Reporters "hooted" at "Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us --

[DeepModem Mom]

I know that" --

New York Times
SHAPING REACTIONS
The Post-Debate Contest: Swaying Perceptions


Doug Mills/The New York Times
Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, talking to reporters in Coral Gables, Fla., after last week's presidential debate.

By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: October 4, 2004

The loudest cackles among the reporters covering the first presidential debate broke out at about 9:55 on Thursday night in a vast, mirrored filing center at the University of Miami, where important impressions of the candidates' performance were just beginning to gel. And President Bush was on the receiving end.

Many of the hundreds of reporters, who were not in the actual debate hall but watching on televisions atop rolling carts next door in the university's "Wellness Center,'' hooted when Mr. Bush appeared to stumble, blurting out haltingly, "Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us - I know that," in response to Senator John Kerry's implication that he had conflated Iraq and Al Qaeda.

That moment in Coral Gables, Fla., was a crucial step in the days-long formation of general perceptions of how the debate played out for Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry, who was also on the receiving end of guffaws but none so loud and sustained.

For all their efforts to prepare the candidates for the debates, the campaigns have been just as determined to mount energetic efforts on another front: to influence the press, and public, perceptions of the encounter before they take hold across cable and network news, newspapers, the Internet and late-night comedy shows. It is an especially daunting task, considering that journalists try to be beyond such persuasion, partisan bloggers approach their writing with a hardened point of view, and comedians seek to pounce on whatever will get the most laughs....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/politics/campaign/04spin.html

[Awsi Dooger]

1. That got BY FAR the most laughter at my debate watching party

There were 20 of us at my Las Vegas home and almost everyone howled, even the Bush supporters. I damn near impaled myself on my golf putter and took several minutes to recover.

Then I visited DU two hours later and there was barely a mention, much more about Poland and vociferously and moolahs. I was really shocked, and posted a thread about the "I know that" remark.

One of our 527s should mock GW with a commercial featuring that clip, the great protector war president assuring John Kerry he's aware of Bin Laden's name and occupation.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I think I was in such a state during the debate that I couldn't react --

but seeing that clip since sets me "hooting" every time!

[Hot Water]

3. I thought that was the funniest line too.

Reminded me of that character on Saturday night live...can't think of the name.

I know that---of course I know that--you think I don't know that---everybody knows that. He thinks I didn't know that.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. Yes! Bush is a candidate for the Nathan Thurm Memorial Mendacity Medal

Previously won by Donald Rumsfeld. http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=13

Hot Water, that's a perfect comparison. Someone mentioned that SNL skit in my thread about the "I Know That" line Thursday night. Martin Short played Nathan Thurm, a sleazy chain-smoking lawyer who represented tobacco interests and kept saying things like, "Of course I know that. You think I don't know that? Why wouldn't know that" during an '80s SNL skit that parodied a hostile 60 Minutes interview.

[VOX]

6. Welcome to DU, Hot Water!

Good to have you here.

Best to you -- :toast:

[Judi Lynn]

4. Transcript and complete video of the debate at DeepModem Mom's link

Can anyone ever get enough of this great event?

Thanks a lot. Listening to it again right now!

[Warren DeMontague]

7. He also mixed up Saddam and Osama...

"Of course we're after Saddam Hussein -- I mean bin Laden."

And by far the weirdest moment of the night was this one:

"You know, I think about Missy Johnson. She's a fantastic lady I met in Charlotte, North Carolina. She and her son Brian, they came to see me. Her husband PJ got killed. He'd been in Afghanistan, went to Iraq.

You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way."

Then, of course, he told us how he understood what hard work it is for the soldiers in Iraq, after all, like us, he watches them on TV.. (Of course, maybe he actually sees images of what is happening there, unlike most of mainstream America)

"And now we're fighting them now. And it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work."

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Kind of a "greatest hits" collection emerging --

W's debate performance, in retrospect, is looking more and more ludicrous. (And you'd think after the OB/GYN dust-up, he'd have left "love" alone -- but then he doesn't read the papers, and probably no one clued him in.)

[greenman3610]

9. hard work

[greenman3610]

10. hard work