The crowd last night at the debate-some observations

[underpants]

First of all see mzmolly's link to the video of W's blow up on Charlie Gibson (if you haven't before)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1020718

The town hallers were openly laughing at W-pay particular attention to the big guy in the suit and tie sitting next to the woman in red who asked the last questions (3 mistakes?)

Over all I saw a lot more of them nodding in agreement with Kerry and a lot of them had stone faces/looks of disbelief when W was trying to not exactly answer questions.

At first I was sure that the blonde who asked the abortion question was a plant (surely both sides got SOMEONE in there) but in re-watching replays of W not answering the 3 mistakes question at the end she too laughs at W and looks down to avoid staring at what my brother calls a "Jack Tripper moment"-someone doing something so embarrassing that you feel bad watching it.

At the end Kerry was surrounded by the town hallers and W ran out of there faster than he ran to apply to the Texas Air National Guard.

Okay so I am not very objective but that is just some of what I saw.

Anyone else?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. hey give me back my eyes!

[benito]

2. I mean really

I can come up with 3 things I screwed up yesterday, and this guy can't seem to put his finger on 3 things over 3.5 years?
That's ok. Kerry and Edwards have the laundry list to remind him.

[Lexiemae]

4. Were there quotas?

I mainly watched the C-SPAN version. I could not get a good view of the crowd. I kept trying to see if there were any Black people in the audience. Yes, I saw the one that asked a question, but I never saw her again after she sat down. I wanted to see if she was allowed to bring a friend.

Were crowd members required to identify their race before hand? Was some sort of pledge required (other than not asking any hard quesitons)?

[underpants]

6. Nikki? Kerry went back to her and tied an answer into her question

about 20 minutes after she had asked it. A very good move.

[BuelahWitch]

10. I was amazed at his ability to remember names and facts

The man has a mind like a steel trap.

[Minimus]

18. I thought he did a great job connecting with the audience

some of the idiot media has been saying that neither of them did, that there was not a Bill Clinton moment. Hey, no one is quite like Bill, but Kerry did very well, and we all know bush could never, ever, ever, even come close.

[underpants]

5. Exactly-I can't believe they didn't anticipate that question

Isn't that a standard political debate question to BE expected?

:eyes:

The worst part is he was asked it at his last full press conference and they STILL didn't prepare for it or he wasn't willing to go with the script-maybe God tells him he is never wrong.

:shrug:

[lectrobyte]

3. Wish I'd paid more attention to the crowd, but was watching

C-SPAN with split screen of candidates. Did the abortion question woman seem satisfied with the answer/rebuttal she got? I liked the way Kerry responded and tried to point out the complexities of the issue. If nothing else, it would be refreshing not to be talked down to like we have been for the last 4 years.

[underpants]

7. She had a look that I have seen before on "pro life"ers

She appeared to be weeping for every soul lost. MY take on it was that she liked W's answer but not so much Kerry's.

Like I said later on she showed up behind W laughing during his non answer and looking away.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Lady In The Far Corner...

There was one lady, right over Bunnypant's shoulder...50'ish in glasses. We laughed throughout the debate as you could see she was getting more bored as the 90 minutes went by...similar to the figity kid in the Letterman video. By the final 15 minutes, she's slouched over on the back railing...trying to stay attentive, but you can see when Bunnypants is talking, she's making faces and looks bored to tears.

It was tough to tell, but weren't there a couple of times where there were audience gasps and laughs to some of the things Bunnypants said or did? It'd be great to get a report on what really went on inside that hall from one of our own. Were there any DU'ers in that auditorium???

[underpants]

11. Yes her

I wonder if they did any kind of survey of the town hallers.

I noticed (I watched ABC) gasps and laughs too but remember that there was another audience in the hall with the media between the town hallers and the "peanut gallery" (very long distance it appeared in the pregame shows) and I doubt there were any mics in the non town hall area.

[KharmaTrain]

13. I'm gonna try to get a Capture on her...

I've got the debate taped...and i'll try to find the last 15 minutes or so...if someone wants to set it to music or play with it.

I watched on both C-SPAN and ABC News Now (their news channel...they covered it similar to C-SPAN...no commentary, open mikes). Again, I thought I heard crowd reactions, but for the most part the "studio audience" upfront appeared to be losing interest as the debate went along.

Also, there was a third audience we have to consider here...the media, the campaigns and their people. Wanna bet there were more of those people in that hall than any other group...and there were no rules on how they reacted.

[underpants]

15. When W was speechifying yes

They seemed to have a "yeah you still aren't answering the question" looks on their faces.

When Kerry spoke they appeared to be listening much more attentively-they were sizing him up and he was actually speaking about the issue and what he planned to do.

Again just my subjective observations.

[KharmaTrain]

17. I've Got Her Capped...Any place to post it?

One of these days I'm gonna have to get me an FTP again...or I'll email it.

[underpants]

19. Look on one of the internets

I think there are some places you can post the picture.

I am not that most tech savy guy.

[KharmaTrain]

21. I'm An Audio Guy...

I could stream it as audio...LOL.

Here's hoping there's more wonk saavy types who read this string and are busy with their photoshops and video editors.

Cheers!

[underpants]

9. DAMN! I forgot to mention the woman in the gray suit

She was in several shots throughout the debate.

At one point she had her hand over the bottom of her face during a W "answer"-either she was yawning or (my take) she was laughing and didn't want it to show up on TV. Her body language was telling at how the debate was going-sitting upright for Kerry/leaning over (elbow on railing hand holding up head) at one point of W talking.

Again just my observations.

[benito]

12. Kerry

took the time to actually approach the person that asked the question, look them in the face and answer their question. If he had the feeling that they wanted to rip his head off, he gently broke away and began talking to the entire audience.

Bush was just looking for someone to make eye contact with him.

[underpants]

14. BTW- W looked a bit pudgy last night

I'm not one to talk really but several angles showed W to have a gut under his high button location. Just an observation.

I agree Big John was very personable last night. Very smooth.

[libertad]

16. His suit looked terrible on him. I'm beginning to think he may be wearing

a bullet proof vest or something bulky like that under his clothes. His back looked very curved and lumpy, too.

[underpants]

20. I noticed his back too

He can't run anymore (runner's knee) so I don't know if he stills works out like he used to. Mountain biking yes but as we have seen he usually needs a couple of days to heal up afterwards.

[underpants]

22. Some faces in the crowd (4 pics)