, but your taxes are going up too" bit. You could tell by the way he phrased the followup discussions, and the questions that he selected. Not that it mattered, however -- Kerry handled it all like a pro.

[Stew225]

8. Well, he's no Gwen Ifill! eom

[candy331]

13. I thought he was pretty decent

, should have politely reminded Bush of the rules when he stepped out as the rules were to be obeyed. I bet the Bible hurling scripture man forgot that that his Jesus did say " A person faithful in least will be faithful in much and one unfaithful in least will be unfaithful in much". Following the rules he set was such a little thing but of course he is not bound by some tiny little rules they are for others.

[Upfront]

9. Felt the Same

Gibson was pro Bush all the way. He kept asking Kerry for more answer and never Bush. Kerry had the tougher questions.

[SoCalDemocrat]

11. Gibson was partisan.

Gibson was partisan.

He picked slanted questions. He had two religious nuts sound off questions against Kerry. No pro-abortion question though to hammer bush?

He rediculed Kerry for not explaining how he would pay for his plans, which was incorrect and nothing more than reciting the Republican spin/attack line.

He allowed the BS Question forcing Kerry to pledge to not raise any taxes. That was BS and against the rules.

The questions should of been drawn randomly. Better yet, that fuck should not of been allowed to preselect any questions.

Also what the hell is it at the start with Ginsberg saying this is an independent audience. That's a load of crap. They were pre-identified as leaning Bush or leaning Kerry. There were no independents present.


Then Gibson hits Kerry with a question on how he is going to stop outsourcing, but they don't hit Bush with a similar question? Why not ask Bush why he supports outsourcing of American jobs?

[0rganism]

10. He hit bush with the "three mistakes" thing at the end

Whatever other pro-bush bias he may have displayed, Gibson did set bush up pretty hard on that last one, and bush flailed crazily. Kerry could have played his hand much stronger than he did if he'd pointed out the character issue apparent in someone who can't ever admit mistakes, but instead chose to focus on the war in Iraq. Questionable rebut on Kerry's part.

[ThoughtCriminal]

12. I thought two anti abortion questions

was out of balance.

I'm not watching now, but I suspect that Bush getting the "Any mistakes?" question at the end was a bigger zap than I think the pro-bush pundits realize.