Anyone think Kerry purposely held back last night?

[Skip Intro]

We saw in the first debate that he could take out the little moron at will. I think he could have taken * down last night, if he had wanted
to. He clearly bested *, but left him standing for another day. Purposely, I believe.

The less time * has to recover from the big one, the better, right? It just makes sense. Its good strategy, imho. And its just smart to hold your best cards until the final play. For points, and for effect.

Just thinking out loud. Anyone else thinking this too?

[rockymountaindem]

1. I thought Kerry did better the second time.

[Jim Sagle]

2. Yes. And I think another reason he held back was that otherwise w would

skip the third debate.

[BuelahWitch]

3. Yeah, string him along, then reel him in n/t

[Dora]

4. Definitely showed restraint

Kerry was the consummate debater last night. He picked his battles, and * picked his blathers.

Kerry also had the better necktie.

[opihimoimoi]

Bush is frazzled, flummoxed, and outFoxed.....confused, hurt, bewildered,

frightened, angry, mad, etc, the Shrub wants blood but all he gets is more punches thrown at him. The lonely Bull at his last fight.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi Dora!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[coreystone]

19. A hardy welcome to DU!!!....

Where fun is guaranteed for all!

"Keep the faith"

"May the force be with you"

And, let's replace Bush with someone who is really Presidential....
....Kerry-Edwards comes to mind!

:-)

[Bad Thoughts]

5. Yes

Kerry did not use zingers that he employed in stump speeches all week.

However, Kerry was also long winded on several answers, something which detracted from his performance.

[AlinPA]

6. I don't think Kerry blasted Bush* very hard. He has a lot more in his

arsenal, esp. on the environment, outsourcing, overtime, manufacturing jobs lost and can unload on the moron next week.

[high density]

7. Yep, he held back

I'm not sure why... Perhaps it was to contrast his statesmanlike presence with the yelling and crazy president.

[shraby]

8. Remember this!

Kerry is a lawyer and was a prosecutor. He learned a long time ago you don't put all your cards on the table in the first couple of rounds. You let the opposition have some rope, then knock the footstool out from under them when it counts.

[autorank]

15. Thats right. Debate 3 is the final witness and the summation! n/t

[USA_1]

9. restraint

I also thought he was restrained and failed to say that Bush's job creation is a sham because these are low paid jobs that do not expand the middle class. Moreover, job "creation" has not kept up with the amount of new entries into the job market meaning that we still have had a net job loss. This is what Senator Kerry needs to emphasize.

[Lorien]

10. He had MANY openings, but chose to ignore them

why? With only three weeks to go, there isn't much time left to point out the obvious lies and shortcomings of the worst pResident in history. Kind of made me wonder if Kerry's heart is really in this thing. He DID do better than the unhinged shrub, of course, but he ignored so many opportunities...very odd.

[sallyseven]

11. Kerry has been right on throughout this silly season.

He will let bush hang himself.

[Erika]

12. Kerry Knows How to "Close".

This is his standard operating procedures in winning elections.

He will hit Bush hard in the last debate. I don't think Kerry likes the debates or putting down others, but he will do the job.

Bush will get cocky and over confident and make many mistakes.

[Raven]

13. Absolutely! The sign of a good prosecutor.

When the other side is digging a hole for themselves, let them go at it! :-)

[riverwalker]

14. yes and I heard why today

on AAR. He already has his base solidly behind him. At this point he has to reach out to the "undecideds", as disgusting as that is, we need them. He did so brilliantly. We all know he could have taken chimpy to the woodshed and left him bawling for his mamma.

[Quixote1818]

16. He didn't want to show his whole hand for the final debate

The middle debate is by far the least important. Kerry knew he just had to keep it close. Bush was studied up on Kerry's responses in the first debate and did much better this time on Foreign Policy. On domestic policy and the environment Kerry will throw out one curve ball after another in the final debate and totally confuse Bush. Also, Bush won't be able to be overly energetic in a traditional debate like he was in the town-hall debate. If he does he will like wacko. The traditional debates are judged much more on content than style and Bush won't be able to look like a TV evangelist and get away with it. Simply yelling out your point to sound more sure of yourself in a traditional debate will totally backfire for Bush. Kerry has a real advantage going into the final debate and should make it a clead sweep, 3-0.

[gorgan]

17. yep

If he nailed bush with his best stuff last night, bush would bone up all week and have some spin for Kerry. By saving it up for the last debate, he can leave bush reeling.