Tactical Verdict: Bush by a whisker.
Bush was confident. Very confident. He was talking about plans for a 2nd term. And most of all, he made a number of points that I think will deeply resonate with certain parts of America. Taxes are your money. (*HUZZAH!*) Education is the path to a better job, the best way to get out of Iraq is to win. (I was seriously not impressed with Bush's stance on illegal immigration, but Kerry didn't sound all that much better.) And he dropped Kerry's Senate record on him like a ton of bricks.
Kerry was on the defensive for much of the debate, especially on health care ("I'm not going to have government-run health care") and taxes ("I'm not going to raise middle class taxes"). His points seemed stale and recycled. ("Litany of complaints," indeed.) And of course, he used Cheney's daughter as bait on gay marriage. Bad form.
Strategic Verdict: Polls will start moving back in Bush's direction.
Movie Analogy: Gotta go with Rocky. They thought he couldn't do it, but he did.
It's been real, y'all.
Posted by Thief at October 13, 2004 11:22 PM