I'm all for rubbing their noses in it a little bit but let's not get stuck in a feedback loop on who "won" the debate. Everyone seems to acknowledge Kerry won the debate, now the Repubs will try to spin the conversation in a different direction. Let's keep it on our own turf. Remember, it was universally recognized that Gore "won" the first debate too, but a week later all we heard about were "troubling" aspects of his personality. I have two reactions that I bet most here share and I think they represent the next phase of this conversation about the debates.
- Only one guy on the stage last night seemed like a Commander-in-Chief, and it wasn't the guy currently in the post. It was a shockingly unPresidential performance by Bush (seriously, I wonder if Bush is entirely okay).
- Bush was frighteningly out-of-touch. He seemed to have no idea what was going on in Iraq and had no idea what to do about bin Laden or protecting us from the nightmare nuclear scenario. I doubt I'll get a wink of sleep over the next 4 years if Bush is elected.
You may have other thoughts but let's make sure we are talking about why Kerry won so that Bush's people have to defend their candidate's weaknesses rather than turn this into a process debate.