10/1/2004 – Robert

Presidential Debate

Okay... I ended up watching / listening to the presidential debate last night. I thought I'd end up regretting it, like last time when Gore debated Bush (boy, was that boring). I was pretty pleased at the way this one went. It actually held my interest for most of the event, and I do believe that Kerry turned out on top. Here's what I came away with:

• Often times, Bush didn't come up with anything stronger than suggesting his opponent flip-flops (without those actual words) over and over and over again. He sounded like a broken record. Melody and I are actually going to make this a drinking game for the next debate. I used to be a republican, so I know where a lot of the economic and military stances / appeals of the party comes from, but I felt pretty pissed off / insulted that Bush felt we were so dumb that the flip flopping issue was all we wanted to hear about. If Bush had my vote, he might have lost it last night.
• Granted, I think Kerry has changed his stance on some major issues, he owned up to it last night. He realized our intelligence was flawed / incomplete. If I was in his position, I would have demanded a smoking gun on the Iraq weapons of mass destruction issue. I would have demanded photographic proof... he trusted the president at his word, and he was right, the word of the president of the united states of america just isn't worth what it's used to anymore. So, my memory's a little flaky at 6 in the morning, but I believe what this amounted to was his acknowledging he had made a mistake in authoring bush the use of force in Iraq. I want a president that can own up to his failures and mistakes.
• Kerry's hand motions are memorizing... so hypnotic. Must vote for Kerry, conquer the planet... er....
• During the debate, when Bush was talking, often times I'd see Kerry scribbling down thoughts on what he was going to use for his rebuttal. He wasn't vehemently sticking to a script like Bush was. Does that mean Kerry is more adaptive, more able to think on his feet?

Okay, so now I actually want to watch the next two debates and see what happens. I'm a Nader / green voter, pretty much always have been since the last presidential election. I do believe that the current administration is ruining our economy and foreign relations. I've had multiple friends from outside the states tell me that everyone thought that Bush was the worst president ever, and I've had multiple friends from within the states tell me the same thing. :) I didn't think that Kerry was going to be any better than Bush. Now, I'm feeling a little more optimisitic that the man can do a much better job. Will this Nader voter be swayed to voting for Kerry? I don't know yet, but we'llsee. I was very impressed by his performance last night.           

robert@digitalsingularity.com