Nbadan
10-01-2004, 01:14 PM
Let's cut through some of the delusion that has helped Bushiveks cope with W's poor preformance in yesterday's debate...
CORAL GABLES, Florida (CNN) -- If there's one thing President Bush should know to avoid in debates, it's the audible sigh. And the eye-rolling. Yet there he was last night, doing his best Al Gore, as most TV networks ran those forbidden cutaway shots that hurt him as much as John Kerry did.
It was a good, meaty debate. Some heat, lots of illumination. Both candidates performed well, overall. Kerry (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/candidates/kerry.new.html) won. (Special report: The 2004 debates (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/))
If you don't believe us, or the CNN/USA Today/Gallup post-debate poll (more on that below), just ask the New York Post. (Complete coverage: Debating the debate (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/01/debate.main/index.html))
Under the headline, "Bad Night for W," the country's most rabidly pro-Bush paper forgave Kerry for his New York subway faux pas to report that the president was "unusually off his game" last night in the University of Miami's basketball arena.
Even that paper's most rabidly pro-Bush reporter, Deborah Orin, said Kerry "seemed far better prepared than Bush (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/candidates/bush.new.html)," who "often repeated himself and at times seemed at a loss for words or defensive. ... By the time the debate was over, it seemed clear that Kerry had given himself a new lease on life and guaranteed that the campaign has a long way to run."
The New York Times called him "petulant." The Washington Post's Tom Shales said Bush appeared at times "anxious," "ill at ease" and "stammering." The Los Angeles Times editorial, under the headline "Kerry Won," said Bush "seemed tired." Just about everyone called him "defensive" and "apparently annoyed" at Kerry's gall, to dare to think he could be commander-in-chief.
Bush confidante Karen Hughes explained the president's petulance this way, while acknowledging the presence of such petulance, "On his face, you could see his irritation at the senator's misrepresentations," Hughes told the Washington Post. "He was answering the senator with his face."
Clinching Kerry's win was this exchange, mid-way through the 90-minute face-off, which drove home his claim that Bush is "distracted" by Iraq and Saddam Hussein when the real target in the war on terrorism should be Osama and al Qaeda. Kerry seized on Bush's claim that "the enemy attacked us," saying, "Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us."
Inexplicably, Bush shot back, "First of all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that." (We breathed our own audible sigh here, visibly relieved that Bush is on top of that one. Phew!)
Another sign of Kerry's win -- while his camp was able to tout positive reviews from normally pro-Bush pundits like Kate O'Beirne, Jonah Goldberg and Joe Scarborough, Bush-Cheney was forced to peddle perfunctory praise from Sen. John McCain, conservative commentator Fred Barnes and a "Democratic strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity" ... to the Washington Times.
But back to our survey. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll voters conducted post-debate also offered some encouragement to Camp Kerry. The poll of 615 registered voters showed that 53 percent of watchers thought Kerry did a better job, while just 37 percent thought Bush performed better. Forty-six percent of respondents said they viewed Kerry more favorably after the debate, 13 percent viewed him less favorably. The same poll showed that 21 percent viewed Bush more favorably, while 17 percent viewed him less favorably.
The numbers showed little change on Iraq. Asked who would handle Iraq better, 43 percent after the debate said Kerry, 54 percent said Bush. The President's number was unchanged from a poll conducted before the debate, Kerry was up 3 percent from that poll. On who you trust to handle the responsibilities of commander in chief, 44 percent said Kerry after the debate while 54 percent said the president. That was a slight improvement for Kerry, who trailed 55 to 42 percent before the debate.
Sixty percent said Kerry expressed himself more clearly; 32 percent said Bush did. The two were even at 41 percent on who had a better command of the issues. Forty-nine percent said Bush agreed with them more on the issues they cared about, compared with 46 percent for Kerry. 48 percent found Bush more likable, 41 percent said Kerry. Half of the poll's respondents found the president more believable, 45 percent said Kerry was. 54 percent said Bush demonstrated he was tough enough for the job, 37 percent said Kerry did.
A few caveats: This poll does not, and cannot, reflect the views of all Americans. It only represents the views of those who watched the debate, which tends to be a more partisan crowd and thus more favorable to one candidate or another than the general public. Those interviewed after the debate were 36 percent Republican, 32 percent independent and 32 percent Democratic. Fifty-two percent of those interviewed said before that they planned to vote for Bush in November, 44 percent for Kerry and 2 percent for Nader.
Also worth noting -- people's views often change considerably during the two or three days following a debate, so this poll's findings could have a particularly short shelf-life. (One note on the instant poll: Four years ago, 49 percent first said Al Gore won the opening debate, compared to 41 for Bush.)
While they staked out starkly different positions on Iraq, North Korea and whether to put leashes on daughters, the candidates read from the same page (almost exactly) at their post-debate rallies around Miami. Bush opened his rally asking, "Anything worthwhile on TV tonight?" Kerry, at a rally across town, began with, "So, did you all watch something on TV? Was it good?"
Bush is joined by Sen. John McCain today in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Later the two attend a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. Kerry sticks around Florida, holding a rallies in Tampa and Kissimmee. Tomorrow, Kerry heads to Orlando in the morning and attends a DC money chase in the evening.
The first post-debate TV ad airs today, featuring a pro-Kerry group of women whose loved ones are currently deployed or were killed in Iraq. The group, the "Band of Sisters," watched the debate. The spot, which features their reactions, will start running today in DC and it will air beginning early next week in key markets in Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/thenation/faceofdefeat_web.jpg
CORAL GABLES, Florida (CNN) -- If there's one thing President Bush should know to avoid in debates, it's the audible sigh. And the eye-rolling. Yet there he was last night, doing his best Al Gore, as most TV networks ran those forbidden cutaway shots that hurt him as much as John Kerry did.
It was a good, meaty debate. Some heat, lots of illumination. Both candidates performed well, overall. Kerry (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/candidates/kerry.new.html) won. (Special report: The 2004 debates (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/))
If you don't believe us, or the CNN/USA Today/Gallup post-debate poll (more on that below), just ask the New York Post. (Complete coverage: Debating the debate (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/01/debate.main/index.html))
Under the headline, "Bad Night for W," the country's most rabidly pro-Bush paper forgave Kerry for his New York subway faux pas to report that the president was "unusually off his game" last night in the University of Miami's basketball arena.
Even that paper's most rabidly pro-Bush reporter, Deborah Orin, said Kerry "seemed far better prepared than Bush (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/candidates/bush.new.html)," who "often repeated himself and at times seemed at a loss for words or defensive. ... By the time the debate was over, it seemed clear that Kerry had given himself a new lease on life and guaranteed that the campaign has a long way to run."
The New York Times called him "petulant." The Washington Post's Tom Shales said Bush appeared at times "anxious," "ill at ease" and "stammering." The Los Angeles Times editorial, under the headline "Kerry Won," said Bush "seemed tired." Just about everyone called him "defensive" and "apparently annoyed" at Kerry's gall, to dare to think he could be commander-in-chief.
Bush confidante Karen Hughes explained the president's petulance this way, while acknowledging the presence of such petulance, "On his face, you could see his irritation at the senator's misrepresentations," Hughes told the Washington Post. "He was answering the senator with his face."
Clinching Kerry's win was this exchange, mid-way through the 90-minute face-off, which drove home his claim that Bush is "distracted" by Iraq and Saddam Hussein when the real target in the war on terrorism should be Osama and al Qaeda. Kerry seized on Bush's claim that "the enemy attacked us," saying, "Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us."
Inexplicably, Bush shot back, "First of all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that." (We breathed our own audible sigh here, visibly relieved that Bush is on top of that one. Phew!)
Another sign of Kerry's win -- while his camp was able to tout positive reviews from normally pro-Bush pundits like Kate O'Beirne, Jonah Goldberg and Joe Scarborough, Bush-Cheney was forced to peddle perfunctory praise from Sen. John McCain, conservative commentator Fred Barnes and a "Democratic strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity" ... to the Washington Times.
But back to our survey. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll voters conducted post-debate also offered some encouragement to Camp Kerry. The poll of 615 registered voters showed that 53 percent of watchers thought Kerry did a better job, while just 37 percent thought Bush performed better. Forty-six percent of respondents said they viewed Kerry more favorably after the debate, 13 percent viewed him less favorably. The same poll showed that 21 percent viewed Bush more favorably, while 17 percent viewed him less favorably.
The numbers showed little change on Iraq. Asked who would handle Iraq better, 43 percent after the debate said Kerry, 54 percent said Bush. The President's number was unchanged from a poll conducted before the debate, Kerry was up 3 percent from that poll. On who you trust to handle the responsibilities of commander in chief, 44 percent said Kerry after the debate while 54 percent said the president. That was a slight improvement for Kerry, who trailed 55 to 42 percent before the debate.
Sixty percent said Kerry expressed himself more clearly; 32 percent said Bush did. The two were even at 41 percent on who had a better command of the issues. Forty-nine percent said Bush agreed with them more on the issues they cared about, compared with 46 percent for Kerry. 48 percent found Bush more likable, 41 percent said Kerry. Half of the poll's respondents found the president more believable, 45 percent said Kerry was. 54 percent said Bush demonstrated he was tough enough for the job, 37 percent said Kerry did.
A few caveats: This poll does not, and cannot, reflect the views of all Americans. It only represents the views of those who watched the debate, which tends to be a more partisan crowd and thus more favorable to one candidate or another than the general public. Those interviewed after the debate were 36 percent Republican, 32 percent independent and 32 percent Democratic. Fifty-two percent of those interviewed said before that they planned to vote for Bush in November, 44 percent for Kerry and 2 percent for Nader.
Also worth noting -- people's views often change considerably during the two or three days following a debate, so this poll's findings could have a particularly short shelf-life. (One note on the instant poll: Four years ago, 49 percent first said Al Gore won the opening debate, compared to 41 for Bush.)
While they staked out starkly different positions on Iraq, North Korea and whether to put leashes on daughters, the candidates read from the same page (almost exactly) at their post-debate rallies around Miami. Bush opened his rally asking, "Anything worthwhile on TV tonight?" Kerry, at a rally across town, began with, "So, did you all watch something on TV? Was it good?"
Bush is joined by Sen. John McCain today in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Later the two attend a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. Kerry sticks around Florida, holding a rallies in Tampa and Kissimmee. Tomorrow, Kerry heads to Orlando in the morning and attends a DC money chase in the evening.
The first post-debate TV ad airs today, featuring a pro-Kerry group of women whose loved ones are currently deployed or were killed in Iraq. The group, the "Band of Sisters," watched the debate. The spot, which features their reactions, will start running today in DC and it will air beginning early next week in key markets in Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/thenation/faceofdefeat_web.jpg