Presidential Debate

[Daf One]

Discuss which canidate will fare better in this debate.

[BTs_Mysterio]

Kerry unless there are telepromters for Bush.

[spike]

I was sitting in the GSU today(big cafateria at my school) and these people came in and started singing about how Cheny was a fat nazi, and how Bush was clinically insane. Then they started talking to me, person to person, about how the debates are all staged with ridiculous rules so that "bush's alchoholism won't come out." I'm a liberal guy, but all this shit offended me, being obviously untrue. I think/hope Kerry will win the debate, solely by the virtue that he can control his tounge and his voice box effectively.

[crypt]

It's gonna be fun to see the 2 biggest assholes duking it out for probably the worlds most important position.

[BFG]

Kerry will do better... It always helps to have intelligence.

[Daf One]

All I can say right now after viewing the first 45minutes of the debate, Kerry's poise is confident, Bush is more slumped and nervous.  Bush has trouble speaking as he keeps pausing and saying "uh" "uh".  He needs to think before he speaks.  Now I'm not saying Kerry hasn't done the same, but he seems better prepared.  Kerry seems to make references back to his combat career when asked about the Iraq war.  Bush just sounds too weak and laughable when he tries to back-up his statements.  Bush also keeps repeating points like when he said Saddam Hussein was a threat 3 times in his 60 seconds.  The way they both respond to each other is quite different.  Kerry looks neutral and serious, while Bush cracks me up when he "smiles" and raises his eyebrows whenever he speaks.  Ok, thats my quick observations...back to debate.

[seth]

Bush's answers were light, not facts, we had to take his word on everything. Kerry gave numbers, made some strong points and was on the offense almost everytime.

winner: kerrry.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Kerry wore a red tie and looked like the Devil at a funeral home in that black suit.[/size]

Bush looked like the good guy with his nice blue tie.[/size]

Winner:  BUSH

[crypt]

lol naturally you would say that, bobby. From the looks of Kerry's plan to me, USA is going to get run over by terrorists.

[spike]

How is kerry going to be over run with terrorists? What is bush doing to close our borders? Not only are our borders in mexico still ridiculously porous, but now the people who come through can have kids and they can go to public school without paying taxes. They can drive in california.

Bush stuttered, Kerry was confident and composed.

Winner: Kerry.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Bush stuttered, Kerry was confident and composed.

The American people already know Bush isn't a great public speaker, which actually helps him.

Winner:  BUSH![/size]

[c| Spetsnaz.]

lol naturally you would say that, bobby. From the looks of Kerry's plan to me, USA is going to get run over by terrorists.

Good thing you can't vote. From the looks of it Kerry could take Bush out in a street fight.

[Maniac]

Kerry sat back and tried to hack at Bush the whole time. Yet Bush was able to realize Kerry has these flip flop ideas, and said that America needs a stable president that has his heart set one way. Of-course Kerry is better debater than Gore and bush, but his polices are dangerous and scary. You can say all you want about Bush and the way he speaks, he did that 4 years ago and that didn't stop him from winning the election. All in all it was a good debate and i look forward to watching the next two.

[spike]

Bush stuttered, Kerry was confident and composed.

The American people already know Bush isn't a great public speaker, which actually helps him.

Winner:  BUSH![/size]

How does it help for your leader to be a horrible speaker? If one is not able to quickly put together and present percise, detailed and intelligent thoughts, how is one supposed to talk to world leaders, let alone rule the country and inspire trust and loyalty in the people?

[cookie]

Oh MAN.

Kerry went all out on policy, gave numbers and statistics, had many and various points.

Bush was on defense, made very few points, and basically said "we are doing that, and it will pay off sometime."

It was ridiiiiiculous. After the debate all the republican kids at my school went crazy, saying stuff like "Kerry is such a douchebag, look how long his face is, his family is so ugly" etc, which troubles me, because in the election of a candidate who will make policy decisions that affect not only us but the entire world, i think worrying about a candidate's physical appearance, his family life, and even his military record should be of much less concern than the ideas he has for the future.

Anyway, Kerry also made mention of the fact that there is tons of unsecured nuclear material in Russia that needs to be taken care of. Bush failed to respond to that, and handled the N. Korea issue poorly as well. He said we need China's support (geee, can't we do it all unilaterally?!), and that Jiang Zemin was here in Texas for talks about it, but isn't China just as bad as North Korea? Why do we have to play ball with the real bad guys in this world to get stuff done?

Hum, back on topic, in my opinion Kerry won the debate. I thought his arguments were much more aggressive, diverse, and addressed several issues very well (N.Korea, Russia, genocide in Africa, Iraq, Iran, domestic spending, etc) whereas Bush was left beating the dead horse that is Iraqi freedom. Call me on this if you think I'm wrong.

[spike]

Bush really liked the phrase "wrong place wrong time wrong war"or whatever. he repeated it like five times.

[*DAMN Bondo]

I suppose I'll just get called biased, but I think Kerry clearly won tonight, and it would take a pretty amazing argument to say Bush was really even close. Bush had multiple just complete lapses and looked like a deer in headlight. He got caught dead trying to link 9/11 and Saddam.

Bush didn't have any specific statements about how he is going to help our homeland security, he just says "we'll fight them abroad so they won't be here." That isn't a plan for homeland security. Bush also pushed the flip-flopper thing so many times, and Kerry made himself very clear and showed that he didn't flip-flop.

Kerry's biggest flaw IMO was making light of the support that Bush did get. Yes, it was fairly insignificant and mostly token, but it still doesn't reflect well.

Regarding the war on terrorism, i.e. Afghanistan and Al Queda, Kerry was much more clear on saying that it is where the focus is. I was happy to hear him speak about doubling the special forces, which along with his focus on fixing the intelligence community is vital in fighting terrorism correctly. It is how to fight the war on terrorism in a "sensitive" or "smart" manner...it needs to be cautious so you don't kill civilians and recruit for Al Queda.

Regarding homeland security as I said, only Kerry really made our security here very important.

Regarding Iran/N. Korea, Kerry came off much more concerned about nuclear proliferation and generally actually dealing with WMD while Bush came off only mildly concerned about these. That Bush is pushing for new nuclear weapons is a black eye.

Finally, about Iraq, Bush kept on talking about "disarming" Saddam...but considering Saddam was not armed in terms of WMD, it is hard to have disarmed him, that is why inspections were needed.

So Kerry wins on Iraq, on WMD, on homeland security, and on the war on terrorism. Basically Kerry won every aspect and didn't have any blatant stumbles. Kerry didn't score as many points as he could, but still stood out clearly as the person with an actual plan and stronger but without being stubborn

[cookie]

Bush also pushed the flip-flopper thing so many times, and Kerry made himself very clear and showed that he didn't flip-flop.

Actually, that was my only complaint about Kerry's performance. I don't think Kerry hammered that into the ground as he should have, instead I think he rather brushed it under the rug and went on to attack Bush's policy.

.... which is fine, because that's what candidates SHOULD debate, though I think that many people eat up the kind of attack Bush was making there. The reasons for disliking Kerry I usually hear from the right are that he's a flip-flopper and very unclear on his platform and policy, and it's something he should have delved into much deeper than he did.

[crypt]

From the looks of it Kerry could take Bush out in a street fight.

And what the fuck does that have to do with anything? I stated my opinion, which obviously you don't agree with. You don't like it, you stfu.

[c| Spetsnaz.]

And what the fuck does that have to do with anything? I stated my opinion, which obviously you don't agree with. You don't like it, you stfu.

Calm down dude, I was merely making a statement at the same level of intelligence as your second post.