Junto Boys

BUSH - KERRY III

I tended to think that Bush was too defensive many times. But he also had some of his best lines during the debate series. He did a better job of explaining Kerry's past record than he has in the past. Ted Kennedy being Mass. conservative Senator has been said since the Spring but not unwlecome once more for a national audience. He also did a good job of explaining Kerry's real thoughts on taxes and spending.

Kerry speaks better and has that authoratative way of explaining away these criticisms as distortions. But Kerry doesn't do a good job of going further and characterizing his own record. It seems to be enough for Kerry to merely disagree and talk about the wonderful things he will do, as if his nebulous plan in no way reflects his career in politics. Bush's hammering at who Kerry is has always seemed crucial and it's high time that he did this.

Kerry keeps looking for a punchline to humanize himself. Last night he said that Bush talking about fiscal responsibility is like Tony Soprano talking about Law & Order. It's not a great line, but he delivered it without the flair it could have used.

Schieffer was a decent questioner throughout seeming to aim tough ones at both sides. But his question to the candidates about whether homosexuality is a choice seemed too pop culture for a Presidential debate. Neither of these guys are scientists. Since Both Kerry and Bush are against same sex marriage, but both agree to the privacy of consenting adults, the better question would have been how does America best address the growing political demands of homosexuals.

Many seem to agree that Kerry invoking Cheney's daughter on the Lesbian issue was going too far. Kerry Campaign Manager, Mary Beth Cahill said after the debate that she is fair game. How in the world is someone's daughter fair game? Is Kerry trying to scare cultural conservative voters away from Cheney for having a lesbian daughter?

Kerry continues to invoke Reagan in his litany of great Presidents and Bush won't remind the audience that Kerry opposed everything Reagan ever stood for. He also lets Kerry go unanswered in this "rush to war" nonsense. We were attacked Sep 2001 and didn't attack Iraq until March of 2003. Though it didn't come up this time, the Kerry-Edwards line about how the inspectors were making progress is total nonsense. Saddam delayed their entry into the country for months so that he could secure his contraband and then he violated the terms of the inspections as he played a shell game with the equipment. You can't forget the audio intercepts that Colin Powell played for the U.N. Only after this process was shown to be a sham did the U.S. choose to invade. Since the debates are over Bush needs to get this point in his stump speech. It wasn't only that we thought Saddam had WMD it was that Saddam was playing the inspection game as if he were hiding something.

Bush reminded the audience of Kerry's Terrorism "should be a nuissance again" line. Kerry later said that the President has turned his back on the wellness of America. What pandering. Kerry has Bush turning his back on America on practically every issue. As if letting the free market do its thing has been terrible for America through history. It was individuals who invented America and wrote the constitution. It has been individuals that have made it great since. To hear Kerry speak you'd think that the government is the solution to every problem.

Bush was good talking about raising the standards of education rather than just spending more money. Education without tough standards is daycare. Hey, Bush can use that if he wants.

Bush was great explaining how Social Security was politicized in 2000 and something must be done. Hopefully Bush's position of letting younger workers control their own accounts will resonate. Kerry responded with the same lame Democrat talking points about how only old people should be considered.

The assault weapons ban expiration gave Kerry an opportunity to complain about the dangers of the AK47. It was a perfect example of how this issue has always been about scary guns and scaring people and very little about effective law enforcement. The AK47 was illegal before the 1994 ban and still is. The AK47 is an automatic weapon and they've been illegal in this country since the 1930s. Kerry can't find an example of the actual weapons on the list that will scare people, therefore he names a weapon that we've heard of.

Bush was more of what I like tonight than he had been in earlier contests. Does the Kerry campaign have another drunk driving charge to pull out of their hat the weekend before the election or is their bag of tricks now empty?

I thought Bush did what he needed to in this debate. Now the voters get to decide whether the War on Terror will be a pro-active or re-active one.