All over America, political commentators are scrambling to avoid answering the question of who won tonight’s debate. One CNN analyst said he wanted to wait 48 hours to see how the polls reacted before he made that judgement. While who won the debate is certainly a subjective question, the relationship between the media and the public is interesting — public opinion is affected by the media, but the media refuses to offer their opinion until after it hears from the public. While I understand the media’s desire to appear nonpartisan, it’s a little disconcerting to know that no one is willing to stand up and say “This is what I saw.”
That said, I’d have a hard time declaring the winner from tonight. Kerry certainly is a better debater; he maintained the composure and eloquence he displayed in the first two debates. Bush, though, appeared less defensive than he did previously, and while I thought he looked like a buffoon after the first debate, tonight he seemed more like someone with whom I just disagreed. The problem for me is that I don’t agree with Kerry, either.
A number of things I found interesting:
-Bush appeared to not remember every saying that he wasn’t worried about catching Osama bin Laden. According to CNN, Bush did say, “I truly am not that concerned about him.” However, the context was that because bin Laden’s network had been disrupted and the Taliban was no longer in power, he no longer posed the threat he once had. Still, some major back-peddling from the “Dead or Alive” rhetoric of only a few months earlier.
-Bush looked like he was foaming at the mouth early on in the debate — not politically noteworthy, but it was kind of gross.
-When responding to Bush’s remarks about outsourcing, Kerry started by noting that Bush had changed the subject, then he changed the subject back to the previous question. Again, not politically noteworthy, but hypocritical and annoying.
-Bush replaced his scowl with a very insincere half-smile. Somehow this was less effective than Kerry’s slightly supercilious — and I say that in the best way possible — chuckles in the first debate.
-Bush added an attack I hadn’t heard before, several times referring to Kerry’s oft mentioned plans as nothing more than a “litany of complaints”.
-Bush avoided directly answering whether or not he believes homosexuality is a choice and whether or not he supports overturning the Roe v. Wade decision. Kerry said that he believes it is a choice (although he doesn’t want to redefine marriage either) and he, of course, supports upholding Roe v. Wade.
-Kerry, in my favorite statement of the evening, spoke of his Catholicism and then said that he believes he cannot legislate an article of faith, or transfer that faith to someone else. I thought he seemed firm in his faith and his beliefs, but also firm in his belief that it is not up to him to impose that faith on anyone else. Conviction + humility + flexibility = a good thing in a president (hell, in a human being).
-When asked about raising the minimum wage, Bush immediately changed the subject to education and No Child Left Behind. The parallel, I suppose, was that if people are better educated, they’ll be better paid. He didn’t do a good job of illustrating this, though, and I was left wondering if this will result in a bunch of PhDs working at McDonald’s for $5.15/hour.
-Kerry changed the way he talked about the money spent on Iraq. He’s previously used the $200 billion number, allowing Bush to say, “No, it’s not that much”. Tonight he clarified that $120 billion has been spent already, and $80 billion has already been budgeted for the future.
Anyway, if you didn’t catch the debate tonight, read the transcript.
Then consider that even though going into Iraq was a mistake, getting rid of Saddam was not a bad thing.