My honest opinion: Kerry/Edwards are leading by far in the debates.

[BurtWorm]

Kerry unquestionably whupped Bush upside the haid. That much is beyond debate. Kerry made Edwards' job vastly easier by giving him an immense lead to build on or lose, as the case might be.

It's also beyond debate that Edwards and Cheney were more evenly matched, certainly in terms of intellect, but also in terms of command of the material and the confidence to show it.

One thing Cheney has on Edwards and anyone else who might debate him: his severe grayness, which suggests gravity, seriousness, and which projects, accurately or not, candor. It's clear, from the content of Cheney's words, particularly about Iraq and Kerry's record, that he is anything but candid, to be sure. But Cheney projects an image of the boss who doesn't suffer fools or bullshitters gladly. (On the other hand, how many people would elect to have Cheney be the boss of them? How many would like to confront that bitter puss at the office every day?)

Nevertheless, Cheney's severe grayness also comes in handy when he wants to surprise his audience with a display of warmth. Being so coldblooded, he only has to ratchet up the "heat" one degree to register "surprising warmth" in a viewer.

That said, I was thrilled that Edwards chose to use aggression against Cheney right off the bat. I think the points he made about the failures of the Bush policies in Iraq and Afghanistan were, besides being right on the money, delivered with the proper amounts of outrage, disdain and, yet, gravity. His persistent attack, his refusal to let Cheney have the last word on anything having to do with Iraq and national security, kept Cheney more off balance than I was expecting. It was a thrill to watch.

I was disappointed a couple of times with Edwards' answers--one, on what qualified him to be president, I wish he had prepared a better, more memorable answer; the other, on the question of the intensity of partisanship in the country, he began very well, then decided to abandon to make a campaign-like pitch for Kerry's health care plan. I was hoping for more references to Halliburton and at least one reference to the energy council and one to the 9/11 Commission's reprimand of Cheney for overstepping the bounds of his office when he authorized sending f-16s after commercial planes. But it was clear that the references Edward did make to Halliburton got under Cheney's reptilian scales.

My favorite line of the debate: "The question was about jobs, right?" My sentiments exactly!

:toast: