Post-debate thoughts:
• Kerry was confident, even when incoherent.
• Dumb Kerry moment: fulminating against bunker-busting weapons. Most Americans think that's a good idea.
• Jim Lehrer's questions were softballs for Kerry and designed to put Bush on the defensive.
• Good Bush moment: his response to the stupid question about Kerry's character. His compliments to Kerry's service and mention of his daughters put Kerry off-balance. But then the blade was inserted smoothly - "I'm not so sure I admire the record..."
• Poor Bush moment: talking first about costs in response to Kerry's thrusts on homeland security. Borders and such are a weak point in general.
• Bush is still not articulating crisply the case for Iraq as integral to the War on Terror. If (big if) Kerry somehow becomes believable in the eyes of voters, this could be a problem. Then we all lose.
• Overall: advantage Kerry, on style. But not by much.
• The unwashed, who are, in God's wisdom, more numerous will decide on their own.
• Jim Geraghty at Kerry Spot has three predictions. Here's #2:
Prediction Two: The Bushies will be a little down. Every time Kerry opened his mouth, conservatives thought of the eight different responses and attacks that they wanted to see, and Bush mostly didn't use them. Bush focused almost entirely on principles tonight, not policies.
Yeah, that feels about right.
UPDATE: Fox News has the transcript and video up.
Also, Blogs of War did some live-blogging.
Posted by Alan at September 30, 2004 10:02 PM