Thursday, September 30, 2004

On the first debate: Kerry 1, Bush -1

Well I have to say, tonight Kerry came off pretty well. The debate was much more debate like than I ever expected and that certainly favoured the candidate who could think and speak on his feet i.e. Kerry. Better still not only did Kerry come off well, Bush came off weak. So many times he just couldn't say or do anything other than stare all teary eyed and emphatically emplore us, the debate listener to believe him. Not only was the signal to noise ratio low, the signal was also repetative and low in substance - as Kerry put it, his only message is four words: more of the same.

Yes Kerry missed a few golden opportunities to stick the knife in and twist - personaly I wish he had, but I guess the considered opinion is that this would alienate too many of the swing voters. There was also the issue that if you stick it to the Shrub too much for his failure in Iraq it will inevitably be construed by the mentally defective mass media as a slight against the troops in Iraq and cheapen the lives of those who died. That's certainly how Bush span it - no matter how much Iraq is screwed up, the last people we can tell is the troops. No sir, there's no way we can tell them "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time". I guess kinds words and fairy tales from the command-in-chief will always be just what they need to stop those bullets with their names on.

Its a tricky line to tread, and personally I wish that Kerry would stride boldy over it - doing the right thing going forward is more important than being afraid of admiting mistakes of the past. The blood is not on his hands but of those who never admit fault and always take the moral high ground that is not rightfully theirs. I've always believed that this policy "to boldy go" might persuade more non-voters to get their oar and vote in than it would swing voters to defect, but hey, what do I know?

So for now I'll just call it: Kerry 1, Bush -1

I can't wait to see how that well known shill for Haliburton and corporate interests, Cheney, does next week.

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