Don't underestimate Cheney

[whosinpower]

It is so important that we do not gloat over the Bush loss - asmuch as we would like to....there is no room for complacency now.

Cheney is the puppetmaster - Bush is the puppet.

He will not go down easily. I have no idea how he will frame his debate structure, but I would hazard to guess that he will continue along bush lines of not sending messed mixages - or changing horses in the middle of a race sort of comparison.

He will try very hard to reinvigorate us back to the days that followed 911....the mood America had, how united we were, how patriotic, how much we stood with the president then.

Edwards has his work cut out for him. Cheney will be amicably tough on Edwards. He will cut as a father figure scolding a young man.....just my guess.

[mimitabby]

1. he will lie lie lie. that's all he ever does.

[King Coal]

2. John will mop the floor with him.

[Triana]

3. Tricky Dick II will bluster, smirk...

...and lie.

Edwards is very astute however, hopefully, Edwards can at least hold his own against the smirking, evil bastard.

[NewJeffCT]

12. Edwards is astute, but

He is so young & inexperienced, while Cheney just oozes gravitas & experience.

But, in all seriousness, I remember during the primary debates, Edwards seemed a bit stumped & at a loss for words when they brought up the Defense of Marriage act.

[Parche]

4. dik cheney

Cheney always talks out of the side of his mouth
Edwards is an awesome attorney
They know how to debate!!
Cheney just lies, and says the same old crap over and over

[emulatorloo]

5. He is vicious and nasty - and I hope they are underestimating Edwards

Because I know Edwards is not underestimating Cheney.

Cheney will say whatever it takes to stay in power.
However, Edwards has inviscerated the powerful for a living.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Cheney is

one of the greatest debaters of all time. Second only to George Bush.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

7. It goes something like

Cicero, Bush, Demosthenes, Lincoln, Cheney, Jesus, Plato, Sallustius Crispus, right?

[King Coal]

8. Cheney, I underestimate thee.

[DIKB]

9. Edwards needs to

bring up Cheney's scare tactics. Reveal to the world the fearmonger that he is. Edwards is a lawyer and a senator he is a very motivational speaker, and his accent gives him a down-to-earth feel. Edwards smile will endear him to voters, Cheney's perpetual sneer will seriously hurt himself IMO.

[4_Legs_Good]

10. It's not necessarily that Cheney will be tough, it's that Edwards NEEDS to

mop the floor with him. A tie is not good enough. Edwards needs to clean his clock. He needs to make Cheney look like a dotard. He needs to appear as the young, energetic, un-corrupt alternative to the current, old, uncharismatic, bad-policy, utterly corrupt, consistently wrong current administration.

We need a HUGE serious win here, to turn the 1st debate "bounce" into actual momentum.

A big win Tuesday will take a little heat off Kerry (a LITTLE, not much) to clean Bush's clock again on Friday.

These need to be SERIOUS SERIOUS wins. If they are we can pull this off. If they're not we're gonna be working crazy and guessing right up until the end. (not that we won't be working crazy anyway)

Go Edwards. Don't get complacent. This is probably the most important 90 minutes of your political life thus far.

david

[whosinpower]

11. Agree totally

This is too important to get all cocky.

[Thrill]

13. The key is to do like Kerry

and Put Cheney on defense for the entire debate. If he lets Cheney come out swinging and on the offensive. Edwards is in trouble

[4_Legs_Good]

14. The catch is that Rove knows all this too. He's not gonna make the same

mistake twice. I'm still amazed he made it once.

We need to prepare for a much more well oiled machine tomorrow, Saturday and at the last debate. These guys aren't dumb (the handlers at least). We gotta be ready to out perform them every time - preferably by leaps and bounds - knowing that they're learning from their mistakes.

One thing I know is that neither of them will be leaning on the podium or looking stupid when the other is talking again. That was a gimme on the first one - great for us, but it won't happen again. (it'll actually be funny to see how much George Jr. writes on Friday. I bet he's looking down at some dumb-ass cartoon he's drawing every time Kerry opens his mouth).

I also think that the sitting in this next one is gonna put Edwards at a natural disadvantage. He'd be better standing, best if he could move around.

david

[Zorbet55]

15. Edwards should just be himself, I think

I realize that he doesn't have the insider info that Cheney has at his disposal, but he is articulate and smart. Everyone knows Cheney has a mean streak that he uses when the opportunity presents itself and I don't think Edwards has any mean in himself to counter with. This is my only concern. Cheney may be charming one minute and then lunge to bite off part of Edward's face the next, ala Hanibal Lector.

[Gothmog]

16. Trial attorney friend believes that Edwards can handle cheney

I was meeting with a couple of the top trial attorneys in Houston who both have given a great deal to Senator Edwards and to the Democrats. They both believe that Senator Edwards will have not trouble handling Cheney.

[Awsi Dooger]

17. Edwards: "During the next four weeks, George Bush's record is on trial"

That line would be picked up by the TV goofs regardless of the remainder of the debate, even if Cheney is prepared with a comeback.

As an Edwards supporter, despite the law background I always view him as a much better day-to-day campaigner than debater, based on the primaries. Edwards' stump speech is remarkable and almost all his best lines came from speeches, like "objects may be closer than they appear." Kerry, obviously, has the opposite tendencies although the daily campaign has certainly (finally!) started to uptick.

Look, Cheney is smarter than Bush, talks much better, and won't be looking for an exit after 30 minutes. Kerry was terrific but benefited from a semi-forfeit. Edwards has a much greater task and needs to remain on the attack, virtually ignoring Cheney with a laser focus on Bush's failings.

But even if Cheney excels, it can almost be spun as a pathetic indictment of Bush, direct comparison 5 days later.