The Debate Reviews Are In!

[zulchzulu]

“As far as the debate goes, I don't see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win on points for John Kerry." -- Joe Scarborough

"I thought the President was repetitive and reactive." - Kate O'Beirne

"It was John Kerry's best performance ever." - Joe Scarborough

“The president was remarkably angry seeming" —Mark Halperin

"Bush appeared perturbed when Kerry leveled some of his charges, scowling at times and looking away in apparent disgust at others." Milbank and VandeHei

ABC POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:
Kerry: 45
Bush 36:
Tie: 17

CNN / GALLUP POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE

Kerry: 53 Bush: 37

CBS POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:

Kerry: 44 Bush: 26 Tie: 30

Mort Kondracke: “This is the President's turf, this is the place that the President is supposed to dominate, terror and the war in Iraq. I don't think he really dominated tonight. I think Kerry looked like a commander-in-chief.”

Kate O'Beirne, National Review Online’s the Corner: "I thought the President was repetitive and reactive."

Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online's the Corner: "The Bush campaign miscalculated on having the first night be foreign policy night."

Bob Schieffer: “The President was somewhat defensive in the beginning”

Mark Shields: "The President showed a few times obvious anger"

Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard: “I think Kerry did pretty well tonight, he was forceful and articulate.”

Bob Schieffer: “Kerry got off to a very good start.”

Joe Scarborough: “It was John Kerry’s best performance ever…As far as the debate goes, I don’t see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win on points for John Kerry.” (MSNBC)

Andrea Mitchell: “This is the toughest we’ve ever seen John Kerry. He attacked the very core of the President’s popularity. He’s basically saying, who do you believe?” (MSNBC)

Tim Russert: “Tonight he seemed to find his voice for the Democratic view of the world.”

Fred Barnes on FNC: "Kerry did very well and we will have a Presidential race from here on out."

[The Doctor.]

1. Awesome...

I'm REALLY curious what Charles Krauthammer will have to say...

[Leilani]

47. Tonight on FOX,

Krauthammer agreed with the panel...unanimious Kerry win!

I was shocked!

[The Doctor.]

49. I've always thought Charles was balanced.

[LSK]

2. that was their initial reactions, then their bosses got in their ears

And then the debate became a draw.

[w4rma]

19. That's what is happening. (nt)

[CitySky]

3. I'm with Mort on this one!

"I think Kerry looked like a commander-in-chief." So proud of him I could burst. President Kerry.

[GreggDem]

4. DUERS PLEASE SEND YOUR OPINIONS ON BBC

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3704652.stm?display=1


Freepers are attacking it with their opinions.

[On the Road]

14. Done. Here are My Comments:

Kerry was clear and spot-on. Bush was on the defensive and struggled to make his positions credible.

[carrowsboy]

20. here's my comments...

"An extremely embarassing evening for Pres. Bush as Sen. Kerry proved he is by far the superior candidate. Between the "moolahs" and "Don't forget Poland," this man further shows his inability to lead. I won't even get into his "I just KNOW how this world works" line. Expect the terror alert levels to rise before the next debate."

[bogey18]

44. I wish people wouldn't put pictures like this one of Nancy

into their posts. I fear I have may have to go into therapy again.

[cheshire]

5. Did any of them choke?

[Skinner]

6. Thanks for posting.

These are some good quotes.

[bigtree]

7. This is a great post

I had to go to work after the debate and I missed most of the reaction.

:toast:

[Nashyra]

9. Last night on our NBC affliate Reno NV

they said if the reaction to the debate was any indication on how the election would go, then we would likely be seeing a new president in January. We are a swing state.

[blondeatlast]

12. Nevada will go BLUE, just like AZ, I just know it.

Here's to you, neighbor!

[JCMach1]

8. Nice catches... for more collected commentary

try here

http://www.thesyndrome.com/archives/00001115.htm

Remember, I wake-up when you guys are still sleeping... :)

[Viking12]

15. I love this review

"Watching Bush talk always gives me that feeling like when you're watching an alcoholic uncle give a toast at a wedding - you're just kind of hoping he'll get through it without messing up too bad, but he inevitably does" Jesse Klein VH1 -- I didn't know they had a politcal reporter at VH1?

[NewJeffCT]

10. wow, compliments from Bill Kristol?

Wow, the Godfather of the Neo-Con movement giving props to Kerry? What's next? Ralph Reed embracing gay marriage?

[fujiyama]

11. Yeah there were some clear

dissapointing statements from conservative Bush supporters.

The National Review Online had an article that really was dissapointed with his performance.

[RafterMan]

27. Remember

Kristol was a McCain guy.

In several appearances, I've detected a disappointment on his part that he's saddled with a complete moron to carry out his schemes.

[BootinUp]

13. Russert's comment so telling, "Democratic view of the world"

Obviously not his view :puke:

[benito]

16. I certainly hope

that this feeling of confidence and promise can last through the month of October! *bush had 30 seconds to respond but took the first 10 seconds counting his fingers trying not to blow his top. Mr. Rove, your time is up.

<flat out rage>BUSH: First of all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that. </flat out rage>

Someone mentioned it in another post that Kerry looked like an eagle and *bush looked like a rabbit. epic!

I'm certainly looking forward to the VP debate next week. Of course, Cheney will just mumble and grumble for 90 minutes.

[JamesA1102]

17. "The Debate Reviews Are In!"

Funny how all the pundits who declared Bush the in the first debate four years ago are now furiously spinning to say Kerry's victory last night means nothing since Al Gore won the first debate in 2000 and still lost the election. These 6 & 7 figure talking heads are shamelessly talking out of both sides of their mouths.

[John_H]

18. Note that nobody on CNN has even implied that Kerry won.

Greenfield, Crowley, King--all a "draw"

[Dawgs]

21. Kick...

[Dawgs]

22. The only problem I have with some of those quotes...

is how many act like this is Kerry's first good performance.

It shows who was paying attention last week when Kerry gave two great speeches.

[liberal N proud]

23. Hang on to these remarks and in a few days when they all

are saying something different (after Carl Rove has paid them a visit) and they will. We need to stick these remarks back into each of their face.

[NRaleighLiberal]

24. My review would be....

* lived down to the low expectations all should have for someone of his low intellectual caliber, and actually, underexceeded them! Kerry performed in a manner suitable for our next president, which he will be. Home Run for Kerry!

[mumon]

25. still riw bs & spin

Kerry's been "on message" like this all along- it's just the media has been reporting the Bush fascist junta's lies about Kerry as "truth," or "he said, she said."

[Mountainman]

30. I agree, this is the first time Kerry got coverage without the attached

right wing spin doctors analysis. If they covered Kerry at all it was to make him look foolish.

My feelings are that the right wing hit campaign against Kerry will lose its effectiveness after this because people got to see the real Kerry last night, not the Kerry of the repub ads.

[Bread and Circus]

26. Nice! Nice! Nice!

[wryter2000]

28. OMG

This is way better than my wildest hopes. I spent a lot of last night tossing and turning in excitement for what I'd seen. In fact, when I did get back to sleep, I dreamed it was election night and Bush had lost so badly even his own people had deserted him. Even Lynn Cheney!

Still, this was better than I could have hoped. Thank you, John Kerry!

[barb162]

29. Remember the part where Bush was trying to defend Iraq when he

said I know Osama is the one who hurt our country. "I know that." I wish Kerry would have then slammed him right then, saying "so why the fuck did you invade Iraq, you moron" I know , wishful thinking, fantasizing, can't swear, etc.

[bringbackfdr]

31. Wishful fantasizing, but ...

It would've been great, wouldn't it? I guess we'll just have to settle for Kerry kicking his butt without utterly humiliating the Shrub.

[Clinton Crusader]

32. Save this. It will all change. But the good news is...

ALL I keep hearing is initial reactions mean nothing. Give it 48 hours. So Im figuring by tonight or Monday it will be clear decisive commanding victory for a bumbling idiot who looked scared, angry, defensive and the furtherest thing from presidential Ive seen in a long long time.

I wonder if Carville or Big Dawg had a say in the prep?

Good news - this was supposed to be the one Smirk SHINED in! HIS debate, HIS forte, blah blah. He blew it big time. How in the WORLD can he debate on DOMESTIC ISSUES??????? He's supposed to be the war prez, remember. HA HA HA!

As he said

BRING IT ON!!!
:kick:

[DemBones DemBones]

50. War President? My Pet Goat.

Saw it at the freewayblogger's site.

[Days Between]

33. msnbc current poll

1765393 votes

Who won the debate?

Kerry 62%
Chimp: 38%

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6123733/

[llywrch]

39. The Bush Cultists are Already Trying to Spin the Poll

Right now, when I looked at it, the results were

Pres. Bush 39%

Sen. Kerry 61%

1858630 responses

[WarhammerTwo]

34. My comments (if they get posted)...

It seemed as if we had an adult up there debating with a teen-ager. Kerry looked confident and strong, laying down fact after fact, statistic after statistic, hammering home the fact just how often President Bush has made mistakes. Bush looked worried and confused with long pauses to collect his thoughts and lots of "Ums" and "Uhs" to break the silence. Our President was also very repetitive, not with facts but with soundbites such as, "It's hard work" and, "What message are we sending with the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Few facts from Bush, just rhetoric. Kerry won this thing, hands down.

[spanone]

35. WarhammerTwo....Welcome to DU!!!!

:smoke:

[SammyBlue]

37. Welcome to the Family, WarhammerTwo

I agree, and I also played Warhammer and WH2K growing up.

I still have my Necromunda set.

Welcome aboard. Graban axe and get ready to grind. This site will make a more militant Democrat! It's great!

[Tafiti]

36. Once the debate was over, I thought...

...how can anyone in the media possibly spin this is out to be anything but a clear Kerry victory. Sure enough, pigs were flying as Scarborough's comments were being made. But I think he was onto something when he said it's the job of the Republicans to make people forget that Kerry won.

I couldn't stop laughing after Bush had that incredibly long, uncomfortable pause...put a fork in him, he's done!!!

[nolabels]

38. Your rare breed, a donor at 10 posts

Never trust anything or anybody that thinks they have all the ways for you to be able to think about something. (but I am sure you knew that)

October 1, 2004
The Media's Culpability for Iraq
by John Pilger

In October 1999, I stood in a ward of dying children in Baghdad with Denis Halliday, who the previous year had resigned as assistant secretary general of the United Nations. He said: "We are waging a war through the United Nations on the people of Iraq. We're targeting civilians. Worse, we're targeting children. . . . What is this all about?"

Halliday had been 34 years with the UN. As an international civil servant much respected in the field of "helping people, not harming them," as he put it, he had been sent to Iraq to implement the oil-for-food program, which he subsequently denounced as a sham. "I am resigning," he wrote, "because the policy of economic sanctions is . . . destroying an entire society. Five thousand children are dying every month. I don't want to administer a program that satisfies the definition of genocide."

Halliday's successor, Hans von Sponeck, another assistant secretary general with more than 30 years' service, also resigned in protest. Jutta Burghardt, the head of the World Food Program in Iraq, followed them, saying she could no longer tolerate what was being done to the Iraqi people. Their collective action was unprecedented; yet it received only passing media attention. There was no serious inquiry by journalists into their grave charges against the British and American governments, which in effect ran the embargo. Von Sponeck's disclosure that the sanctions restricted Iraqis to living on little more than $100 a year was not reported. "Deliberate strangulation," he called it. Neither was the fact that, up to July 2002, more than $5 billion worth of humanitarian supplies, which had been approved by the UN sanctions committee and paid for by Iraq, were blocked by George W. Bush, with Tony Blair's backing. They included food products, medicines and medical equipment, as well as items vital for water and sanitation, agriculture and education.
(snip)
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/pilger.php?articleid=3685

In harsh words, they call em liars

[SlingBlade]

40. No Smirks From Chimpy Last Night

I’ve been waiting four years to see that smirk wiped off that lying bastards face.

Kerry did that last night
Democracy is not dead yet

:toast:

[colgate]

42. No Smirks from Chimpy

Last night the people finally got a chance to see what a real President looks like. All C- Augustus could do was pout and babble and try to keep "on message", i.e. keep repeating ad nauseam the four talking points Karl Rove and Sasquatch Hughes were finally able to get him to memorize. We now have a real ball game!:kick:

[wildflower]

41. I'm interested to see what George Will says, since Kerry quoted

him last night.

-wildflower

EDITED to include what Kerry said:

"But we always have to stand up for democracy. As George Will said the other day, Freedom on the march; not in Russia right now."

I remember Will saying this on "This Week" and figured Kerry must have seen that.

[devilgrrl]

43. I'm in Sorrento, Italy and missed it...

My Aussie travel mates said the media called it a draw.

Thanks for posting this - made my day.

[Imalittleteapot]

45. “This is the toughest we’ve ever seen John Kerry.

He attacked the very core of the President’s popularity. He’s basically saying, who do you believe?” (MSNBC) Andrea Mitchell

No it's not. Media hasn't been paying attention - AND they haven't shown us anything but Kerry snippets. Kerry has always been tough.

[brianmattis]

46. Warning - Watch your back

Dave Johnson at seetheforest posts this warning: "Are the corporations that have been enjoying no-bid open-ended defense contracts and huge subsidies and tax breaks going to calmly start figuring out how to make an honest living? Are Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert ready to loosen their hold on the balls of the Ethics Committee and take their medicine?

No, now is when they get dangerous. How many people do you think are going to jail if the Republicans lose their power over the Justice Department and the FBI and the investigative committees of the House and Senate? How many of them stand to lose their heads to raving mobs if there is ever an audit of what has been happening to the Treasury since Bush took office?

Nope. Now is when they get dangerous. You think the Swift Boat Vets smears were bad?"

Possibly we ain't seen nuthin' yet!

[shivaji]

48. Kerry certainly won the 1st debate going away.....now the more important

question is....how soon can I see some poll numbers which
will show Kerry ahead? Especially in the battleground states?
The solid Red & Blue states probably won't change anyway, but
I wanna see a Kerry surge in battleground states, and real soon.
I have been waiting for that since the RNC, over a month now.

If the new poll numbers still show Bush leading in Florida,Ohio,
Wisconsin, Iowa, etc.....I am gonna puke on the sheeple.