Defining moment of the '04 debates

I got to wondering how Kerry might best respond to the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush's lies and thought the debates might be the best time to give the proper response to Bush's attempt at pulling a Willie Horton with Kerry's war record. So I made up a little cartoon in Photoshop. Please click on the link to see my version of Kerry's response.

http://img57.exs.cx/img57/1118/DefiningMoment.jpg

please feel free to suggest your own caption...

•  debates

  You assume chimpy  will agree to debate and not weezle out of them do to terra or some bs.

  by kerry on Sat Aug 07, 2004 at 10:43:13 PM PDT

  •  It won't work

    He tried this in 2000 -- didn't even attempt to pull out, but tried to dictate the format so that it would be more "friendly" to him.  Gore pilloried him for it and the Bush campaign backed off when polls suggested the public wasn't buying his argument (he basically called Gore a flip-flopper for agreeing to debate and then objecting to Bush's attempt to dictate terms).

    Of course the irony is that the debates helped Bush immeasurably.  The media had set expectations so low that by not looking like a complete idiot, he came across as the winner even though Gore clearly out-debated him on the substance of the issues.

    by Buck Fush on Sat Aug 07, 2004 at 10:46:56 PM PDT

    •  Tin foil hat theory

      Maybe Rove purposely had Bush seem to try to weasel out of debates or at least dictate terms so that the media would think he was scared. That way expectation would be that Gore would kill him. When Bush put three whole words together the media claimed he won. I don't usually give Rove that much credit but it's interesting to ponder...

      by Joe Willy on Sat Aug 07, 2004 at 10:50:43 PM PDT

•  Great Debate Takedowns

  Perhaps a bit OT, but this diary reminded me of two of the great debate takedowns of the recent past, and I think that if Kerry does have a big moment in one of the debates (and he has it in him, see #2), it will fall along the lines of one of these.

  1. Clinton vs. Bush I, first debate, 1992.  Bush I goes for the knockout blow early in the debate, brings up Clinton's evasion of Vietnam service, essentially calls him unpatriotic.  Clinton's counterpunch is to compate Bush's attacks on him to McCarthyism -- and remind him that when McCarthy slandered his political opponents as Communists, one of those who stood up to him was none other than Sen. Prescott Bush.  Bush was clearly knocked off guard, and got caught on camera glancing at his watch twice later in that debate.  It was all downhill from there for Bush.

  2. Kerry vs. Weld, 7th and final debate, 1996 Senate race.  It's early October and Kerry is tied with Weld or trailing slightly in most polls.  Weld goes for the ambush, bringing in the widow of a murdered cop to attack Kerry's opposition to the death penalty.  Kerry responds by bringing up his Vietnam service: "I know something about killing.  I don't like killing.  I don't think we honor life by the taking of life."  It was the defining moment of the seven debates and the beginning of an uphill trend for Kerry that lasted all the way to election day (he won 53-46).

  The most remarkable thing about #2 was that I don't think it was a prepared line.  It really was an ambush -- a way-beyond-the pale appeal to emotion over rationalism on par with Bernard Shaw's hypothetical to Dukakis in '88.  The way Kerry handled it gives me big-time confidence for the upcoming debates.

  by Buck Fush on Sat Aug 07, 2004 at 11:07:24 PM PDT

•  Predicted Great Moments in the debates

  First Debate: During an intense discussion, Kerry refers to Bush as "Mr. Quayle".

  First Debate: Bush tries to impress the crowd by speaking Bush Spanglish. Teresa Kerry, seated in the audience, yells out, "Shut the fuck up, El  Presidente"

  Second Debate: Bush parades a series of old Kerry foes on the stage, including his ex-wife and William Weld. Kerry responds by bringing in Ann Richards and Poppy.

  Second Debate: In the closing moments, the camera catches Dick Cheney hiding inside the podium with flashcards.

  Third Debate: When Kerry asks a question Bush cannot answer, Chimpy begins to strip down to his Hanes and has conjugal relations with Jim Lehrer.

  Third Debate: Bush beings referring to himself in the third-person. "Bush angry", "Bush want food", and so.

  Third Debate: In the closing moments, Bush loses control of all mental faculties and promptly defecates on the podium.

  by BaltimoreDem on Sat Aug 07, 2004 at 11:32:10 PM PDT