FR Live Thread: Bush Kerry - First Debate - Thread 2 - Here we go!

[Admin Moderator]

Thread 1 - Pre-Debate discussion

[Howlin]

You can bet I will be back tomorrow when it's not so slow to check out some of these people........LOL.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

THIS IS HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! We may have lost the election tonight.

Lehrer timed the questions to best benefit Kerry!

Kerry kept attacking the President, but being attacked by a liar after all is said is not so bad.

Bush came back at the end and in my opinion finished with a slam dunk.

Kerry said he would put any preemptive American military action to the "global test".

That's where he started losing.

The only test needed is if it is meant to protect America.

The global test has failed in every war in history.

[ppaul]

Kerry's not even President, and this is already happening.....

Photographs Of The Communist Chinese Troops
With United Nations Berets Heading to Haiti
for "Peacekeeping" off the U.S. Coast

Free Press International

9.17.2004

According to Xinhuanet, the advance troops of Chinese peacekeeping policemen arrive at the International Airport in Beijing, Sept. 17, 2004. The advance troops of riot police composed of 30 members including four policewomen left for Haiti on Friday. At the request of the United Nations, China will send 125 police officers to form a contingent of riot police for a peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1231635/posts?page=21

[COURAGE]

Boy, the club is getting bigger!

[shield]

DID Kerry say give IRAN NUCLEAR FUEL?

Yes he did.

I think President Bush showed why we all love him...skerry showed why we all think he's a jerk-off. He again PROVED what a complete assh*le he is. And he ain't know John Kennedy.....Kennedy never came across like such an assh*le as skerry--BUSH WINS....SKERRY LOSES AGAIN!!!

[jacquej]

Yup! Debate is over.

Percy Dovetonsils "won", sort of. No doubt he can twist words any way but Sunday. But, never would want to have my daughter stuck with a guy like him.

I am gonna vote for the guy who walks the walk, but is linguistically challenged about blowing his own horn. I prefer substance in men, not stream-of-conscious sentiment of the moment.

For those of you who like manicures, tube-tans nicely covered by make-up, and wind-surfers who marry rich widows and like to tell tall tales about how they can do it better than the one who gets stuck doing it, vote for the gigolo.

[patriciamary]

I disagree, many people watched tonight and this will hurt Bush;I feel the Bush team handleD the whole debate wrong from the start,First I would have said this debate can not matter,because what Kerry says today may be very different tomorrow.How can the public believe anything this man says. .Also tonight Bush had an opportunity to give the public alittle taste of this administrations successes in stopping terror at home .He could have listed some of the enemy and plots they have stopped.Again Kerry won,Kerry may very well be leading tomorrow

[shield]

DID Kerry say give IRAN NUCLEAR FUEL?

Yes he did.

I think President Bush showed why we all love him...skerry showed why we all think he's a jerk-off. He again PROVED what a complete assh*le he is. And he ain't know John Kennedy.....Kennedy never came across like such an assh*le as skerry--BUSH WINS....SKERRY LOSES AGAIN!!!

[shield]

DID Kerry say give IRAN NUCLEAR FUEL?

Yes he did.

I think President Bush showed why we all love him...skerry showed why we all think he's a jerk-off. He again PROVED what a complete assh*le he is. And he ain't know John Kennedy.....Kennedy never came across like such an assh*le as skerry--BUSH WINS....SKERRY LOSES AGAIN!!!

[Dems_R_Losers]

I'm a pretty typical mom, and after I got my kids to bed, washed the dishes, and put groceries away I only got to see the last 10-15 minutes of the debate. I'm betting a lot of moms did not see the first part of it at all. And I thought Kerry was horrible. He told at least three lies and President Bush called him on every one of them. President Bush was the picture of grace and class in answering the question about character - that was as perfect a response as Karl Rove could have written, and it completely disarmed Kerry. Kerry was simply insane and incredible on North Korea and Iran. Not many people understand what is going on with Iran, and all they heard was Kerry saying he would give Iran nuclear fuel! WTF????? And in the closing statements, it was no contest. President Bush reminded everyone why they liked him. Kerry was OK, but did not really land a punch on Bush while I was watching.

They just played clips of the earlier stuff now on ABC and President Bush killed Kerry, at least in these clips.

[SolomoninSouthDakota]

I watched it and I was frankly distressed not so much about missed opportunities or the "unpreparedness". I was distressed at how disturbed President Bush looked at many points when Kerry was spinning responses. I thought he would be more cool and collected and in command. That is how Kerry will be percieved as winnning the debate.

BUT! Kerry also failed because it appears he was trying desperately to completely turn the tables and on Pres. Bush by labeling him as a flip-flopper while portraying himself as steadfast. THAT WAS THE USED CAR PITCH THAT ABSOLUTELY FELL FLAT. COUPLE THAT WITH NOT HAVING GIVEN ANY DIFFERENT IRAQ PLAN AND HIS APPEARANCE AS SIMPLY A CRITIC AND BACKSEAT DRIVER AND JFK CLEARLY FAILED IN WHAT HE NEEDED TO DO IN THIS DEBATE. No fundamentals of the race are changed.

[Chaguito]

I didn't see it, and only heard the last of it. But all cosmetic issues aside, Bush crushed Kerry with one statement that probably is lost in the noise: If it's the wrong war, why would any "multinationals" step in and participate? Kerry was a well-spoken putz. We'll see...

[Radix]

Let's do better next time, but please, people, let's not turn into kooks.

Bush is clearly not the most articulate politician around, but that is one thing. The notion that Kerry had a heads up on the debate questions is not an impossible thing to consider. Despite Jim Leherer's initial comments, I simply do not trust journalists. Anyone who does is simply not paying attention to reality.

[MMkennedy]

so far the consensus on FOX and on NRO seems to be that the president was not on his game, but that there were no big mistakes. The Fox Panel did pretty much agree that the race will tighten now in a way that it wouldn't had the president knocked it out of the park.

[tioga]

This debate was watched by diehard political junkies like us, ordinary Americans (like my husband) didn't watch. I don't think either guy won/lost. My expectations were too high for a slam dunk.

Posting time is atrocious.......gees, FR were sloooooowwwwwwww, which is great that all were participating.

[walden]

I've quietly believed for a couple of months now that Bush will win in a landslide. Nothing tonight changed my opinion. Even in the course of this debate, Kerry gave about 3 different positions on the war in Iraq, and I think it would be noticable even to people who don't much follow politics that his advocacy that we "go it alone" in diplomacy with North Korea is completely inconsistent with his position that we didn't get enough of the world on our side on Iraq. Huh? This is a man whose only firm political position is that he really, really, really wants to be President.

I think the debate perfectly showed both Kerry's character and Bush's, and I think the American people are going to vote overwhelmingly for Bush. We'll see.

[prophetic]

It is obvious Kerry had the questions beforehand. He can't even answer straight at a news conference ordinarily. The press and media are determined Bush is going to lose. They gave him the questions.

Yup, the stealing by the Democrats HAS begun folks!!

[WoodstockCat]

Some of you getting ready to jump off the bridge need to read Hugh Hewitt:

Hugh Scores Big Win for Bush

[steveegg]

Classic.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Who can sift through well over 2,500 posts! So someone may have already said it, but Kerry did make one flub that I did not see anyone on the internet catching yet:

KERRY WENT TO THE OLD KGB BUILDING IN MOSCOW (with Senator Bob Smith). That area is called "Lubyanka Square" NOT "TREBLINKA SQUARE."

Lurch just placed a notorious Nazi concentration camp in Poland right into Soviet Russia!!