LATimes: Edwards Woos Another Jury

[unfrigginreal]

To assess Tuesday's vice presidential debate, you must filter out Sen. John Edwards' superiority at skills that have little relevance to running the country. Edwards is one dynamite debater, and no doubt would be as impressive in a debate against Osama bin Laden as he was against Vice President Dick Cheney.

As in last week's presidential debate, the Democrat was a clear winner in the atmospherics. As the evening wore on, Cheney's chin sank down his chest, his gravelly voice turned into an inarticulate rumble and he even started passing up opportunities to talk at all. Handed opportunities on a platter — Was Edwards, who made a fortune representing plaintiffs suing healthcare providers, part of the healthcare problem? With just four years in public office, was he qualified to be president? — Cheney waved them aside.

When Edwards, with that boyish smile that worked magic with jurors, stuck a knife in his gut (for example, about his role as CEO of Halliburton), Cheney more than once said he didn't know where to begin, and then didn't. Some of his own demagogic thrusts, meanwhile, were bizarre. Surely many GOP small businessmen were alarmed to hear the vice president denounce so-called S corporations (a common tax-favored setup apparently used by Edwards' law practice).

snip

The Edwards victory was more lopsided when the debate turned to domestic policy. The Bush administration, Edwards noted, is the first since Herbert Hoover's to preside over a net loss of jobs. Beyond an irrelevant paean to education, the vice president had no response. He seemed similarly at a loss when Edwards proceeded, with Clintonian specificity, to eviscerate President Bush's record on other domestic fronts.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-ed-debate6oct06,1,2322604.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[LibeMatt]

1. And here I was...

...annoyed that Edwards didn't bring up the fact that Bush/Cheney had lied about the Medicare drug benefit cost, threatened the job of the guy whose job it was to tell Congress the true cost, AND that their bill stipulated that Medicare couldn't negotiate for lower bulk prices or re-import drugs from countries where they're less expensive.

Of course, Edwards would have needed about 3 to 5 hours to counter all the lies and distortions that Cheney spouted.

Thanks for this post, I definitely feel better now.

:bounce:

[athena]

2. Did you see the poll? 92.3% Edwards!

Cheney: 4.3%
Edwards: 92.3%
Draw: 3.4%
Based on 11629 responses.