OK - Who won?

[one_cat]

I can't resist. Who won the debate tonight? My opinion is it was pretty much a tie.

 

[peachgirl]

Fairly close with the edge to Kerry.

Bush's claim that he never said he wasn't concerned with where OBL was, his continually laughing during Kerry's responses to serious issues and his slapping the podium all count against him to me.

 

[Teejay32]

:::yawn::: It was the same debate as #2. Same sentences, same figures...I think the immigration question was new. No winner.

I'm now watching Chris Matthews talk with Bush/Cheney signs all around his head. I wonder if he minds.

 

[Laura]

It was a very good debate. I also give the "win" to Kerry, but not by much.

Both candidates did a good job, but boy oh boy did I wince when Bush brought up trusting major news networks in front of CBS's Bob Schieffer. That felt very awkward and I thought it was pretty tasteless. Bush's refuting of the Osama bin Laden comment was also pretty lame; I agree with peachgirl there too.

 

[Nancy]

I found Kerry to be totally irritating tonight. I spent more time watching his hands then I did listening to him. Can he talk without all the gesturing...that was more annoying then Bush hitting the podium and his few chuckles.

I'm giving the edge to Bush by a slight edge.

But it was the same old rehashing of the other 2 debates...I heard nothing new at all.

 

[Jeafl]

I think 3 debates are too many. We heard almost verbatim the same questions and answers as the last debate.

I do think that Bush won this one by a slight margin though. He seemed to be more on the offensive this time and Kerry seemed to be more defensive this time. Quite the opposite from the first debate.

 

[DawnCt1]

President Bush won while Kerry had to remain on the defensive.

 

[Rokkitsci]

Bush the clear winner on substance. Close on the "performance" aspect. Kerry "appears" quite presidential in his bearing - that always gets him a lot of support in the polls.

I will predict that the polls are very close on who "won" in the minds of the public. Probably the polls will slightly favor Kerry, but I don't think that will translate into any more states won.

I do not think Bush lost any support in areas he had to hold, and I don't think Kerry gained any support in areas he had to win. They both probably gained support from their bases.

My feeling is that the election is now pretty much a lock for Bush. It will be a lot closer than I had hoped prior to the first debate when Bush had the chance to knock Kerry completely out of the running. I am still pretty unhappy over Bush performance in that one - made the election close when it should not have been.

Kerry needed a knockout blow in this one to prevail in the election - he didn't deliver. A stalemate in this debate is as bad for Kerry's election chances as was Bush's loss in the first debate to his.

 

[herc]

Not even close. Bush took this one.

 

[Alice28]

I can't believe it, but I hardly watched it! And what I did see, felt like de ja vu....haven't we heard these exact same sentences over and over again from both of them?

Yawner.

Bush is still getting my vote.

 

[richiebaseball]

Originally posted by peachgirl
Fairly close with the edge to Kerry.

Bush's claim that he never said he wasn't concerned with where OBL was, his continually laughing during Kerry's responses to serious issues and his slapping the podium all count against him to me.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that President Bush showing up counts against him to you.

Just my opinion though.

Richard

I voted Bush BTW. Not by a lot, but enough.

 

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by richiebaseball
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that President Bush showing up counts against him to you.

Just my opinion though.

Richard

I voted Bush BTW. Not by a lot, but enough.

As did Kerry as far as you're concerned. You are hardly one to talk about someone else being biased.

 

[Elwood Blues]

Originally posted by peachgirl
As did Kerry as far as you're concerned. You are hardly one to talk about someone else being biased.

Man, you're an easy mark.

Predictable too.

 

[Pugdog007]

Pres Bush is clearly the winner and anyone who says otherwise has lost their marbles.

 

[tonyswife]

I am so ticked off. We're screwed no matter which one of them wins. Stinks that we have to choose between these two clowns.

Still reluctantly voting for Bush. Yawn.

 

[Geoff_M]

I agree with the analysis that I've read and heard that said this was a mirror image of the first debate. The conventional wisdom in the first debate was that the topic (foreign affairs) was Bush's strong suit and he would mop the floor with Kerry, and the third debate was to be Kerry's "home game advantage" due to the fact that it was about domestic issues where Kerry shows up stronger in the polls. In both cases it appears that the "weaker" guy came out on top.

Bush seemed really and came out of the gates strong and Kerry was surpisingly the one often on the defensive. Kerry made some mischaracterazations about his own plans and got some of his own stats wrong.

The NBC reporter in the hall said the moods on the stage afterwards were also reversed. The Bush camp were "high five'ing" each other and smiling and the Kerry people were the ones that wanted to get out of the hall after the TV cameras turned away.

Not bad for a debate where Bush was supposed to "get his clock cleaned"!

 

[dmadman43]

Originally posted by Rokkitsci
Bush the clear winner on substance. Close on the "performance" aspect. Kerry "appears" quite presidential in his bearing - that always gets him a lot of support in the polls.

I will predict that the polls are very close on who "won" in the minds of the public. Probably the polls will slightly favor Kerry, but I don't think that will translate into any more states won.

I do not think Bush lost any support in areas he had to hold, and I don't think Kerry gained any support in areas he had to win. They both probably gained support from their bases.

My feeling is that the election is now pretty much a lock for Bush. It will be a lot closer than I had hoped prior to the first debate when Bush had the chance to knock Kerry completely out of the running. I am still pretty unhappy over Bush performance in that one - made the election close when it should not have been.

Kerry needed a knockout blow in this one to prevail in the election - he didn't deliver. A stalemate in this debate is as bad for Kerry's election chances as was Bush's loss in the first debate to his.

If the press says it's a tie or a close call, that means Bush won hands down.

 

[currycook]

.

 

[Teejay32]

People are getting a lot of mileage out of the Osama quote, so here's the full context:

Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --

THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.

Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.

So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.

Chris Matthews just laughed at his own post-debate poll figures.

 

[DawnCt1]

Terry McAwful was proclaiming a Kerry victory. While he was prattling on, Sean Hannity touched his arm in conversation. McAwful glares at him and says; "Don't touch me". What a hideous individual. I hope Sean takes a shower tonight after being in his presence.