Kerry goes 2 for 2 but toughest battle is coming on Wednesday

[unfrigginreal]

No doubt about it, Kerry came out of last nights debate as the winner. If you scan the blogs this morning the percolating meme is that Bush came off angry and dishonest. One caveat to that is that Bush seemed to settle down and actually put his best foot forward when the debate turned to domestic issues.

That runs counter to CW which says that Bush is strongest on foreign affairs and Kerry is stronger on domestic issues. IMO, one reason that Bush has been knocked off balance over foreign affairs is that Kerry has been consistently hitting him on credibility. There hasn't been much discussion of domestic issues yet, but again when Kerry hit Bush over his wood business, we saw Bush lose it again. Sure, he tried to make a joke out of it but he was clearly pissed.

For Kerry's part, he needs to please let the 'flip-flop' charges roll off his back. I didn't see it bother him in the first debate but felt that he appeared a little defensive about it last night. I think Gibson's attempt to set that image in stone for the debate with the first question may have rattled John a little. Whenever he feels the need to confront the charge, always answer along the lines that "you can be consistently wrong Mr. President. I prefer to change direction if we go off course."

Now, for this upcoming debate, I'd like to see the campaign looking for contradictions in Bush's domestic policy statements. He needs to be shown to the American people as just as much a liar over the bread and butter issues as he has been shown to be over the Iraq War issue.

I also think it would be great if we, DU, start looking for the lies as well. A perfect place to start would be to pour over Bush's promises made in the 2000 campaign but broken while in office. Does anyone know of a web site that has already compiled a list of Bush campaign promises? I'd appreciate a link if you have one.

Just some thought's on the morning after.

Great job last night Senator, I was proud of you.

[jobycom]

1. I see Wednesday as Kerry's home run derby

Every time Bush tries to brag about the economy or about domestice issues, he will come across as insensitive and out of touch, just like his father. When he talks about job creation, people will know that the job situation is worse, not better, even before Kerry rebutts him. Bush will be lying about them, blaming them, and proving he doesn't even care about their problems, much less want to fix their problems.

Whenever Bush tries to convince voters that they are better off than they were before, that the budget deficit is someone else's fault, not his, that outsourcing is good, people will dislike him more and more, no matter how tough he talks or how humorous he seems to be. Kerry just has to sit back and shoot longballs over the fence, and prove that he has a plan.

Another point: Kerry doesn't hit Bush's record enough. Sometimes, rather than citing facts to prove Bush wrong, Kerry should just wave his arms around and say "look around you. Are you or your friends doing as well as this man says you are? He thinks you are doing fine. Do you think you are doing fine?" He needs to appeal to people's experiences, rather than just statistical representations of their experience.

I disagree with you on the flip-flop issue, though. That's the number one lie against Kerry. That's the excuse I hear all the time as to why people don't like Kerry. Kerry needs to fight it in each debate. He also needs to turn it on Bush. "He calls me a flip-flopper. He flip flopped on x, he flip-flopped on y, he thinks I'm flipflopping because he's jumping all over the place so much he can't tell when someone else is standing firm."

[underpants]

2. Yes Kerry went 2 for 2 and both were set up for easy wins by W

the first debate was supposed to be W's bread and butter and he failed horribly. Kerry finally got to show himself unfiltered to the American public and they liked what they saw.

Last night was supposed to be W's OTHER strongsuit-connecting with people and being personable. He came off as angry, in a hurry, and still unable to level with people or come close to criticising anything he has ever done. Kerry was GOLDEN last night-that is what I expected in the first debate. Big John was smooth, informed (informative too), and dead on the mark with the people in that room. He went back to "Nicki" and tied in an answer to another question to her question from 20 minutes before.

I (not being very objective to start with) was FLOORED at how well Kerry did. WOW!