One Opportunity I Wish Kerry Made Use Of

[DeminDC]

All in all, great work by Kerry and his campaign. They took the debate seriously and made a statement. He was prepared, showed respect for the debate itself and was stronger on substance and style than the President.

I believe, however, that he missed one opportunity when the two candidates exchanged pleasantries with respect to their families and such. After Kerry complimented Pickles, I wanted to hear something like this:

"The President just complimented my service. Earlier tonight, he made an issue of "mixed messages." Well, he has sent a mixed message to me on this that I reject and resent, and this President should be ashamed of himself. It is beneath the office of the Presidency, and America deserves better in this campaign.
As he is well aware, people close to his Administration, including many of his old buddies in Texas, have decided to hijack the campaign and attack my service in Vietnam. One day the President says that the ads should be taken down, and a few weeks later, he hires members of this group to serve in his Administration. That was a mixed signal, and I reject it. What made it worse was he claimed to be against these shady organizations, called 527's. A few years earlier, he fought so that these groups would be protected in our campaign finance laws. That was a mixed signal, and I reject it.
My signal to America is help is on the way. This campaign is about our future, not phony attacks.

[beyurslf]

1. I liked his "unspoken" statement Keery gave by recognizing

Laura. Bush didn't mention Teresa. It says a few things:

1. Bush doesn't like THK and purposefully left her off the list

2. Bush doesn't value his wife and would therefore see no reason to value the partner of someone else.

3. Kerry understands the how integral a companion is in any healthy relationship and respects that for all.

I hope the women of America noticed. And people wonder why there is a gender gap.

[greenman3610]

2. my wife noticed

and I bet she's not alone

[louis-t]

3. Here are two more...

re: mixed messages. It would have been great to say "what kind of message does it send to the Iraqi people when you turn 3 major cities over to the insurgants?"
Next, when asked if he thought we would be attacked by terrorists if Kerry won, he never answered the question but went into a talking point tirade.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. The "insurgents" just might have taken over those cities for the Iraqis

I didn't see a stream of refugees leaving those places did you?
* position on this war and on everything else makes no sense. The whole base of support for * seems to be "rapture" driven, so there is no logic in any of it.

[Booster]

5. And a missed opportunity for Kerry to remind everyone

that Bush said he didn't think we could win the war on terror, and the next day said we would win the war on terror. Flip-flop.

[louis-t]

7. right, good one.

[MatrixEscape]

6. Good point ...

I also noticed that Bushroom Cloud appeared very impatient. That was demonstrated when he semi-interrupted a few times.

What was that saying?

I saw it as rude and impulsive. He seemed almost on the verge of being out of control. I wonder if it was just his arrogance or did he intend it to symbolically show that he was in "control", commanding, and quick on the draw? The phony cowboy routine is running desert dry in that case.

For me, he didn't come off as anything but disruptive and inconsiderate. I kept wondering if they had made some mistake with his meds. Maybe I am trying to be sympathetic there.

The way he kept pulling back his cheek and lip muscles, it also reminded me of that reflex action when you are about to vomit ;)

However, I am aware that the facial expressions were probably more what they appeared, at first, to be: anger and contempt for his opponent, the debate, and the People, et al. We know that outside the media portrayal and scripted side-shows, Brush is not capable of fitting his image well anymore.

Then, there were those moments when Boosh smiled, lit up like an Xmas tree, and and thrust his beak out towards the camera to emphasize a catch-phrase aimed, like a scud missile, at the viewers. The change of demeanor was so drastic, that it seemed completely out of context, as in fraudulent or contrived.