She told me that Bush's anger was present from the moment he walked on the stage. There were moments that actually startled her. We work on an in-patient psychiatric ward together. I am not talking about someone who is easily frightened.
She was sitting right behind Bush and said she could see and here everything happening on the stage. When Bush and Kerry first took the stage and were smiling and shaking hands, Bush said to Kerry, "I didn't think you would show up." Can you believe that crap. After his dismal performance in the first debate he tried to shake Kerry's confidence. It reminds me of something a self-entitled-frat-boy would say. Typical.
My friend could also see what he was writing in between questions. Yep, you geussed it. Nothing. He was scribling. I suppose this is beeter than sitting there looking like a schmuck.
The thing I thought was interesting, however, was how she described the audience sellect process. With voters minds being so fixed at this point in the race, it was difficult to find truely undescided voters. My friend said when she was polled she described herself as a Kerry supporter. The polling official kept probing her for a more specific answers. When she finally acknowledge that "anything was possible" in terms of changing her vote it was accepted that she was an undescided voter. She was then asked to be at the debates. She felt that this was true of everyone else as well. "There weren't really that many undescided voters there" she said.
UPDATE: It is Monday morning and I am at work. My friend is here. I have not spoken with her at this time (I just walked in). I will ask her if she wants to post on the sight. If not then I will see if she wants to have lunch or something and we will discuss her experiences in more detail.
I have started a thread below called "Questions". Please post any questions you might like to ask her there. It would be helpful if people would refrain from having a more detailed conversation in this part of the thread. That way questions could be asked an answered more efficiantly.
Thanks and wish me luck!