What do you suppose Rove is doing right now? sputtering mad, in any case.

[MnFats]

i imagine him somewhere in a limo, on his cell, screaming for heads to roll for this debacle.
taste it, you miserable f***. It's called defeat. get used to it.

[jean]

1. they corralled him on c-span, he was surrounded by reporters and

he just coughed up all the same lame points we've heard for the past months. They're going to have to come up with something new.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Probably like that "President of Beers" commercial...

"Which one of you (staffers) is going to take the fall for this!?!?!?!... Don't quibble, flip a coin!!!"

[sr_pacifica]

3. Having a hot and heavy powwow

And coming up with some dirty tricks to sabotage Kerry and Edwards.
One thing I think Rove might be pleased about is the TV news commentary. Very kind to Bush. No mention of his discomfort and synapse failures.

[nankerphelge]

4. Telling his minions to prepare to release the October surprise

n/t

[redstateblues]

5. Orange Alert!!!!!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Rove has got to be wondering about all that practice Bush has had

I had heard that Rove had Bush practicing for these debates since March. What I got from watching Bush tonight was that Bush is very heavily programmed and canned in his responses. Bush sounded like a ManChimpian candidate who has been given deep hypnotic suggestions that he can recalls from his subconscious but who can't really think about what he's saying. It sounded like Bush was playing the part of a trained animal who has been taught very well to balance a ball on his nose, but doesn't know what to do when you hand him a different shaped object. How can Bush have been practicing for this debate for months? How will Bush be able to react at the next debate which is a Town Hall style and a little more free-wheeling? I didn't see any ability to react to a different question. Kerry when asked about the major threat to the United States came up with "nuclear proliferation" immediately after Jim Lehrer got the question about of his mouth.

[Ready4Change]

7. Frankly...

I think Rove had action plans for various scenarios. He watched the debates, picked the premade plan that best fit how things went, made a couple small modifications, and set his staff hitting the phones to all his media sources and pundits with the latest spin version. It will be in full force by the time tomorrows front pages hit the newstands.

Kerry did well. The internet is showing some muscle. But the media machine is kicking in. Gonna be interesting seeing the news tomorrow.

[zmdem]

8. Don't know about Rove, but

The "debate" looked to me like each candidate got in his talking points and each candidate got hit with his opponent's talking points. A Draw. Neither went for blood, neither made a major mistake.

Bush is no Reagan and Kerry is no Clinton. Now that would have been an interesting debate, Reagan vs. Clinton.

[eleny]

9. Pish! Bush* slaughtered himself.

[murielm99]

10. Did you watch the same debate as the rest of us?

This was no draw. Kerry won.

[zmdem]

11. I agree with you, to a point

Kerry demonstrated he is up to the job, an important thing. Nonetheless, it looked to me like two guys going over their talking points. Each had his points, each performed as expected.

In the end, I suppose that is a minor win for Kerry, but no knock out. I think Kerry was smart in that going for the knockout is dangerous and requires skills he doesn't have. Clinton could have done it, in a reverse situation so could have Reagan. The ability to stick the knife in and also to do it with a smile is a dificult task. Kerry wisely, (IMHO), realised he was not the man for that. He went for the win on points.