9/30 Debate thread

Bush decided to go to the U.N. all by himself?

"[long list deleted...] Does that make you feel safer, America?"

Bush doesn't know how we're going to pay for homeland security...

Bush is modernizing our border protection... [false]

Bush: We have to stay on the offense [and neglect the defense]...

Kerry: Bush isn't doing everything he could to keep America safe [tax cut more important, etc.]

Kerry: brings up GHWB's book... discusses not guarding things in Iraq after the first phase other than the oil ministry...

Didn't they prep Kerry on answering the "I voted for it before I voted against it" thing? Geez...

Bush: "I've seen on the TV screens how hard it is [in Iraq]"

Rip van Winkle: "This guy is president of the United States?"

"love [Missy Johnson] as much as I can..." WTF?

Bush: "[Kerry's] plan [for Iraq] won't work." Bush before: "Kerry's plan is the same as our plan."

Kerry a few times now: Bush didn't think through the after-invasion...

So far, at least four Vietnam references from Kerry, albeit two or three obliquely...

Bush: "There's a hundred thousand troops trained" I'm pretty sure that's false

Bush: "They attacked us" While there's the possibility that Iraq attacked us via WTC1 or even 2, I don't think so...

Bush: "We use diplomacy every chance we get" It just doesn't work for Bush...

Kerry nails Bush on the "they attacked us" line, and discusses Tora Bora again...

Kerry says Bush has greatly weakened America's credibility...

Bush didn't understand what everyone else understood when Kerry defined the "global test"...

Bush is diverging into the International Criminal Court... [America asks: why didn't he want to join?]

[I hope the BushBots stocked up on Kool-Aid. Take big swigs during Bush's long pauses.]

Let's not discuss their daughters. Who gives a fsck? Get to the frigging point both of you...

Kerry brings up "character", but says he's not going to discuss it...

Kerry: I know exactly what we needed to do in Iraq, and my position has been consistent... we didn't need to rush to war w/o a plan to win the peace

Kerry: most serious threat is nuclear proliferation. Uh oh, gotta add the terrorism in there. He just did, kinda. Now he's attacking Bush securing less loose nukes after 9/11 than before...

Oops! Kerry shouldn't have talked about shutting down any U.S. nuclear programs...

Bush says he's increased funding for nuclear proliferation...

Bush is supporting Kerry's naming of nukes as #1 threat, so everything's OK on that score...

No one's going to understand the difference between bilateral and six-way talks with NoK...

Bush himself said Putin's actions were wrong? Actually, I thought it was Colin Powell. Perhaps he did so privately...

He can't even pronounce Vluh DEE muhr. They must laugh at him behind his back over there...

Kerry bringing up his foreign policy experience vis-a-vis Russia...

Kerry should have kept talking about Russia, not switching to NoK...

Oops... Lehrer fed Bush a laugh line at the end, and Bush took advantage of it. That's a bad thing to happen, making Kerry's response now look shrill... Kerry should have followed with a light joke of his own...

There is no doubt that both Bush and Kerry love this country, of that I have no doubt...

Kerry look America in the eye...

Bush says the military will remain volunteer...

Bush inserts a Biblical quote, I assume...

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Summary: If you trust Bush, and you appreciate all of his platitudes that weren't backed up by hardly any facts and figures, vote for Bush.

If you want a wonk, vote for Kerry, who seems to have dispelled many of the myths about his commitment to protecting America.

Clear win to Kerry.

Unfortunately, only about five minutes was devoted to homeland security. As I've continually pointed out, Kerry could score huge points talking about things like possibly allowing terrorists to infiltrate the U.S. via our porous borders. Perhaps during the domestic or townhall debate someone will bring that up, and to that we'll have two minutes of sputtering from Bush.

Misrepresenting the "global test" looks to be the major BushBot talking point. Look, he was saying we need to make sure that we look good to the world about the things we do, something that I and many other greater pundits on all sides have said. Expect this to be used to call Kerry a "globalist." They're both globalists, it's just that the globalism of Bush is barely covered in the press.

UPDATE: The AP transcript is here. It'd be nice if someone would provide one with HTML links to each question and answer.

UPDATE 2: I discuss "global test" here in an easy-to-understand fashion.

Comments

excuse a few typos. Each time try to cancel immed.when I do that, it goes through any way.

It's the elephant in the room that must be taken care of. Maybe, by the people doing whatever can as American citizens take care of matters!

What things can be done to really get the attention these pimps, whores, and basically traitors to protect our Borders ...as well as facilites and ports appropriate?
And, get any cells and damn foreign gangs out of here?! Or to take actions we need to as American citizens to protect our citizn population?

I can't imagine Kerry speaking about our porous border. Well, I could imagine Kerry speaking against porous borders, then speaking for porous borders a few seconds later.

My big disappointment with both candidates is that they both expended so much energy staying on message. I'd hate to be Laura or Teresa tonight. Laura will ask George to get ice from the hotel ice machine, and Bush will say, "It's hard work." Teresa will complain that the towels weren't folded properly, and Kerry will say, "I will do better." Politicians.

John and Ken are apparently converting John Ziegler, who says he may not vote for Bush because of the illegal immigration issue.