Kerry was pathetic, only himself to blame if he loses

[txprog]

Kerry looked tired and his delivery was not crisp. He won only because Bush has so little and acted like a total jackass. Schieffer was awful, just awful.

No discussion of the environment or energy and oil. Kerry should have raised these issues even though no questions were asked about them. Bush has been so bad on both how could you not exploit these things? It's so easy, and so easy to tie them into the populist message that Kerry used well in the second debate, but abandoned here. High oil prices favor the big oil companies, hurt the little guy. Lack of environmental regulation helps the coporations, hurts everyone else.

Kerry had a great moment on assult weapons and leadership. Why did he not pound that theme? Bush kept saying he went to Washington to solve problems. What problems has he solved? Has he done anything about healthcare and does he have a plan to do so? No. Energy and oil dependence? No. No solutions. No leadership.

Kerry should have pounded and pounded on these. Democrats solve problems. He will lead our way to solutions on healthcare, energy, the environment, and more

Bush gave Kerry every opportunity to win this thing going away and Kerry refused to seize it. It was easy for the media to say Gore ran a bad campaign in 2000 as a means to avoid blaming themselves for the outcome. That won't be the case this time. The media is still awful, but not as bad as in 2000. But Kerry just did not exploit the opporuntites he had last night to totally defuse Bush. I'm disappointed and concerned.

[RoBear]

1. What color is the sky in your world?????

[lil-petunia]

7. A deep ebony, no doubt, in a moonless, starless night during

a power failure with no batteries for the flash.

[MallRat]

2. So, a 13-point post-debate poll victory isn't good enough for you?

CNN/Gallup:
Who won the debate?
Kerry 52
Bush 39

:eyes:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

What debate did YOU watch?

[Cha]

21. There was a poster on DU who after the first

debate was screaming and hollering how Kerry LOST LOST LOST and the world was coming to an end..and this was the FIRST debate..I have not seen that poster since..and I actually had respect for him/her before that.

I'm not saying we can't voice our differences but Jesus H. Christ..Kerry won the damn debate..He's our guy..he won! Yay!


Here's Skinner's "Results Are In" thread..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1063862&mesg_id=1064033

[Free2BMe]

3. gee, but-try to have a good day..

[Generic Other]

4. A pathetic showing? Nuts to you

Even CNN had to admit it was Kerry 52-37%

Even Fox said Kerry won.

Just a few DUers who crawl out of the woodwork for no other reason than to demoralize the rest of us who have been working so hard.

Keep your doom and gloom to yourself.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. Prepare to be flamed!

Please tell me you are lowering expectations...? Being sarcastic?

[HughBeaumont]

6. I thought he defused him quite well and then some . . .

Superb answers on assault weapons, pounded him on lost jobs and even bested him on the faith-based subject.

[calmblueocean]

8. BUSH was pathetic

Kerry was just calm. Yeah, I would've liked him to deliver the killing blow last night, too, but I think Kerry's strategy is to play to undecideds by not seeming too politically aggressive. Undecideds hate it when candidates go negative.

[chiburb]

9. I thought going in that

Bush was the one who had to look and act presidential in order to stop Kerry's momentum. He didn't do it, Kerry won the night.

But be VERY concerned, disappointed, whatever, at that pathetic loser Kerry's performance if it makes you feel good. I suspect you're in the vast minority...

[kaitykaity]

10. Some people would bitch if they were

hung with a new rope.

Gaack.

[Catfight]

11. Oh how your standards are so low for Bush. He whined, he complained,

he was off the message, he was condescending, he was arrogant and he looked small and worn down. I thought he looked like he doesn't even want to be President anymore and he would actually be relieved to lose. I saw Bush has an embarrassment to our country and his mention some new "army of compassion," just plain scares the crap out of me. This man is a fanatic fundamentalist who wants the world to believe we are on some sort of crusade for Christianity. Bush has been a loser all his life, every endeavor he has attempted has miserably failed under his lead, his record speaks for itself. He has taken a prosperous country and practically ran it into the ground as well, it's time for a new direction and it isn't keep digging the same hole deeper.

[candy331]

24. Dang, even my spouse who says all politicians are evil and

corrupt watched the last 2 debates thought Kerry could have done better on the last one but was one up on the prez still, but this one he said Kerry knocked the ball out of the park while Bush was gazing in the sky wondering what the hell was going on. I on the other hand wanted Kerry to reach for the Jugular in all 3 debates but that's just me.

[DrZeeLit]

30. Wholeheartedly Agree

From the first debate, I've thought "this guy doesn't even want to do this any more." He's like a petulant, moody three year old ready to take a nap.

Then Laura made that statement about no big deal, there's "life after" and I figured they've been talking about it.

And who can blame them? They made a mess and they don't want to clean it up. Like looking at that big ol' pile of dishes after Thanksgiving. They act like privileged guests ready to leave any dirty work up to the hired help.

[Catfight]

32. I like that metaphor, "like the pile of dishes on Thanksgiving!" nt

[Edmond Dantes]

12. Seriously...

your take on reality is quite distorted. Do you project this kind of baseless negativity onto everyone and everything around you?

Among other things, Kerry kicked ass on the assault weapons issue. Bush was visibly unhappy.

Were you trying to watch the World Series simultaneously with the debate? Was your team losing?

[w13rd0]

13. "The media is still awful, but not as bad as in 2000."

Uh, yeah, ok, whatever...

[jrthin]

14. I guess you believe the earth

to be flat and the sun rises in the South. Good luck with you mind.

[cali]

15. Huh?

Kerry was marvelous- and in command - throughout the entire 90 minutes. Did he make some minor gaffes? Sure, but they were just that; minor. In contrast, Bush was just awful. And though I agree with you about the dearth of questions re the environment, that's the mod's fault, not Kerry's. I'm dumbfounded that you thought Kerry didn't do well.

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. This was Bush's strongest debate (please hear me out!).

With that said, sometimes in a debate it doesn't matter if what you are saying or promising is truthful, it's whether or not it sounds convincing to the unknowing, undecided general public. In that respect, Bush was much stronger than he was in the prior two debates.
Kerry, this time around, seemed a bit tired, but CBC errors aside, he still blew Scrub away in the debate.

[Dob Bole]

20. It might have been his strongest debate, but he still didn't win.

nt

[Beware the Beast Man]

26. Exactly.

If the polls are correct, he did little to convince the undecided voter.

[omnithrope]

17. I politely disagree.

I thought he looked the best out of the three.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

18. You are forgiven. n/t

[SidDithers]

19. Plonk...nt

Sid

[oasis]

22. So you think people responded better to Bush? Is that your "concern"?

[txprog]

35. This was his last chance to defuse Bush

in front of a large audience and to his face and he did not, in my opinion, do it well enough. EVERYTHING, I think, has to go right for Kerry to win.

Sure Kerry won. But he left so much unsaid, stuff that might have really helped with undecided voters. I'm not sure how many of those he convinced tonight and that's why I'm concerned.

[DemocracyInaction]

23. People don't understand the whole set up of these debates

When I hear people like this, I could just hit my head on cement. You expect that there will be a 90 minute assault by Kerry going into all the sins and dirt of the Bush administration. These guys get 90 lousy seconds to tell what the other guy has done, what they will do and what it means to the people. AND, you cannot squeeze additionally a bunch of subjects the moderator didn't ask about into the 90 seconds to boot!!! Bush was unable to get anything clear out in 90 seconds. Kerry always had 90 seconds worth of distance run. He gave people more of an insight into how to fix our problems in 90 second bites than the asshole in chief has done in 4 years!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eurobabe]

25. move along now, nothing here to see

[Zuni]

27. Kerry had a slam dunk even without that

he didn't even have to pull out the big guns.

Kerry might not have given the performance of his career, but he gave more than enough to leave Bush reeling

[Amaya]

28. delete

.

[Hamlette]

29. those who can do, those who can't complain on message boards

not a one of us here have not whispered in the stairway (french expression for the phenomenon of coming up with the perfect answer hours or days too late).

Politics has become a bloody sport in this country. I admire anyone willing to play it on our side.

Kerry was a hero in the 70s for standing up against the powers that be over Vietnam. He's a hero now for standing up against the same forces.

Cut him some slack.

When he wins I suppose you'll say Bush lost? Who cares. We're gonna win.

[qanda]

31. Kerry crushes Bush in the third debate.

A week ago, I compared the debates to the final inning of a postseason baseball game. The Democrats trailed entering the ninth. John Kerry led off with a single. John Edwards singled him to third. I'll need a couple of pinch runners to keep the metaphor going, since Kerry came to the plate again Friday and struck out, leaving runners at the corners. The Bush campaign liked my headline so much—"Strikeout"—that they sent it around to the rest of the press corps.

(snip)

I counted one exchange that Bush won tonight and another that Kerry lost. The topic Bush aced was Social Security. His answer was brave and thoughtful. He pointed out that "the cost of doing nothing, the cost of saying the current system is OK, far exceeds the costs" of taking painful steps to fix it. Kerry responded with a shameful dodge: "If, later on, after a period of time, we find that Social Security is in trouble, we'll pull together the top experts ... and we'll make whatever adjustment is necessary." Bush promptly nailed him: "I didn't hear any plan to fix Social Security. I heard more of the same."

The exchange Kerry lost was on affirmative action. He chose to defend its worst form—minority-owned business set-asides, which compensate the wealthiest blacks and Latinos for wrongs suffered primarily by the poorest. He also falsely accused Bush of never having met with the Congressional Black Caucus. When Bush corrected him, Kerry stared down at his podium with an expression of fear that he might well have screwed up.

If you're one of those Bush supporters who just want the good news, you'd better stop here, because the rest of the night was Kerry's. Let's start with body language. Kerry's was excellent. He has improved on this score in every debate. I don't know why it took him 20 years in office and two years on the presidential campaign trail to look into the camera. Maybe that guy with the tax question in the second debate got him over the hump. Whatever the reason, Kerry is now doing it in the debates and in his ads, and he turns out to be damned good at it. Tonight he explained in simple terms the good things he would do and the bad things he wouldn't. "Medicare belongs to you," he told the viewer. "I don't force you to do anything. ... You choose your doctor." I caught him shaking his head just once. Another time, he grinned inappropriately when Bush was talking about abortion. The rest of his performance was flawless. His answers were crisp. His smiles recalled the good-natured confidence of Ronald Reagan.

(more)
http://slate.msn.com/id/2108121

[fugue]

33. Personally, I was underwhelmed by both Bush and Kerry

I thought it was a tie in the sense that both were doing poorly. They were just repeating what they'd said in the earlier debates. Often in the exact same words.

If the world perceives Kerry as the winner, great. I just was hoping to hear something I hadn't heard before and didn't.

[demokatgurrl]

34. Did we watch the same debate?

Kerry was even better in this one than the others, because he finally called Bush on his lies right after Bush said them.

[Arkana]

36. What are you on?

Kerry's delivery was fantastic, calm, and collected. You want a bloodbath? Watch the third-party guys debate.

[txindy]

37. Bye!

:hi:

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AmerDem]

39. I advice you have yourself comitted

...AT ONCE! :crazy:


LOL

[Teaser]

40. DU loves even the foolish.

How about a hug?

[AnIndependentTexan]

41. Kerry did great to win the women vote

[Claire Beth]

42. Kerry was TERRIFIC....

don't know how anyone could possibly think any less. Bush looked like a complete moron, yet again. Of course since he is a moron it would be difficult for him to be any other way.

[LuminousX]

43. Kerry looked like a President, Bush looked like an upstart