October 08, 2004
Town Hall Debate
Here's the gist of the debate tonight (my "notes" will be at the end):
The town-hall format is where George Bush excels. And he did! He was calm, confident, and relaxed. Except when he caught Kerry making outrageous claims.
Bush missed a couple of opportunities to put the smackdown on Kerry, but overall, he struck some forceful blows. His strengths? He has plans and he said exactly what they were. Kerry still hasn't made his clear.
Kerry carefully evaded a couple of questions. Never really answering the "what do you say to people who claim you flip-flop?", he talked all around the subject, offering nothing of substance.
It's difficult to understand Kerry's reasoning. It's apparent that he's a domestic issue guy. On that end, he's advocating more involvement by the government in all our lives. Security-wise, he thinks the government should be less involved. He's naive about what it takes to protect this country. Even his domestic policies fail to live up to what this country truly needs.
To quote The Gentleman Caller From Hell: Kerry was good but evasive; Bush bitch-slapped him, hog-tied him, and sent him to The Big House wearing a pair of fuzzy pink slippers.
(There will be more on the debate later)
W is pissed. He does well when he's pissed.
Kerry is so vague he's barely there. I have no idea what that means, either.
Kerry wants us to sit around, twiddling our thumbs while he examines the Patriot Act? "It's flawed. Terribly flawed. But I voted for it! Oops, that's right. I voted against.....wait....what was the question?"
Stem cell research: Kerry has to bring up celebrity endorsements. It's the only way to cover for his stumbling. Bush's administration has funded research. Bush hasn't said "no stem cell research." He just isn't going to keep putting government funding into it. Private funding is still possible. Don't forget, we have the potential to do this research via umbilical stem cells.
Abortion: This is where I piss off the very hard Right. Listen, what's decided between me and my doctor is MY business. I don't want Bush, Kerry, or anyone else say what I can or cannot have done. Enacting any law that prohibits a procedure is a hairbreadth away from enacting a law that mandates it must be done.
Healthcare: Bush is absolutely right to want to put the power in the hands of healthcare providers and the citizens.
I'll follow up more in a bit. There are many points I want to touch on to wrap this up.
Fox: "You have to be very careful about what Kerry's saying. Very, very careful."
Quick notes:
Rush to war! Rush to war!
How long do you draw out negotiations?
What exactly are Kerry's plans?
Voting day here. I've just been along and voted for John Howard, man of steel (Clark Kent with a bald head). In America I'd vote for George. I wish him luck.
Posted by: RH at October 8, 2004 07:31 PMGeorge W. Greetings y'all. Looks like your 'man of steel' has been re-elected.
Your turn now.
I'm tentatively with you on abortion - it's up to the woman in question to decide.
I'd like to think that in the last few years that I've become more anti-abortion than pro-life.
I cannot tell (or through supporting candidates) a woman what to do where a fetus is concerned; what she does will be her decision and that she'll have to reckon with her decision in the long run....was it a good choice or a bad one.
Posted by: Mad Mikey at October 9, 2004 06:17 AMAbortion is a very touchy subject and I think it should be left to the woman & her doctor, but I'm against partial birth abortion unless medically necessary. I think it's just cruel.
Posted by: yayaempress at October 9, 2004 07:36 AMYou know what's funny about all this? CNN said that it was "too close to call." Were they monitoring the same debate? I watched it last night, for some reason. Had CNN on, then dozed, and it repeated itself through the night, so I don't think I heard it all in sequence. But I heard enough to know that Bush SPANKED Kerry. There were so many questions Kerry evaded -- or at least forgot to answer.
I'm not leaning one way or the other, and have never been a political animal, but I do have to say that this is getting interesting.
Posted by: Joni at October 9, 2004 01:25 PM"It's difficult to understand Kerry's reasoning"
You have Got to be kidding. You used Kerry and Reasoning in the same sentence. Puh Lease.
Great review.
Posted by: og at October 10, 2004 04:30 PM