Thanks to the wondrous technology we have today, I've been able to watch the entire veep debate on my computer. Thanks be to God.
Let's get down to business: Dr. Evil Cheney ate Forrest Gump Edwards' lunch, spit it back out, and stomped up and down on it. Then for good measure, made Edwards eat it. With a large spoon. A silver one.
Now, no one really thought Cheney would perform badly. The only question was whether Edwards would do very well. My take on Cheney: absolutely awesome on substance. He corrected Edwards' manipulation of the "facts." I loved the exchange over including Iraqi deaths in the figures of the war. His refusal to do more than thank Edwards for his kind words about his love for his gay daughter was masterful. Cheney outlined the administration policy, let Edwards compliment him, then let the senator blather on and on about something, I'm not sure what it was. The contrast between the adult and the kid was palpable.
And I'm not really all that enamored of Cheney the man. But damn! He was good.
The other half of the Perfect Hair Ticket had his trademark pearly white teeth--can you believe that cheesy game show facing of the camera when he was introduced and flashing (no, really, flashing) his grin? I felt like I was watching reruns of the Match Game. Despite his best efforts, Edwards was little more than like that cartoon dog on the Bugs Bunny show, jumping up and down and yapping at the bulldog. To which the bulldog repititiously replies, "Awwww, shuddup!" Edwards did get better on domestic issues, but couldn't successfully land his attacks on jobs and health care. His trial lawyer background did him well in terms of presentation, but it was once again a failure of substance. And this time, a failure of style, too.
A note on Ms. Ifill. Her colleague, Lehrer, did a much better job of moderating without inserting his personal views. So many of the Ifill questions were more instances of pontifications than they were of actual interrogatories, that it was remarkable Edwards couldn't perform better than he did.
The veep debate for 2004: Advantage Cheney.
On to the next presidential debate on Friday.
Posted by Clifton at October 6, 2004 10:30 AM | TrackBackI admit Cheney did a great job. (Wow! I didn't burst into flames, crazy) I though Edwards as weak on the foreign policy part, but structurally, Kerry took care of that last week. (Note: I am looking at this from a dramatic structre...don't know why, but that is what is happening). But, forshadowing Friday, I thought Edwards picked up during the domestic part of the debate.
An interesting note though, according to a CBS poll (and not one of the instant polls on a website) the undecides were leaning towards Edwards. ABC was about equal. But what I noticed was when I flipped to CSPAN after the debate and they were taking calls from pro-BC04, pro-KE04 and undecideds. The undecideds calling CSPAN seemed to lean to KE 04...
Posted by: justin at October 6, 2004 11:25 AMJustin:
How did I know you'd be the first to reply? :)
Seriously, I think you'll find the same dynamic with regard to undecideds as you did to the much-more masterful Kerry performance: initial enthusiasm for KE04, then a tapering off and a reestablishing of the Bush lead.
In other words, I think the undecideds respond favorably to KE04, but the more they think about it realize that there's not as much substance there as they first thought.
Does anyone yet know exactly WHAT is the KE04 "Plan"? On anything?
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at October 6, 2004 11:34 AMI posted stuff on my blog a few weeks ago.
I was talking with someone earlier at work today, and mentioned that same thing...Edwards said several times "we have a plan", and I was like...spit it out. However, I did think he did a good job of pointing out that Bush/Cheney are promoting a stay the course plan. KE have made good points about the flaws with the current course. Cheney seemed to stammer and almost get into puppy eating mode when he was being confronted about jobs, healthcare, etc. Especially when Edwards criticized the No Child Left Behind standards that were not funded.
Posted by: justin at October 6, 2004 11:49 AMAdmittedly, Cheney missed some opportunities to respond (NCLB specifically).
But pointing out flaws is not the same as having a plan.
And the "uniter/divider" bilge--oh.my.god. To quote the Grail: "Shut up, will you, SHUT UP!"
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at October 6, 2004 11:53 AMOn our side...Flip Flop...shut up.
We have pointed out all kinds of BC flip flops...
Posted by: justin at October 6, 2004 12:01 PMYou know, I think Cheney is the stronger statesman. It is a shame that the political platform he has to espouse is less that stellar. It was even more clear to me that the divisions in the GOP will eventually rise up to bite em in the arse once the war hooie dies down. The Govenator at the RNC stated that the differences over abortion and same sex marriages (i.e.) we overlooked for the greater unity of the party...um...I would add "for now." And I think this dynamic is present in the white house.
I wonder how the domestic stuff is gonna play out on Friday. W has not had the time to spend on it since 9/11. His efforts have sorta fizzled ro been ignored by the press in favor of the bigger story. This alone may give Kerry an upper hand.
I would not call it a spanking, Cliff, but I would say Cheney won. Sad, really. *sigh*
;-)
Posted by: AngloBaptist at October 6, 2004 04:41 PM