Category: Politics

So when the pizza guy brought my pseudobachelor dinner this evening, he pointed to the Bush Cheney sign in the yard and was happy to see it (he explained in with a light Newyorican lilt in his voice). He said Bush was going to bury Kerry tonight. I’m disappointed he didn’t.

I think Bush and Kerry did about what we would have expected. Bush was on message, sometimes almost fumblingly so, Kerry was not intolerable. Kerry might have elevated his discourse from flip-flop to paradox, but he didn’t speak in French.

Kerry raised himself to nearly human, or perhaps lowered himself to nearly human, but you still get the sense that he’s not quite sincere, not quite earnest. Bush is. And I’ll still vote for Bush.

Unlike Instapundit, I don’t think Kim Jong Il will be nervous if Kerry’s elected. He’s about sanctions, resolutions, and Bush is about popping you one if you deserve it. Friends, that’s a capital fear for other nations to have, particularly those with opposing viewpoints.

This liveblogging experience brought to you without the aid of alcohol, because until I get a fridge in this office, it’s a long trip to the kitchen for a refill. This evening’s entertainment also brought to you without the skill of touch typing, which is why your content is thinner here than with the pros. But thanks for coming anyay. I should have listened to my beautiful wife and used that Mavis Beacon she bought me when I was but a young man of eight and twenty.

Bush’s statement:

This is more than the next four years; this is the next hundred years and civilization. No draft. No vetoes over foreign policy. I believe, I believe, and then we, we, mountain metaphor and valley.

Earnest, and he ends it very presidentially. His best performance of the debate, and he trumped Kerry’s response.

Kerry’s statement:

I served in Vietnam. I believe in strong aliances with weak countries. Also, I have many plans. And messages.

Didn’t Kerry say Saddam wasn’t a threat earlier in the debate? Now he says that Saddam was a threat, but that’s not the point.

He’s just paradoxed the whole debate. Wait, didn’t the debate start at 8 pm CDT? Why does my computer clock say 5:34? The space time continuum has ruptured!

On Putin, Kerry reminds us he served in Russia, mentions it’s important, and then goes back to North Korea.

Bilateral talks with China.

The Putin question:

Bush: Centralization in Russia in response to terror is bad, and I’ve said so publicly. Russia’s an ally, though, and Bush invokes Beslan. Calls Vladamir by his first names, and values his personal relationship. A good, even-tempered response. Will Kerry want preemptive invasion to save the Russians and secure the nuclear material?

In response to the nuclear proliferation thing, Kerry has plans and messages, but Bush has accomplishments.

And missile defense. Concrete things.

Kerry responds: I am a magician! I will wave my wand and North Korea and Iran will roll over.

Kerry’s not going to proliferate, and he’s going to cut ours.

He didn’t say it; just that he’s not going to build nuke buster bombs, but considering he’s been in favor of nuclear disarmament, he’s going to be all over it.

Because it sends a good message.

Of weakness.

Kerry never wavers, and he knows what to do. It’s a secret, though.

Kerry agrees with Bush’s kudos to him. And he likes Bush’s daughters.

Respects Laura Bush.

He also seems to think certainty is a bad thing.

And stem cells and global warming are bad. Thank you, and good night!

Bush: Kerry is a vet, and he’s a great dad.

Bush’s handling the character question well. He then brings up the changing positions, which adds a coda, but in not deploying another attack, he’s not being an attack dog.

We’re the leading donor to African/Sudan humanitarian efforts. Shouldn’t Kerry be against this by rote? Why should America bear 90% of the burden? Cut and run and let the French help…in exchange for a little oil.

Bush mentions the rainy season. Showing some familiarity with the region and considerations above and beyond the headlines.

Kerry breaks protocol and answers the previous question, starting to deflect the Darfur question.

More sanctions, sanctions, sanctions. He’s fumbling this one.

He says we’re overextended. Weakness. Got that, America? We’re weak.

This man didn’t read his Hobbes nor Machiavelli. But they didn’t write in French.

When Bush closes when the red light flashes, he raises his voice and makes it sound like a question.

He’s got the real story on North Korea!

So the North Koreans just magically built up their program just because Bush didn’t sign the Kyoto accords?

Does Kerry want multilateral or bilateral talks? Both.

How does Kerry attack Bush’s multilateral stance, as he’s explaining now, on North Korea?

I can hardly wait. Perhaps it will pivot on the inadequate drug coverage for seniors.

Explain the ICC, Mr. Bush. Yes.

There you go, Spoons, Kerry said “Eye on the Ball.”

Global Warming Treaty. Bush is getting better as he goes; Kerry is getting silly with his excited misspeaking. Kerry’s fighting for proliferation?

And Kerry says he would have made a better decision than Bush has regarding Iran. I guess Kerry would have invaded instead of using the UN, the EU, sanctions, and resolutions.

Or should we citizens not think it all the way through?

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Kerry.

Stop with the outsourcing at Tora Bora crack; Bush was not throwing troops to their deaths and was sensitively tipping his hat to the allies in the region.

Kerry wanted more of the same in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, but not more of the same with the current regime.

Discuss in the comments below.

Wait, I don’t have comments. Sorry.

Bush’s answer to another preemptive strike is the most thoughtful of the night; he’s touching on his 2000 noninterventionism, his understanding of his duty, and the foresight that an iron fist in the velvet glove is what gives the handshakes in the smiling photoops their shape.

Or something like that.