OP/ED: Presidential Debate Coverage 2004 - Miami

Gazrok, i noticed the same thing. i was sure bush would hammer kerry for that, decrying the lack of body armor yet voting against the 87B. he didnt, and that could have been a good hit for him.

One thing i think about the debates is that, really, they arent for those of us who have made up our minds already. seeing bush 'ponder' or trip over UBL and saddam wont make us hate him, seeing kerry spend far more time explaining that he had a plan rather than state it wont make us hate him, thats why we're the 'decided.' what really matters are those who have yet to make up their mind, who find themselves on the fence, or werent considering voting at all. to them, bush's constant hammering in of key points stays in ones mind, and they will stick. kerry had a number of chances for fantastic slogans, but he botched them. his strongest phrase of the night was "i will hunt down and kill the terrorists" which was strong enough to exude the nutso vietnam veteran aura.

a word or two on presentation. i laughed, noticing bush drinking the water (imediately thought about the watch) but they caught him three times. and, each time, it didnt look bad on him. to drink the water, he had to look in kerry's direction, so it seemed like he was taking a sip of water, while still tyring to pay attention (who knows if he really was). it made him seem more human, which was present throughout the night. the blue tie was much softer, warmer for the people. leaning on the podium with his arm made it much more like a covnersation with the president, like the fireside chats of FDR (good ol days). and, of course, his person, overall body language, choice of words, and dialect just ring out of a good friend and yourself talking.

kerry's height did not seem to be too key. walking out, he was taller, but it really did not seem to be too much (its only 5 inches, really). but, on the podium, kerry spent most of his time looking at lehrer, which was odd as he should be looking at the camera. his hand motions were good, i thought, did a lot if one noticed them to do away with his rigid boring stick figure persona. the oddest thing was that his height seemed to actually impair him; he had to look down to jim, and constantly did so, shading his eyes and creating a very sketchy image.

more issues. Bush brought a lot of facts out of nowhere to disprove kerry in a heartbeat, and kerry really had only his 13 yrs vs. 4 yrs thing. the sudanese genocide was a tough issue because something of that caliber really only can be answered in one way. kerry did a good job, however, of explaining the differences between bush's plan for nuclear proliferation and his own. he also, on at least two occasions, but i am sure more, twisted bush's catchphrases (namely flip-flopper and mixed message) against him. i would have liked to see more substantial evidence from kerry, but his two lists were very good, one for bush's 'colossal error in judgment' and the other about how bush was untruthful.

johnkerry.com was a badly placed plug. i hated his 'outsourcing' of the capture of UBL, that was bs. tried to use outsource (he knows the word carries weight) in a terrible context, and on a stupid charge. 'bush got help.' gee, thats terrible. when bush mixed up saddam and UBL that one time, that was wild. did he really do that? freudian slip, man, those are deadly (ask my ex). bush needed to have a comeback to kerry quip about his father, but he didnt. major loss there.

at the very end, the women wearing white? wtf? you dont wear white after labor day, especially if ur a rich, cultured wife of someone running for president. also, it was very interesting to see kerry with teresa, but bush with the entire nuclear family. that was a huge mind-blowing difference, i bet kerry brings in the girls for next week.