NEWS: Bush, Kerry Spar In First Presidential Debate

President Bush & Senator John Kerry met for the first time to engage in the first of three Presidential debates. Whilst both men sparred they were able to agree that Nuclear Proliferation is the most dangerous threat facing the United States in the near future. However, when it came to North Korea they did not share the same attitudes as each other.

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The first debate took place in Coral Gables, FL. The Hurricane hit state played host to the clash as it was the key state in the 2000 election. The debate was strictly moderated by Jim Lehrer, host of PBS's Newshour. The event went smoothly and to plan with no interruptions, the crowd had been prewarned that if the debate stopped it would be taken out of candidate time. The rules comprised a 32 page booklet which quickly went out the window, C-SPAN began to show "split shots" showing both candidates at the same time which was expressly against the rules, after this development every network followed knowing they would not receive the blame.



Senator Kerry continued to challenge President Bush indirectly whilst setting out his idea's for a future administration. The two minute time limit did not give adequate time for a full plan layout but the summaries seem to have won many preliminary e-vote polls. With only five weeks left till the election the focus remains primary on Homeland Security & Foreign Policy, which incidentally was the topic of the first debate. The debates will cover a wide range of subjects and the next will focus on Social Policy, keyed to be a strong suit for the Democratic Candidate





Three post-debate polls conducted by the media suggested that viewers favoured Kerry over Bush in several categories. Each candidate drew heavily on oft-repeated lines and strategies in new deliveries. This was the first chance many had to hear Senator Kerrys policies for the future and an adequate time to hear the Presidents plans for how to cope with the Iraq insurgency and how to defeat terrorism.

Strong lines were kept on both sides as each vyed for the ever decreasing number of swing voters. Kerry appeared calm and collected and Presidential in many cases whilst President Bush hunched over the podium and appeared Irate at times. However, the most important issues are the policies which will shape the decisions in peoples minds.

It is still far too close to call and many believe that it will continue this way until the election is done and dusted. We're going to have to wait till November 2nd.


[edit on 4-10-2004 by John bull 1]

....Kerry destroyed him.
Bush, in one 90 second response, said "it's HARD" something like 11 times!!! He was like an old man given placebo Viagra trying to talk himself into fortitude!!!!

Remember folks, he's a WAR PRESIDENT and this was THE debate on his strong suit topic!

Only in America can a retard be president
If he wins again the new national anthem will be "The wheels on the bus go round and round..."

I gotta say, it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Pure entertainment.

Not so much the actual talking points, but whoever decided on that split-screen format was a FRICKIN GENIUS!

The best review I've read online so far is actually from a CNN blog (a VH1 veejay no less). Here's the link, and a couple of the better lines.



www.cnn.com...

He looked TOTALLY like a dog looking at itself in the mirror, LOL.

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Vive La Fluffy.

Yup,
after 20 min. of that tedious debate.....call it 'Mon Ami over Miami'
It became clearer to me that Sen. Kerry has the "SHINE"......something akin to the workings of the last DEM President aka 'slick willy'

Sen Kerry has SHINED thru his military service and a political career [ which only affected the citizens of Mass.] until now, that he wants to SHINE his way into the Presidency.

note, imo, both Bush & Kerry are of the same plan/goal...which is after all just a 'cycle of destruction'......I think only NADER has a will & a plan to end the coporate/government 'cycle of destruction'...
so, while we all bicker and over-analyse spray-tans, postures, color of ties worn...ad nausium......the metaphor of Nero Fiddling Away as Rome Burns is appropos.

NO RSVP...thank you

EXCELLENT point!!!

The format in general was EXACTLY what I want to see in a debate...kudos to the organizers. Anybody else notice how they made sure both candidate's heads were level on the split screen, to avoid Kerry's height advantage???

Bush was so predictable that I even made my wife crack up by saying what Bush was going to say before he even said it, hehe.... Any minute I thought he was going to burst out with "30 minutes to Wapner!" "I'm an excellent driver!"

Split-Screens were against the rules However, the nets said beforehand that they'd disregard that rule and do it anyway. And as it was a pool feed they couldnt do # without the entire media turning on them.

Go networks!

Funniest moment for me? Bush drinking from an empty glass... five times.

Another good point is that most of the world didn't see this debate. Thank God.
Bush looked like a lost child, Kerry not much better. Usama is probably laughing his @ss off, and Saddam is scratching his head in amazment that he got caught.

Well, as I live in the Hialeah/Miami, I can tell you two things, not a lot of people showed to the debate from what I heard...so i hardly call that a win by Kerry, once again, i am sure liberals and democrats will refer to this when Bush wins again in November, saying how obvious can it be that the election was rigged since for them Kerry won in Miami....

In fact most of these demonstrations are attended by a minority, and this happens in all states.

Actually, many TV stations across the world arereplaying the debate during normal hours. I watched the highlights ljust 20 minutes ago.

I stayed up and watched, alot of others did too.

Good point, how many ATS peeps watched the debate?
Can anyone tell me how many countries showed the debate?
How many countries are now lining up to back the "war"?
With a "leader" that drinks from an empty glass(with obviously empty head) we cannot loose.

Over here I saw...

BBCNews24, SkyNews, CNBC, Bloomberg, CNNinternational, FoxNews, ITVNewschannel and EuroNews all covering it live.

I think you can get one of those in pretty much any country in the world.

I love you guys! Really now, putting aside our partisan ramblings it hardly was a slam dunk. Funny, how all of you are oh so quick to dismiss polls showing Bush has a lead, but now you are quoting them as if they were the gospel.

But the more important point is this: Most of us were made up our minds a long time ago and that is clearly evidenced by alot of the Campaign 2004 affiliation tags on the posters. Others I know well from sparing back and forth. That being said what really matters is how the undecided feel about the debates and the discussions that will ensue. Most of us decided a long time ago and short of Bush having a coronary or Kerry pulling out a French passport will not change our minds anyway.

This photo sums it all up really.

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He looks like a broken man.

I have one very important question for you all if you would be kind enough to respond too.

WTF was Bush chewing? Gum? The insides of this mouth? The remnants of his soul? It was driving me into hysterics!

He bites the insides of his cheeks as a comfort gesture.

I tend to do it when i'm bored

He was biting his tongue
Actually alot of coke heads and "tweakers" chew their check, can't help themselves. Kinda like grinding your jaw.

[edit on 1-10-2004 by valkeryie]

Love the point on "nuklear" proliferation... the US has scrapped the treaty and is building new bomb themselves but ooh no its only the axis of evil making the bombs. Bringing them neatly back to the "we need to defend ourselves by bombing the crap out of a poor backward country" excuse.

I thought that too! Glad I wasn't the only one, hehe....

At least THAT's a good maneuver when you need to pause (though it's incredibly more believable when there is actually water in the glass...or Vodka more likely... ) It's far better than his blank doe-like stare he'd often use, hehe...