Bush vs Kerry Debate 3 : Final Debate

The 3rd debate is about over now, that’s the last of them. I wonder if the debates had any effect on your opinions? Do you think the debates have changed the polls and the eventual election results?

 

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They would have had to actually talk instead of just speaking.

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=41521

 

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is it just me or is bob Schiefer a shi**y moderator?

I mean what kind of last question is "what did you learn from your wife?" that has nothing to do with being a president.

 

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I missed the debate. Transcripts anyone?

Who won? Why?

 

Wow, would have made sense to close this thread and keep the one open which was already discussing it....

 

Persol,

that thread was about who will win the debate. Now that the debate is over its who won the debate.

 

Bush won. Not a landslide but he definately had the edge IMO.

 

Bush continues to be an idiot.
I wish they would debate for real.
Crap questions mostly.
Do you believe how many times Bush regurgitated his failed no child left behind answer?
3 times! His shit education 'reform' is the answer to outsourcing, minimum wage, and shows us how much of a uniter not a divider he is. I can't believe this guy is president.

cato- That wife question blew

CNN doesn't have the who won poll(wonder why) MSNBC has Kerry over 60 pts. with 92,000 votes. All the on-line polls I've seen (been watching throughout the debates) has Kerry far ahead.

The media continues to spin fair and balanced as if Bush isn't a moron. The rightwingers have invariably had to put words into Bushes mouth and interperate his meaning for him.

 

I thought Kerry won on several counts. Of course these impressions are highly subjective, because I'm previously convinced that President Bush is a mentally-challenged and dangerous leader, and that Kerry is just a typical (but far more intelligent) Washington stuffed-shirt.

Stability. The President was noticeably "keyed up" at the outset, as if running on adrenaline (or something). He displayed inappropriate laughter, overly loud speech, odd gesticulation, and general antsiness, then rapidly calmed down in about the last third. There have been noticeable changes in the President's delivery, even between these 3 debates. Tonight Bush's change in emotional state was considerable. Kerry kept an even keel.

Sincerity. The President's affectations of gesture, posture and humor were just unnatural. Kerry obviously didn't have to cram so for these public speaking tests.

Integrity. Kerry attacked Bush on the issues (legitimate) while Bush attacked obliquely, and with smears. Ted Kennedy was the President's favorite object to hurl repeatedly despite the persistent lack of a context to do so. Kerry spoke with more emphasis on fiscal responsibility, which I expect Americans are beginning to react to. Like the situation in Iraq, an excruciatingly slow tipping point is occuring, where Americans are doubting what the Bush Administration has been telling us.

These debates were far better than I had expected, and this last one was a marvelous contrast between the candidates. It was a significant event.

 

Kerry won by a clear margin. I"ll expand later

 

I think Bush got bruised. He didn't start well, and apparently the scuttlebutt is that Kerry did quote him accurately about Osama bin Laden. Bush did well on the softer questions, the more personal ones where the sound-bites had fewer syllables of the evening.

He did turn sort of red when Kerry mentioned Cheney's daughter; I wonder what that's all about. I'm officially disappointed that neither Kerry nor Edwards will look at the marriage issue from the obvious and looming Fourteenth Amendment aspect: Kerry could have sent the President sputtering by demanding an explanation of why the banning of gay marriage is so important as to trash equal protection.

In the meantime, at the outset of the post-show discussion (which I have since abandoned), Andrea Mitchell, giving comment for Matthews on MSNBC, noted that the program director tried to equalize the heights of the two candidates, thus using a closer shot of Bush and filling his half of the screen. Now, I don't think it's that big a deal; Kerry had the more forgiving shot. But there's early talk that the framing was actually an "unfair advantage" to Bush. Whatever.

Bush did well, but gets no points on the soft bigotry of lowered expectations; his answers seemed less genuine--he doesn't seem to shift well between "stump" and "debate". GOP handlers can only smooth out the wrinkles to a certain impressive degree. The rest is on the candidates, and I think Kerry, substantially at least, had stronger thrust, quicker parry, and a certain sense of the delicate in his attempts to skewer Bush. While the president came across as less of a hack--or, perhaps, as less of a wild slasher--than usual, he still seemed clumsy on his feet and surprised by the unwieldy nature of domestic issues.

My early impression is that Kerry did the job; how resoundingly he won the debate is a separate question. I've apparently overestimated the efficacy of the Bush/Cheney campaign; I don't think Bush did particularly poorly in the second debate, and my early impressions of the vice presidential debate was that Cheney had shredded the upstart.

I already know I'm at odds with early attempts to judge the debate, not so much in the suggestion of the outcome but on various points chosen for reflection and later analysis.

If things go according to pattern, then Kerry will be deemed the winner, and the outcome will have more significance than we might at present guess;.

 

Bushes comments on homosexuals seem to me to be nothing but worthless policing. It's important not to seem to right leaning in this issue, especially so close to the election. He spoke of tolerance while withholding rights (if a paradigm can really be formed out of that seemingly contradictory idea) but the actions of his administration, and indeed his party speak volumes over the sugar coated half-truths he gave as his answer tonight.

The truth is that homosexuals don't have any place in the republican party; They don't want them, and just being gay apparently makes them incomparable with the RNC. Take a look at what the RNC has been saying to the Log Cabin Republicans. They won't throw those poor confused people a bone, they've been entirely squeezed out and shunned. That's what this new Republican party, run by right wing Christian nut-jobs wants for America. Gays don't fit into the Neocon vision of this nation.

 

Well I think clearly that Kerry won this and all the debates, bush has been beaten cause he has a heavy burden on his hand!!.

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Now if they have Osama on ice and ready to "pop-out" before nov.2nd he might just swing to win the presidency again.

Godless.

 

Debates were so much better when Ross Perot was included.

 

I was surprised. I thought tonight would be Bush's night, but Kerry was prepared and from the start it was obvious that Bush was acting a little strangely and wasn't very effective. He cleaned up at the end, making the debate more of a tie really, but if I had to choose a winner, my pick would be Kerry.

 

I think this is based on the fact that Bush's Fundie base may grow a lot less enthusiastic if they had to face the fact that their saviorboy's VP had a gay daughter. Remember, to people like John Kerry, being gay is just something you are. To people like Bush, being gay is something you have to tolerate and gloss over. While Kerry does not mean it as some kind of insult, Bush may take it as one.

I thought Bush's stupidest moment was when he was asked about something regarding the economy. What was it? It might've been outsourcing, or the deficit. The moderator went through a checklist of possible factors, such as foreign markets, the Bush administration, 9/11, etc. Then Bush said, "Gosh, I hope it's not the administration!" Nobody in the audience laughed, and it was simply a very inappropriate and ignorant remark for a president to make.

UN Secretary-General: "Mr. President, who is to blame for the current crisis in Iraq?"
George. W. Bush: "Gosh, I hope it's not my administration!"

Even if this debate resulted in a draw (which it wasn't, as CNN-Gallup reported that a selected audience voted Kerry as the winner by 52-39 percent), Kerry still comes out ahead because of the first debate debacle by Bush. After that, Bush needed an even bigger KO against Kerry to gain an equal ground on the debate issue, but like Mr. Yale Debating Champion would've allowed that. Kerry's campaign can now legitimately say they are 3 for 3 in debates against the president, and their supporters will be on a morale high which will sustain them for at least a week or so.

 

Come on guys. Bush obviously won this one. I'll admit Bush sucked on the first debate, but the second was a tie, and this one went to Bush. Contrary to what some others have said, I felt that Kerry looked uncomfortable and stumbled with his words a bit in this debate. He also had a hard time defending his Senate record. Rather ironic that each candidate lost on his "home turf".

 

It was only natural for Kerry to win this one. Bush's domestic policy record leaves quite a lot to be desired. A bit too much pandering to the far religious right, in attacking homosexuals, and standing in the way of stem cell research. Flip flopping on gun rights (says to the NRA that he doesn't support the Assault weapon ban extension, but says to soccer moms that he DOES support an extension), underfunding our schools, destroying the environment, and snubbing minorities and civil rights. It’s a record worthy of even the darkest conservative overlords.

 

I am planning on watching the debate tomorrow.
Someone told me that Bush actually claimed that other countries are jeaolos of our HealthCare system! :bugeye: Did he really say that?!?!

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I think he meant Afghanistan.