I think Bush team made big mistake in accepting debates

[quinnox]

They shouldn't have accepted all three debates. I'm guessing it was more arrogance on their part, but if Bush does lose this I bet there will be a lot of second guessing of taking three debates. They should have taken only one, or two at most. The more Kerry is next to Bush on stage the worse it looks for Bush Jr.

[flowomo]

1. if they'd taken only one.... they'd be in real trouble....

they needed two and still need three. Hell, they could use a hundred and still not dig out from the first.

[bif]

2. I totallly agree

They blew it. Bosh looks like the idiot he is. And side by side with Kerry? Wow. It's giving Kerry great exposure and showing the voters what a leader he is.

[TexasSissy]

3. I thought about this and decided they felt they had to...their numbers

just weren't good enough.

And they didn't want to do just one, in case he screwed it up, which it turns out, he did.

I don't know why they didn't stop at two, except that they wanted a tie breaker, just in case each candidate had won one. Also, I think Kerry's team pushed hard for three. Maybe they were worried they'd look wimpy.

It remains to be seen if he'll show up for the third, or whether some world event will interfere, conveniently.

[fknobbit]

7. Yup, thats what I've been thinking . Some trumped up/creative event will

provide W. an escape route from another trashing! Or at least provide a post debate red herring (like Oprah finds cure for cellulites) to run every 5 Min's. in order to avoid any semblance of factual reporting

[w4rma]

4. From a pure tactical standpoint, they shouldn't have taken a single one.

The first one did them in. The other two just hurt them more. They should have gone the totalitarian route and not accepted any debates at all. They could have made up an excuse and with their big media control, they would have brainwashed most folks into believing that excuse. And then most folks would likely not have ever seen Sen. Kerry speak without the media filter.

[quinnox]

6. I agree

They should have taken a chance and declined all debates. It would have ended up better for them probably.

[ogradda]

i think it would have hurt them

if they hadn't accepted the debates. they didn't know * would be so awfull and hurt them even more.

[LisaLynne]

5. I don't think they realized ...

how bad it would be. There would have been definite risks in not doing any debates. It would have looked like * was afraid, which he should have been. However, now, Kerry has had a chance to be seen by the undecideds and next to *. That has NOT been good for *. If they would have known just how bad the first debate was going to be, I bet they would have done ANYTHING to get out of the debates all together.

[BillZBubb]

8. Hindsight is 20/20.

I'm sure the Bush* mob agrees with you. He should have avoided all the debates. But I am sure they were confident they could spin each debate to Bush* just like they did against Gore. They tried, they really tried.

What they forgot was that this time Bush* has a record of failure to defend. Against Gore, they could create a phony Texas "record" and the press was too lazy to check it out. Plus the Gore campaign totally failed to call him on it.

That was then, this is now. Everyone knows the Chimperor's record and every day on the news they see the continuing tragedy he's wrought.

I smell the toast burning!

[BillZBubb]

9. Hindsight is 20/20.

I'm sure the Bush* mob agrees with you. He should have avoided all the debates. But I am sure they were confident they could spin each debate to Bush* just like they did against Gore. They tried, they really tried.

What they forgot was that this time Bush* has a record of failure to defend. Against Gore, they could create a phony Texas "record" and the press was too lazy to check it out. Plus the Gore campaign totally failed to call him on it.

That was then, this is now. Everyone knows the Chimperor's record and every day on the news they see the continuing tragedy he's wrought.

I smell the toast burning!

[StevenD]

10. They believe their own lies!

That is why they agreed to the debates. They believed they could destroy Kerry, the "flip-flopper" and paint him as unacceptable. And, they are contemptuous of the electorate. They believe the whole country are as ignorant and stupid as their supporters. Also, I do believe that their own internal polling showed a much closer race than what was being fed to us via the idiot box.

[gordianot]

11. Look at it this way.

They will never make this mistake again!

[sunnybrook]

12. will he definitely do 3rd debate

I am so glad they accepted! I go to school at Washington University in St. Louis and for awhile it looked like Bush was going to decline the "town hall" format of the 2nd debate. The funny thing, this is really a true story, on Saturday I was watching an old video I had recorded a movie on. I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up the movie was over and the tape of the last debate in St. Louis with Gore was on the tape. I watched it, having just watched him the night before with Kerry, and I saw why they wanted so many restrictions this time. I had been reading about it and I saw the guy that asked him why he seemed so joyous and happy when talking about his application of the death penalty in Texas. Now that I know Dubya better than I did then, I can really see that he was furious about that comment, although he controlled it. He told the guy he had read him wrong. Also, Gore directly addressed him, another thing against the rules for 2004. They were scared to death of a question from the audience like that one in 2000. Probably not good strategy for Bush to do all 3 debates. What are the chances that he will have to attend to some type of red alert security lockdown that makes him miss 3rd debate? Too late for that?

[aldian159]

13. Welcome to the Underground

and good point. Thanks for bringing it up.

[mahina]

15. Welcome to DU!

The beauty of his first flop is that no matter what, they can't un-do it.
Words can't be un-said, and the shock that rolled across the country at his staggering incompetence was lethal to his campaign.

[umtalal]

17. Welcome to the DU, Sunnybrook.

Knowing what we know now about Bush and the temper and anger issues he has, I am glad the moderator was not blackballed.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

14. Well, on the bright side (for them)

They now have an answer to the "3 mistakes" question...debate 1, debate 2 and debate 3. :)

[PretzelWarrior]

16. in related news, Dukakis shouldn't have ridden in the tank....

Hitler shouldn't have stabbed his ally, Russia, in the back. Ford should have gone with initial plans to scrap the Edsel.

so funny. it was like a freight train coming at them and they didn't see it.

[realFedUp]

18. and they got most of their debate situation requirements met

and still couldn't pull the stunt off.

[Silverhair]

19. The debates don't matter anymore.

Bush voters are unreachable to Kerry, & vice versa. The "undecideds" are a tiny percentage. This election depends on getting our base to vote.

[SpiralHawk]

20. Debates do matter

They shed some light on these two souls, and in turn in them we see reflected the soul of our nation -- light and shadow. With a clear will, one may see this.

[Nevernose]

21. To9 a large extent, I agree with you

Registrations have closed, so at this point it's mostly a matter of getting our base in step and out to the polls.