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How quickly the winds of fortune change in American presidential politics. The best that can be said of Sen. John Kerry's performance at Friday night's presidential debate is that it was identical to his previous performance in Florida: steady, articulate and entirely confounding. President Bush, it is widely believed, was off his game during the first debate. While this was indeed unfortunate for his campaign, the country lost a valuable opportunity to hear two radically opposing viewpoints on U.S. foreign policy. In St. Louis, Americans saw a different president, one who understands — and can explain — the war on...

Bush Judges Rightly on Dred Scott  Democratic politico Susan Estrich on television and the LA Times (see the last paragraph) both went after Bush for his comments on Dred Scott, in response to his answer about whom he would pick for the Supreme Court. But Bush was in fact right in using the Dred Scott case as an example of bad judging and a bad reading of the Constitution.  Like the justice he has expressed admiration for, Clarence Thomas, Bush believes that the Declaration’s “principle of inherent equality … underlies and infuses our Constitution.” Bush’s understanding differs from that...

CLEVELAND Fresh from their second debate, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry dashed back to the campaign trail on Saturday, sniping at one another and setting up a showdown in their third and final debate on Wednesday. Bush appeared energized as polls and interviews with swing voters suggested that he did better in the second debate than he had in his first confrontation with the Democratic challenger. Kerry emerged similarly upbeat, his aides confident that he was poised to win all three debates, and with them the presidency. A new poll released on Saturday showed the two neck and neck,...

Well, thank God Bush didn’t make any more truthful faces during the second debate and instead played nice guy for the swing vote sheeple who need that from their wartime President. And thank Heaven this time he didn’t wear the burdens of office—he had spent 12 hours prior to the first debate surveying hurricane damage and meeting with FEMA and Florida disaster relief officials. Yes, the sensitive ones among us must see again and again that Bush does have a stranglehold on the issues and he can come off like Dave Coulier. President Bush accomplished this task Friday evening by...

"Now, for the people earning more than $200,000 a year, you're going to see a rollback to the level we were at with Bill Clinton, when people made a lot of money. KERRY: And looking around here, at this group here, I suspect there are only three people here who are going to be affected: the president, me, and, Charlie, I'm sorry, you too. "

Matthew Dowd, George Bush's chief strategist, was so pleased with his boss's debate performance last week that he strode into the press area and gave a colleague a high five that rang through the cavernous room like a rifle shot. There was only one problem: The debate was only 61 minutes old and still had more than 30 minutes to go. And Dowd had to stop watching his boss's performance in order to go into the press center to celebrate it. But the spin was that important this time around. Bush not only lost the first debate in Coral Gables...

Let's just come right out and say what everyone that saw the debate saw: GWB was great, bold, no nonsense....He was everything we hoped he'd be, and the pundits and the others were so stunned they couldn't bring themselves to admit how good he was....And he deserves this thread acknowledging it.

After last nights debate, I may have to vote for John Kerry. Given John Kerry's statement on Federally Funded Abortion were he stated that every U.S. citizen should be provided anything in the U.S. Constitution that they can not otherwise afford by the Federal Government. Given that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives us the Right to Bare Arms and I can not afford any; John Kerry's plan will provide me a gun at TaxPayers expense. Wooo hooo.

"Q. Senator Kerry, we have been fortunate that there have been no further terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11. Why do you think this is? And if elected, what will you do to assure our safety? Mr. Kerry Thank you very much, Ann. I've asked in my security briefings why that is" "But according to the Republican National Committee, Kerry missed most of the public hearings when he sat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence between 1993 and 2000...Kerry missed 38 of 49 public hearings during the eight years he served on the intelligence panel."

I apologize for the vanity. I was reading a CNN review of the debates. If the quote they attribute to Kerry is correct, then it is a smoking-gun bombshell. During the repartee regarding Supreme Court appointments, did sKerry really say "I would look for someone who would interpret the Constitution according to the law" Excuse me?!?!Ah, Lurch, it is supposed be the other way around.Can this be confirmed????Semper Curious

Bush wins round two on points ALEX MASSIE IN WASHINGTON PRESIDENT George W Bush’s supporters were nervous before Friday’s second presidential debate. They knew only a first-class performance from their candidate could staunch the tide of momentum from flowing Senator John Kerry’s way. By the time the debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, was over the sense of relief from Republicans was all but palpable. Bush didn’t trounce Kerry but he gave a much more composed and effective performance against an opponent who was not quite as sharp as he had been in the first debate. Republicans knew...

"These are constitutional rights, and I want to make sure we have judges who interpret the Constitution of the United States according to the law." --Kerry

W off ropes, scores points Before last night's debate, a friend remarked that America had seen all four national candidates in action and that three had given good, solid performances. The fourth was President Bush. That's changed. Now all four have proven their mettle. If you're scoring at home, the debate game is now tied at one victory each for President Bush and John Kerry. It was a different Bush who showed up in St. Louis last night. Brimming with confidence and energy and enough humor to soften his edginess, he was in command of his thoughts and even his...

WATERLOO, Iowa -- President Bush ridiculed Democratic rival John Kerry at a rally today in Waterloo. He says he could barely contain himself during last night's debate, when Kerry said he had only one position on Iraq. Bush says Kerry -- quote -- "must think we've been on another planet." Speaking to more than seven-thousand activists at a baseball stadium in Waterloo, Bush declared himself the winner of the debate. He says he'll use his momentum from last night's performance to become the first Republican to carry Iowa in 20 years.

Scorned for his scowls and irritability in the first debate on Sept. 30, President George W. Bush made the most of a friendly format in the second. He changed his attitude, went on the offensive, and squeezed out a victory over Senator John F. Kerry at Washington University in St. Louis on the evening of Oct. 8. It didn't have the dramatic release of the Boston Red Sox's 10th-inning homer that had advanced the team to advance in the MLB playoffs less than an hour earlier. But Bush's performance gave him what he needed most: A chance to check the...

How buoyant Bush survived Round Two The President stopped scowling, laid on the Southern charm and went for his opponent's jugular on taxes. In the fickle opinion forum know as Spin Alley, that was enough to declare a win, reports Paul Harris in St Louis Sunday October 10, 2004 The Observer They came from opposite corners, striding to the centre to meet for a brief but firm handshake. Then President George Bush and John Kerry retreated to their chairs. They would not look each other in the eye again for 90 minutes. When the second presidential debate was over, it...

http://www.capitalideasblog.com/archives/2004/10/kerrys_economic.html The main point is that Kerry is not offering a middle-class tax cut as he continually claims. It's only a few targeted tax credits for a less-than-majority segment of the population. Agree? Disagree?

WASHINGTON — By consensus of television pundits, the first presidential debate went to Sen. John F. Kerry. But several of them said Friday that President Bush seemed more comfortable against the Democratic challenger in Round 2. Gone, they noted, were the Bush scowls so evident in their first encounter last week on split-screen TV cutaways. Instead, the president joked about his facial expressions as he roamed the stage and pressed his case against Kerry. Reluctant to pick winners this time, many analysts simply described the clash as aggressive and intense. They noted that Kerry kept his poise and scored several...

Okay...this just might be me...but I could have just SWORE I just saw that one "undecided" voter who looked liked a giddy schoolgirl with a crush when she asked her question of Kerry last night in the background at the after-debate Kerry ralley last night just waving her Kerry sign away....... Were they or were they not supposed to be undecideds?

At the very end of Friday night's second debate between President Bush and John Kerry, Bush tossed out a congenial "been enjoyable," about a contentious session dominated by the Iraq war with a heavy emphasis on domestic programs. Polite for the president to say, but it was only at the end, when the questions were on domestic issues, that Bush seemed to relax and help himself in the face-off that was otherwise dominated by Kerry. There were no real pleasant exchanges, but there was plenty of tough talk. "I don't see how you can win in Iraq if you don't...