P.S. to the chuckleheads: One can say "Bush did better"...

[WilliamPitt]

without meaning he did well, or won the debate.

Bush did better this time than the other two times. Any objective set of eyeballs could see that. He still failed, sucked, and was pathetically sad. But he did better.

I am not a DUer who often gets victimized by the 'groupthink' phenomenon around here. But damn, y'all, nuance and reality aren't dirty words.

[Maddy McCall]

1. Ahhh...but it's the context that matters.

To say that "Bush did better than Kerry" is different than saying "Bush did better than last week."

With the former comment, I would stringently disagree; with the latter, I would agree.

[DrWeird]

2. You just wanted attention.

You knew EXACTLY what you were getting yourself into.

[WilliamPitt]

5. pzzzzzcheeezzzz

[jean]

3. This was his tour de force, no doubt about it.

[WilliamPitt]

4. .

[cheshire]

6. True but he didn't have to crawl far to do so.

[rumguy]

7. So what the FUCK are we supposed to do about this

Are you calling us into some kind of battle here or WHAT?

[Bread and Circus]

8. Hey man, back off with your accurate statements....

Nawww, I'm just kidding. I think the "back pack" worked tonight, but he was still a toad even though this was his best performance.

What's really interesting is that he was 3 different debaters in 3 different debates. Clueless, Grumpy, and Goofy. This was something Gore got dinged for. Will Bush pay a similar price?

On the other hand, our champion "flip-flopper" who always "changes positions" was steady as a rock - consistant through and through. Will he get credit for it?

P.S. I am being sarcastic about the characterizations of Kerry in that last paragraph. It's the "nuanced" portion of my post.

[soggy]

9. i'm sorry, i thought he was much better in the 2nd debate

that super smirk freaked me out all night long.

[Guaranteed]

10. That's the best part...the Chimp DID do better...

He did alright!

But just LOOK at what Kerry did!

It was simply amazing.

It was just...best ever. The best. Never seen anything like it.

Flawless. Not even the Mary Cheney comment was a flaw- it was consistent with his own views that Mary is just the way God made her.

[The Traveler]

11. Hi, Will

Top of the evenin' to ya.

Yer right. Bush was better than last time. He was definitely not ready for prime time, tho. As someone else here recently remarked, when asked who he is going to vote for he is simply going to respond: "I'm voting for the smart one."

[truthpusher]

12. His best performance yet, although...

...He seemed sad and tired, like he is actually coming to terms that he may not be president anymore.

[Blue_Roses]

13. It was horrible

he was blank half the time and then would go into rants about "no child left behind" or "terroism"...it was pathetic... I think John Kerry actually felt some sense of emphathy for his incompetence.

[Zuni]

14. He still didn't do good enough

Kerry ripped him a new one.

[incapsulated]

15. I respect your opinion

I just disagree with it. And god knows, I'm no Koolaid drinker.

Bush did better on style, that's all. But he lied and made more mistakes in terms of content. Also, Kerry was better in this debate, and you have to take the opponent's performance into the assessment.

So, Bush's performances in the second and third were even, to me.

:shrug:

[Demoiselle]

16. Yeah yeah. He was better tonight...Cheerful and calm mostly. ....

Alfred E. Newman comes to mind. Had smile carefully plastered on face, a look often inappropriate for sad and serious subject matter under discussion. But hey, Kerry was really remarkable. Human. Warm. Steadfast. Dignified and STRONG. I'll say it again. (I said it after the first debate.) John Kerry is the most presidential candidate I've seen in my lifetime and I can (vaguely) remember Truman. I think he's gonna do it, folks.

[WyLoochka]

20. John Kerry is da MAN!

That's all I have to say...

[xray s]

17. He has done a good job appealing to his base

The first debate he was comatose, but in debate #2 and #3 he was successful appealing to his base, which is the "Angry White Male" and "Christian Fundementalists".

In debate #2 he sounded like your typical right wing talk show host. Tonight all he needed was one of his famous backlit halo shots.

But this election, his base isn't going to be enough. His record over the last four years has motivated millions of new voters to register to get the chance to personally tell him "George W, you're FIRED!" on November 2.

[Blue-Jay]

18. I said something similar on another thread.

And promptly got chastised by a n00b that I was believing the lies.

Listen. He still lied. He still lost (by my estimation at least).

HOWEVER.... Bush was better rehearsed for this debate than he was for the previous one. He didn't make dumb monkey-faces. He didn't stammer as much, and he presented a better "face" than in the previous debates.

His drool-ball was still as funny as hell, though.

You can admit that your opponent improved his presentation without being a closet supporter of him. It's called objectivity. Look it up.

(spelling edit)

[Radio-Active]

19. I thought he did much better Friday night..

Bush's performance ranked

1. 2nd debate
2. 3rd debate
7. 1st debate