William Saleton, from Slate and a big Kerry fan, says Kerry blew it. I agree.
Quote:
...Gibson turned to Kerry. The pitch was hanging there, waiting to be smacked into the upper deck. All Kerry had to do was walk up to the questioner and say, "You just asked the president to name three mistakes. He couldn't name one. He can't correct his mistakes, because he can't see them, even when his own weapons inspector puts it on the front page of the newspaper. You can't change this president. You can only replace him."
Here's what Kerry said instead: "I believe the president made a huge mistake, a catastrophic mistake, not to live up to his own standard, which was [to] build a true global coalition, give the inspectors time to finish their job, and go through the U.N. process to its end and go to war as a last resort." Blah, blah, elaboration, prepositional phrase, caveat, whimper, end.
What's the point of taking notes if you don't use what the other guy says? Is Kerry really listening? Or is he just trying to look like a man who takes notes?
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I keep getting in trouble for weighting these debates to favor Bush/ Cheney, but the way I see it, Kerry/ Edwards has to do much more than appear to be a little bit better than the incumbents. They will have to destroy Bush in order to prevail in this election. Even though I've said this was going to go to Bush months ago, I still believe Bush could be beaten. Not by John Kerry's CAMPAIGN. John Kerry as a candidate probably could've pulled it off, but his campaign has consistently done the exact wrong thing at nearly every turn.
These debates are just more of the same for Kerry. Yes, he's clearly better at saying stuff than Bush. It's the stuff he's saying that's failing him. To put the finest point possible on it, I'd wager that Hillary would win this election handily had she ran. I bet she knows this and is kicking herself. America is this{ }close to handing over the WOT to Kerry, the anti-war activist, and Edwards, the pretty noob. With a properly run campaign, a hot-fudge sundae with a margarita as a running mate could beat Bush.
You think I'm exaggerating, but imagine the last question of the debate without Kerry...
"Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision, and what you did to correct it."
"...the big question about whether we should have removed somebody in Iraq, I'll stand by those decisions, because I think they're right," Bush says. "On the tax cut, it's a big decision. I did the right decision..."
Eventually, Bush sits down
without admitting one damn mistake. Charlie Gibson turns to the opposition candidate, a hot-fudge sundae that's about half melted now from the harsh lighting. Taking a minute to compose his thoughts, the hot-fudge sundae squints at Bush incredulously. The look on the hot-fudge sundae's face says it all:
"You CAN'T admit you did anything wrong!"
The view goes split screen. On the left, is Bush, looking less and less self-satisfied and smug by the second as the hot-fudge sundae leaves Bush's amazing self-inflicted injury to hang there, answered with nothing more than a hard, knowing glare. Bush begins to sweat. The hot-fudge sundae casually drips a little melted whipped cream on the cushion...
Bush looks down, suddenly realizing what he's done. He places his head in his hands. Charlie Gibson shakes his head slowly. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he says softly, "It seems the challenger has no response... has no need to offer any response, as the president's words are more damning than anything anyone could say in rebuttal... it seems appropriate now to call this debate over, and to thank you all for watching and participating in what has been an inarguably historic moment in American politics..."
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