10.05.2004
Cheney-Edwards Debate
Gut reaction: Cheney's substance won out over Edwards's rhetoric. Smart, waited-for opportunities to grind in soundbites aside, father Cheney is comforting. I was comforted.
Believe the rhetoric, and you believe in Fantasyland. That's OK...go to Disneyworld; you'll find what you're looking for. I'll take a calm voice in the face of unpleasant reality anyday.
Much will be said in the next 48 hours, until it is swallowed in the hype of Bush/Kerry II.
UPDATE: Lorie Byrd of Polipundit fires away: On MSNBC the pundits are declaring a Cheney victory in the most decisive terms that I have ever heard. Fox’s pundits actually said Edwards won the second half of the debate. At The Corner, many of the bloggers are calling it a draw. I am with MSNBC, Big Time. I have never seen a poorer performance in a debate than I saw from Edwards tonight – at least not that I can recall. Maybe someone can remind me of one.
And before we leave Polipundit tonight, DJ Drummond, just pounds it in! Will the family of a Veep wannabe, dark suit, dark hair, Dark Side, license # I-S-U-E-U, please come and claim the carcass? Your junior lawyer has been trampled, pummeled, thumped, whupped, sliced, diced, julienned, fried, pureed, laughed out of the county, and has dismayed fellow slimebags across the nation. You may claim the remains, collected in a large number of small baggies, at the BreckTM booth.
Hugh Hewitt: SUMMARY: "If you can't stand up to Howard Dean, how can you stand up to Al Qaeda."
A Cheney win, but no disaster for Edwards, though perhaps for Kerry. Cheney wins because of the "global test" exchange and the repeated blows at Kerry's record --not Edwards-- and nailed Edwards on the refusal to count Iraqi casualties. Key thing is that Kerry's record is back on the table. Cheney is very hard hitting on the reality of the war --one weapon in one city-- and a strong defense of Bush as Commander-in-Chief.
Hugh has a good 'blow by blow's worth' of debate commentary. Yeh, the talking, spinning heads will subsume it, but Hugh's a smart guy and his comments are pertinent.
Jim Geraghty: "The single most devastating drubbing since Lloyd Bentsen smacked Dan Quayle all around the stage in 1988."
Jeff Jarvis, of Buzzmachine: "I come to think that Kerry chose Edwards only to defeat Cheney at this debate....I thought Edwards won. Micah Sifry thought it was a draw. The room voted more for draw. Some for Edwards. None for Cheney. "
Gut reaction: Cheney's substance won out over Edwards's rhetoric. Smart, waited-for opportunities to grind in soundbites aside, father Cheney is comforting. I was comforted.
Believe the rhetoric, and you believe in Fantasyland. That's OK...go to Disneyworld; you'll find what you're looking for. I'll take a calm voice in the face of unpleasant reality anyday.
Much will be said in the next 48 hours, until it is swallowed in the hype of Bush/Kerry II.
UPDATE: Lorie Byrd of Polipundit fires away: On MSNBC the pundits are declaring a Cheney victory in the most decisive terms that I have ever heard. Fox’s pundits actually said Edwards won the second half of the debate. At The Corner, many of the bloggers are calling it a draw. I am with MSNBC, Big Time. I have never seen a poorer performance in a debate than I saw from Edwards tonight – at least not that I can recall. Maybe someone can remind me of one.
And before we leave Polipundit tonight, DJ Drummond, just pounds it in! Will the family of a Veep wannabe, dark suit, dark hair, Dark Side, license # I-S-U-E-U, please come and claim the carcass? Your junior lawyer has been trampled, pummeled, thumped, whupped, sliced, diced, julienned, fried, pureed, laughed out of the county, and has dismayed fellow slimebags across the nation. You may claim the remains, collected in a large number of small baggies, at the BreckTM booth.
Hugh Hewitt: SUMMARY: "If you can't stand up to Howard Dean, how can you stand up to Al Qaeda."
A Cheney win, but no disaster for Edwards, though perhaps for Kerry. Cheney wins because of the "global test" exchange and the repeated blows at Kerry's record --not Edwards-- and nailed Edwards on the refusal to count Iraqi casualties. Key thing is that Kerry's record is back on the table. Cheney is very hard hitting on the reality of the war --one weapon in one city-- and a strong defense of Bush as Commander-in-Chief.
Hugh has a good 'blow by blow's worth' of debate commentary. Yeh, the talking, spinning heads will subsume it, but Hugh's a smart guy and his comments are pertinent.
Jim Geraghty: "The single most devastating drubbing since Lloyd Bentsen smacked Dan Quayle all around the stage in 1988."
Jeff Jarvis, of Buzzmachine: "I come to think that Kerry chose Edwards only to defeat Cheney at this debate....I thought Edwards won. Micah Sifry thought it was a draw. The room voted more for draw. Some for Edwards. None for Cheney. "
// posted by HunterByrd @ 8:21 PM 
