Victims of unrealistic expectations?

[nikatnyte]

I was at dinner last night with two very liberal friends, and asked if they'd seen the debate. Their faces drooped as they said yes, they'd seen it, and felt Bush was the clear winner. I blurted out a "WHAT?!?!" so loud everyone in the restaurant turned to look.

Then they went on to explain how much better Bush was than they expected -- "he was on message and never wavered" -- and that Kerry could have been much stronger on the attack than they were expecting. When we focused on specific examples their argument seemed to fall apart. It became clear that their expectations for Kerry were so high, and expectations for Bush were so low, that they set themselves up for disappointment.

Anyone else have this experience?

[DU9598]

1. No

You have stupid friends. Welcome to DU, by the way.

[childslibrarian]

Absolutely not

In fact, a co-worker I don't even know very well came over during a class and started laughing about how bad Shrub looked.

[childslibrarian]

2. Absolutely not

In fact, a co-worker I don't even know very well came over during a class and started laughing about how bad Shrub looked.

[CarolynEC]

3. Not very believable.

:boring:

[XanaDUer]

4. No.

Eom.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. NO!!!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. Oh puh-lease...

every "liberal" I know spent the 90 minutes laughing their asses off -- probably for the first time in 3+ years.

[XanaDUer]

8. But these were VERY liberal liberals...

:eyes:

[skygazer]

7. Hell, no

Most of my Republican friends were going around shame-faced and embarrassed. You either have stupid friends or they watched The Apprentice and got confused.

[K-W]

9. Most people don't know how to judge debates.

As long as niether candidate breaks down and cries, they really cant tell who won. They look for zingers, they look for one candidates admitting defeat with thier body language. They expected something more than just two men presenting thier arguments.

Both Bush and Kerry acted like they were winning. You had to actually analyze the arguments, and know what a debate is supposed to sound like to tell who won.

And the media is no help to anyone, even the ones that said Kerry won werent very good about explaining why.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Did they watch the single screen or split screen version

I just got back my electric from Hurricane Jeanne on Thursday, but I still did not have cable. The only channel I could get at all was my local PBS affiliate. They showed only the single screen version. I think the difference between the two was night and day, for people watching on the other side.

[AgadorSparticus]

11. not at all. when i walked my dogs yesterday, i ran into 3 neighbors

and they all said that it was a clear TKO for Kerry. they loved it.