So, I watched the presidential debate Thursday, and had I had any remaining doubts about whether Senator John Kerry is better qualified to be our next president than President George W. Bush, they would have been mercilessly hunted down and erased.
Bush got schooled. That’s it. Plain and simple. He lost, and not by a little either. Throughout the debate, he continually repeated himself and did not answer Kerry’s charges.
When Kerry accused Bush of making a mistake in invading Iraq, Bush responded by saying that the troops did not need to hear the message of “wrong war, wrong place, wrong time.” Later, when Kerry accused Bush of mismanaging the army in Iraq, Bush responded with the exact same comment about “wrong war, wrong place, wrong time.”
In addition to not listening, the President took long pauses in his answers and made faces as he tried to think of what to say. He lacked confidence in his delivery and in what he was saying. That’s not good debating. And above all, Bush made no sense. Take a look at these gems:
“The best way to protect this homeland is to stay on the offense.” OK, this is a bad idea. Staying on the offense puts everyone else on the offense. Already reports are coming in about planned preemptive strikes on the part of terrorist organizations. Continuing this policy will put the world back in a state of Mutually Assured Destruction.
“There’s a huge tax gap and, well, that’s for another debate.” Um, Mr. President, whose fault is that tax gap? It was Bush who implemented tax cuts favoring the wealthy and leading to an $11 trillion net loss in the nation’s economy. Way to go, George.
“The only thing consistent about my opponent’s position is that it’s inconsistent.” ... What? Try making sense when you speak, Dubya, it helps a lot. Bush’s only criticism of Kerry throughout the entire 90 minute debate was that he flip-flopped on political viewpoints. First, Kerry made it very clear that he always believed Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and only disagreed with the way in which Bush went to war—hastily.
Second, changing one’s mind about an issue is not a bad thing, especially if new information comes out that reveals the situation to be different than previously thought—such as the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Kerry’s performance in the debate was, by comparison, stellar. His charges that the cessation of nuclear facilities monitoring in North Korea led to the production of weapons there went unanswered. Kerry maintained a confident composure throughout and kept Bush on the defensive.
Granted, debating skills are not the primary criterion for a good president, but Kerry’s political standpoint is simply much stronger than Bush’s.
