How do you think Jim Lehrer did?

[babylonsister]

I liked his questions for the most part, and Shrub sure seemed surprised/unprepared.

[Crankie Avalon]

1. He didn't do quite as well as Kerry...

...but he did a lot better than a certain other guy who was up there.

[mourningdove92]

6. I think we owe Lehrer a big THANKS

He asked really good questions...not just the canned crap Smirk is accustomed to. It was great hearing so much of bushco attacks on Kerry come flying back to smirk for an explanation.

[Crankie Avalon]

22. Oh, I wasn't denying he was good...

...he ignored Kerry's request for a 30-second rebuttal while seeming to accommodate Bush's request for same, but that's just a minor quibble. I'm glad he was the moderator.

[MO_Dem]

2. I thought he was very good

and asked good questions. He seemed very fair to both candidates, I thought.

[enki23]

3. those were the questions everyone wanted to hear

period. he did a terrific job of getting the real issues on the floor for debate, to an extent i've never seen in my admittedly-limited debate experience. and he kept out of their way quite well, except once when he actually helped prompt our dear leader for a rebuttal he didn't quite have.

that shrub was unprepared was, frankly, astounding. none of these questions were surprises. with perhaps one or two exceptions, these were the most obvious questions in the world. if he wasn't prepared for these, his supposed *strengths* then what can we possibly say? he should memorize more stock phrases? that's all he had, after all. his rebuttals were horrible. stock phrases, repeated numerous times, were all he had.

[Jack from Charlotte]

18. I would have liked a question about August 6th PDB

but otherwise it was fine. AWOL/moron has 2 problems in any debate with Kerry. Any question to Kerry gives him the chance to show himself as smart, well versed and presidential. All things AWOL is not. Bush's other problem is he has to defend his complete failure in every area. Not an easy task for a bright person, much less a moron.

[RafterMan]

21. That's exactly how I felt

Lehrer kept the candidates talking about things I wanted to hear for the full 90 minutes.

As for the questions, unbelievable -- somebody posted the conspiracy theory on free republic that Kerry had the questions in advance. Well who didn't? What more obvious set of questions could anybody have come up with?

I think Bush probably had that dream last night where you show up for the final in a course for which you've forgotten to take any of the classes. He was helpless.

[LisaM]

4. He was better than in 2000

but as someone just pointed out on the radio, he stayed away from oil dependence and Saudi Arabia. And I wish he would have brought up global warming and the Kyoto treaty. It was a little too much Iraq, which in theory would favor *.

[Scairp]

14. For another debate

Those are foreign policy matters and the debate on those subjects is upcoming.

[AmandaRuth]

5. fine, but did he not let

boosh get away with some rule bending? Like an extra response or two? I will have to watch the debate again.

[phantom power]

10. I was glad he did that.

the more Bush has to talk, the more obvious it is that he doesn't have anything to say. Give Kerry an extra 30 seconds, and he uses it to good effect. Bush just hangs himself with extra time.

[Demit]

16. he also rephrased Bush's position for him, on something, which

seemed a little too helpful. Didn't he say something like, "Isn't that what you mean, Mr. President?" My jaw dropped at that. Although it also looked like what you would do with a slow child, prompt them a little...

Maybe he just felt painfully sorry for *...

[dave123williams]

7. He threw some hardballs; that was enough to keep me happy.

Bush dropped 'em, Kerry hit 'em. End of story.

[izzie]

8. Good I did not know he was there and it is how it should be.

[Parche]

9. jim

Jim Lehra had them both talk of terra
Kerry said he would fight it
and Bush said he would scare ya

[PROGRESSIVE1]

11. Jim Leher is our nations best Journalist and he knows that....

he must ask SERIOUS questions and he did. He was MORE than fair too!

:kick:

[Catfight]

12. Thank you Mr. Lehrer for your courageous questions! n/t

[Ready4Change]

13. He was ok, but I'm still not going to vote for him.

:)

[elsiesummers]

15. He did a good job - no stupid/bad questions.

In some of the debates from 2000 I was so frustrated by some of the idiotic questions - like asking about poll results and nonsense non-issue stuff.

[studentskye]

17. Professional, Unbiased

He remained unaffected by jokes and snarky comments. He did not fall for a few attempts (from both sides) to get friendly. I especially appreciated those several moments when he summed up the core of a candidate's response and pointedly asked if that was their message if that was what they wanted the American people to actually be hearing. I hope the next moderators will be as good.

[Logansquare]

19. He had the dignity to know that he wasn't the story

the debate was. Always nice to see a journalist who remembers the basic tenets of his profession.

[high density]

20. Good questions, but...

I was really pissed off at him at the point where he prodded Bush for a response after Kerry accused Bush of not speaking the truth (or something like that.)

[CornField]

23. Yes, this is exactly what I was going to post.

IMO, he over-stepped his bounds as moderator. If * wanted to leave his answer at "I don't know what else I can say" (paraphrasing) then the moderator should have left it at that.