My honest assessment

[doni_georgia]

Edwards won the debate. The problem with this debate was the questions sucked. Domestic issues were ignored by the moderator. The few there were were worded in such a way to favor Cheney, but Edwards pulled them to his advantage.

The big issue. Cheney made Bush look even more incompetant than he did last Thursday night. It was clear who was the policy brains in this administration, and that's scary. Edwards on the other hand complimented Kerry well. He's not as well experienced, but he is educated, experienced in real life, and articulate. He is passionate about this country and the people who live here. Cheney is passionate about NOTHING except money and power, and that came across. You could see that Edwards cares about people, and he is in this to help real Americans. Cheney lied so many times I lost count. I think people will notice this. He showed no compassion, no passion, and no evidence that he is even human. On that alone - Edwards wins.

We're in good shape.

[billbuckhead]

1. I think John Edwards did an excellent job staying on John Kerry's

talking points. Maybe this sounds hokey but it was as if John Kerry was debating pResident Cheney through Edwards.

[rwenos]

2. Thoughtful Exchange; Favorable Outcome

Yours is a thoughtful analysis. Cheney is SO much more talented and articulate than Bush -- it's truly embarassing! What a teenager Bush looks like. This was like showing the man behind the curtain (remember the Wizard of Oz?).

We saw the true President of the United States, emerged from his "undisclosed location."

Now at least we know the face of the Administration we seek to replace.

[Jokinomx]

5. And he is ugly ain't he?

Cheney did well deflecting the questions to answer a different one... like when he was asked a question on jobs and then spent the entire 3 minutes talking about education.

Edwards showed his talent for actually listening to what cheney said and holding him accountable. Kerry wasn't hurt at all... if anything he was helped. In some people's eyes a great deal.... I am content with "He held his own" and now its up to Kerry to not only knock chimp down ... but :kick: him while he is there.


Kerry On

[EnfantTerrible]

3. She may have been

the worst moderator in the history of televised debates. Reminded me of when James Earl Jones moderated... only this was worse. What was with some of those questions and the rediculous qualifiers to questions like don't use the presidential candidates names etc.
I was really disappointed in her as a moderator and feel that much of the information that came to light was never followed up on adequately by the moderator who refused to press for clarifications on issues or force a stance by either v.p. candidate.

[Jokinomx]

6. Especially the gaff she did allowing Edwards an extra rebuttal!!!!

It confused Edwards a bit... because he was caught off guard knowing the session was over. Anyway, I agree ... they could have done better.

:dem:

[Oddman]

17. I agree, horrible questions - she kept getting lost - she didn't

give appropriate follow-ups - she allowed the debate to run long - she was clearly in over her head. But Edwards still won the debate. And Cheney made bush look bad by being composed.

[Diana52]

4. Defeatist look

I agree that the questions sucked.

I was struck with Cheney's defeatist demeanor, so I shall sleep well tonight.

Onward and upward!

[leftofthedial]

7. excellent job by Edwards

he more than held his own on Iraq and national security issues, scoring points on the bushgang's bungling of the war, on the halliburton issue and thoroughly dismissed (finally!) the al Qaeda-saddam-link lie and the 9-11-Iraq-link lie. cheney really didn't land any body blows. He was more verbose (slightly) than the little bushturd, but still pretty much just kept repeating "flip-flop" and "wrong war wrong blah blah" attacks that have lost all their steam.

on domestic issues, Edwards totally cleaned Cheney's clock. Cheney had nothing to say. They bushgang record is awful. His answers were rambling, obscure and off the point.

Edwards clearly won the debate. No question.

[WI_DEM]

8. I agree, Gwen's questions were ok on foreign policy but

domestically they sucked. Hardly a thing on health care for example. Also Jim Leher asked quick questions--some of Gwen's were very long.

[Mizmoon]

9. I thought the questions were excellent

I'm surprised that others didn't.

[Sugarbleus]

10. I was disappointed. I thought Edwards let Cheney steam roll him!!

My jaw dropped several times when Edwards didn't come back with dynamite evidence to refute and slam Cheney. Edwards just sat there!

Cheney got away with lie after lie and distortion after distortion and Edwards didn't have the info/details to "shove it" back up his ass! I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER!

Edwards held his own. He fairly protected Kerry, he brought up hot button issues, but he had NO "heat" in him, no FIGHT like everyone was saying he had as a "trial lawyer". At least he isn't running for Prez.

If it had been Clark up there, Cheney would have shit himself on live TV. Edwards is "green". Nice guy but too conservative in his approach. My opinion.

[sonicx]

11. problem with edwards is

he's just a nice guy by nature. i think they'd have to really coach him to take on right-wing attack dogs.

i still think he came off better as a person and with his ideas.

[dave123williams]

12. I felt like you did, initially...

Believe me, I wanted Edwards to get up and punch that guy in the face.

I'm begining to realize that Edwards is much smarter than people think.

When a bull is charging at you, you have two options.

You can charge right back at him (not a great idea), or you can step aside and let the bull run by you.

Edwards simply refused to be baited, and that's very interesting.

Right now, Kerry/Edwards have the entire press corps falling all over each other trying to find pictures of Cheney and Edwards in the same room. There's already a report up in the Washington Post debunking half the stuff Cheney said in the debate. The LIE has become the story.

Man, I love politics; this is getting good :)

[Sugarbleus]

13. I have to agree here:Man, I love politics; this is getting good :)

So, the press is running around looking for "dirt" on Cheney? That ought to be sweet.

Edwards IS a decent man; I guess I was hoping for some Perry Mason or something. lol

I'll look at the debates again during re runs.....

Boooooooooooooy, am I ever ready to drop kick that entire lying, neo-fascist crowd out of the White House.

IS IT NOVEMBER YET??? :smoke:

[dave123williams]

14. Less than thirty days, darlin'.

And it can't come soon enough for me, either. I think nobody's going to be more shocked than their crowd when they get smeared at the polls. Geeeeeeeeeeeez, I wish it was legal to vote more than once :)

[ohio_dem_52186]

20. I agree! Edwards did a great job, but...

There were a could of set-ups that were perfect of Edwards to pounce on:

First, I think he didn't hammer the Bush tax cut issue home. He should have brought out the Congressional Budgetary Report data that shows where all the money went (i.e. the top 20%). I kept waiting for him to use this but it never came. Just assertions without much content.

Second, No Child Left Behind is underfunded by $1.4 billion in Ohio, which is coincidently the state the debate was held in. This figure is diectly from the Ohio General Assembly's (republican dominated) report that is sitting right now on an official Ohio web page for all to see. Edwards should have shoved this in Cheney's face, there was no better time to do it then in a debate in the state of Ohio.

Overall, good job to Edwards. But there is room for improvement.

[mistertrickster]

26. Yeah, I was thinking how Dean would have had Mr. Grumbles whining

for "mommy" too.

I wondered why Edwards didn't remember meeting Cheney at any number of functions prior to the debate and coming back at him with it. He looked a little stunned by Cheney's assertion.

But still, Edwards like Kerry is fighting for the undecided votes, not for us die-hards. So he has to be careful not to be too negative and become repellent to the muddy middle.

[progdonkey]

15. the worst question, IMHO

You and Senator Kerry have said that the war in Iraq is the wrong war at the wrong time.

Does that mean that if you had been president and vice president that Saddam Hussein would still be in power?

I hate this Republican framing BS!

As if having Saddam Hussein still in power would be such a bad thing. Had Kerry been president, yes, Saddam would probably still be in power; but the troops would never have been moved from Afghanistan to Iraq; Osama would probably therefore have been caught by now; over 23,000 of our soldiers and Marines would not be dead or injured; the world would not hate us; we would not be stuck in this god-awful quagmire; al-Qaeda would not be flourishing in Iraq; the list goes on. Of course, the Republican line is that the joy of seeing Saddam being poked and prodded by medical staff far outweighs any of those issues... but deposing Saddam wasn't even the original purpose of the war!

I think the moderator was just too stupid to realize she was using the Republican framing of the issue.

I don't know whom I hate more: Republicans, or idiot media whores who do their bidding while being too stupid to realize it.

[doni_georgia]

16. I would have answered - "It would mean over 1000 American troops

would still be alive, and Osama Bin Laden would be at Gitmo!"

[bloom]

18. Yes - I think Edwards did a great job...

if people did not see how greedy and corrupt Cheney is - they weren't paying attention.

[On the Road]

19. Edwards Even Promoted Kerry When He Wasn't Supposed To

after Gwen Ifell asked them for a response about themselves without using their running mate's name. Edwards said "John Kerry...Whoops, I broke your rules."

TWICE by my count.

Can't figure out if it was intentional, but if so, it was effective, because it called attention to the head of the ticket simply because it was off-limits.

[MADem]

21. And then there was that charming, real SMILE

Edwards won by being nice, letting Cheney lie, and today, all the media whores are covering is the facts about Cheney's lies. Flip around the dial, you'll see everyone talking about how Cheney lied about never meeting Edwards. This may seem like a petty thing, but the pettiness falls on the VP.

Cheney beat Bush in that debate (!), in that he appeared more presidential than weecowboy, but Edwards beat Cheney. Life is good!

[Phillycat]

22. My assessment:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x985739

[Glenda]

23. Cheney in charge; Bush puppet

That's what I got out of the 2 debates. Plus, even though Cheney had a lot of "facts," Edwards raised doubts on these "facts" bigtime.

Cheney is really scarey.

If people believe Kerry and Edwards that we should get along with other countries ("our allies"), Cheney can't get along with others, and neither can W.

Neither Cheney nor W "plays well with others."

G.

[Maestro]

27. You're right

He didn't even mutter Shrub's name all night. To embarrassed I guess.

[skygazer]

24. I do feel Edwards won

However, I was disappointed that he didn't use some of the opportunities he had. For instance, when asked about his lack of experience, the only proper answer was that George W. Bush had no more political experience when he became President of the United States. He was, I believe, a one term governor of Texas, which is actually less foreign policy experience than a Senator would have. I was disappointed that he didn't point that out. Edwards did bring it up in the primaries and it was very effective then.

He also should have pointed out that he and Cheney had met before, perhaps with a remark like, "perhaps your memory is going" or something.

For the most part, I think he came out ahead. It was not a knockout but as another thread mentions, with Cheney's vaunted experience, tying to a supposedly inexperienced Senator is not a real big accomplishment, which only makes Edwards look better and Cheney worse.

[GalleryGod]

25. Ifill-Not Ready for Prime Time.

What was this 5th Friggin' Grade?:puke: :argh: