Don't "misunderestimate" Bush this Friday

[tomfodw]

He knows everything is on the line this time and will most certainly <i>not</i> be as woefully unprepared and sulky as he was at the first debate. We should not expect the same laughable result this time. Hope for, but not expect. Hope is not a plan

On the other hand, John Kerry is a battle-tested warrior who knows what happens when you go into combat overly confident. I'm sure he will be ready.

You just know that Karl Rove is carefully scripting all kinds of "Gotcha!" lines for his puppet to spout if and when Kerry says something predictable. I hope Kerry is planning some surprises of his own for the Pore Li'l Chile, who, after all, cannot possibly defend his domestic record. All he has left is increasingly brutal - and desperate - attacks on Kerry, to win a battle of attrition and seige, make his opponent look bad since he knows he cannot possibly make himself look good.

It's going to be incredibly nasty and unappealing the rest of the way - starting with Friday night. Don't be surprised if tomorrow night is uglier and more mean-spirited than any of us want to imagine.

Kerry was a prosecutor, so he knows what ugly and mean-spirited is. Let's hope he hasn't forgotten.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. If he rolls into it like he did his speech in Michigan yesterday...it's

going to be a lot of fun again. I'm cautiously optimistic. We were all laughing yesterday...trying to figure out how many times Bush could use his new word "Coming" in a speech! :hi:

[michigandem2]

11. what was this line about

"we're just getting started?" I found that pretty laughable...26 days away...??? JUST getting started?? interesting...I think the "significant speech" that was aired all over the cable news..was a good thing for Kerry..cuz they were trying out new lines...LOL!

I am excited...anxious..but I didn't expect Bush to suck so bad..and I expect he won't suck bad this time...all the more fun for me if he does.

[liberal N proud]

2. All he has to do is improve on last week and they will throw

roses at his feet

[Skidmore]

3. After being heavily reinforced by

wild applause and appropriately cued boos so that he now understands what to emphasize in the absence of applause, he will now seek to plug that canned diatribe we heard yesterday into a town meeting. Expect him to be strident--shrieking and caterwauling to emphasize his toughness. The guy cannot interpret social cues appropriately. He will come across as a bully cause he don't get it.

[apnu]

10. so what your saying is Bush is some sort of Pavlovian Dog?

Do tell.

[Skidmore]

12. Yup, and

he has fleas and drools too.

[ewagner]

4. Bushs* speech yesterday was important

for us

Dubya was trying out his attack lines over and over again. We can expect to see those lines used as responses to the "citizen" questions put to him on Friday night. My suspicion is that the Kerry Campaign was listening carefully preparing responses to those new attack lines.

Interesting........Dubya is in Wausau, WI today (about 35 miles away) and so is Terry McAuliffe. Terry will unveil a new Kerry ad to be run here in Wisconsin.......but it's interesting that they are "ghosting" Dubya......

[KansDem]

5. Bush has a history of ducking out when situations get rough...

I agree that Bush has much more to do tomorrow night to make up for the pathetic performance last week, but he doesn't have any life experience to prepare for what's on the line tomorrow.

He's never suffered adversity and had to work through it...

Vietnam--let poppy get him into TANG;
TANG--didn't show up, refused to take drug test when ordered, let poppy get him an "honorable" discharge;
Harken--sold stock based on insider information, didn't have to worry about SEC since poppy was US President;
Other business dealings--lost money but never suffered financially, poppy's friends were always there to bail him out;

And the list goes on and on...

Bush has never had to deal with adverse situations. This is not a part of his character development. Wisdom, experience, and resourcefulness comes with life's adversity, and these traits are lacking in Bush. He will not be able to avoid the same dreadful performance tomorrow night as last time.

[dogtag]

6. Shrub will try the Cheney tactic - Lie like crazy and

hope that the audience doesn't stick around for the fact check.

It worked well for the master liar Tuesday night...not for us, but for folks like one of my neighbors. She didn't hear one word about the fact that Cheney spouted lies because she only watched the actual debate.

Shrub can't lie with the same dismissive conviction that Uncle Dick has honed over the years, but he'll probably try.

[seabeyond]

7. i expect him to laugh, joke and have a jolly good time

as he talks about how he is taking care of this nation. of good spirit. trying charm. and the whine, that doesnt seem to offend people, but does me. i have two little ones. i dont like whine

[ClintonTyree]

8. Kerry will keep his cool.............

he is in control of his emotions. Bush will try at first, he'll attack and smirk, but in the end he'll resort to his pouting, smirking, eye twitching self because he has absolutely no self control. He can't take criticism, isn't used to being in an environment where all questions aren't screened beforehand and in the end will melt down again before America's eyes. It'll be a grand thing to behold.

[ClassWarrior]

9. Yup. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

And never, NEVER underestimate the enemy.

23.

[BUSHOUT]

13. Bush will blow it.

I watched his speech yesterday. He's coming off as desperate, yet cocky.

He won't have learned any humility by Friday and will likely let his face contort again when Kerry takes some shots at him.

At the least he's going to be stabbing the air and finnishing off each rant with a raised voice exclamation mark....which might have come off as powerful weeks ago but now will come off as desperate.

[giant_robot]

14. You can't take the bumbling buffoon

we saw last week and turn him into an elegant orator in a week. Bush will suck, so the republicans will do what they always do in a no-win situation: they will cheat.

[hlthe2b]

15. The dynamics will be very different... it will be hard for Kerry to

direct too much to Bush* with a studio audience asking the questions. Just the fact that the "public" is involved in the process will have a moderating effect on how pointed and targeted he can be directing replies back towards Bush*. We are going to have to hope there are some very motivated and "concerned to the point of anger" audience members directing these pointed questions at Bush*.


It is going to be tricky...