Watching the debates last night, a couple of visual comparisons called out to me.
"Shut-up, Beavis!"
"Could it be . . . Satan?"
I was pretty tense before the debate started. It was almost like pre-performance jitters really. But after the first few questions, seeing Bush was basically on the defensive, and the unmerciful split screen (I watched C-Span) revealed him to be the tiny, fightened, agitated creature he really is, I was able to lighten up about this contest for the first time since the DNC.
I'm sure most of us caught up in the drama are replaying the fantasy tape loops all day of missed opportunites for retorts and follow-throughs. One I'd really like to see has to do with the slogan-like point Kerry made in passing about fear ("I believe America's best days are ahead of us because I believe that the future belongs to freedom, not to fear.") A point which Bush left him great openings to pursue. E.g., Bush: "As the politics change, his positions change."
The administration has clearly been manipulating the concept and the reality of terror for political gain. They have claimed many times that it is inconsequential that Osama is at large ("I don't know where Osama is. I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority.") Then they turn round and make warnings about an Al Qaeda terror attack in the US before the elections. From the NYT, 5/26:
The Bush administration said on Wednesday that it had credible intelligence suggesting that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the United States in the next several months, a period in which events like an international summit meeting and the two political conventions could offer tempting targets.
There's terror alright, most of it originating from the White House.
