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I formed my opinion after watching the debate, before listening to any TV pundits or accessing the internet. I tried to be objective.
I thought that Cheney would cream Edwards. I've never seen him nervous, on the defensive, flub a line, or lose a debate or argument. He's incredibly cool under pressure and has the ability to lie with a straight face off the cuff.
At the end of the debate, though, while I thought Cheney came through with a lot of his "stuff" on style and a bit on substance, I thought that both did well and that Edwards edged out a win by a nose. Edwards was right on, made some excruciatingly painful points (painful to the administration), kept his cool, and had almost total command of the facts in all the areas discussed.
It was an Edwards win. No doubt about it. Just by a nose, maybe. But a win, all the same. How can the pundits I saw on MSNBC think that Cheney won? Are they THAT impressed by Cheney's gravitas behavior? That little laugh that Cheney gave in response to an Edwards response? The MSNBC pundits thought that Cheney stuck it to Edwards with that. I did not. As soon as I heard the laugh, I thought it was condescending, patronizing, and was an indication that Edwards had hit the nail on the head with his response.
Edwards win, for sure. Are ALL the pundits going to disagree with that? And possibly sway public opinion? Boy, the Repub spin machine was geared up for rapid response this time, weren't they?
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