For DU'ers: who won the debate?

[AP]

[union_maid]

1. Edwards won

It was probably close to a draw if you were scoring on points - and not considering the truth. But this was a win for our side. I think that those who are posting otherwise were expecting something that was never going to happen in a million years. The debate last Thursday was very unusual. What Edwards did was to hold his own beautifully, think on his feet, show that he's informed on all the issues and be extremely likeable. That's more enough.

[TheFarseer]

2. I think Chaney won by just a little bit

Edwards never put the screws to him on why the administration's agenda is wrong for America and why it was wrong to go into Iraq, why the prescription drug benefit was a drug company give away and on down the list. He said it was wrong but it seemed like every time he was about to make a good point, the red light came on. Meanwhile Dick Chaney is over there calmly saying the equivalent of, "well, I don't know about this asshole, but I think senior citizens should not be fed to wolves." "well, I don't know about this asshole, but I like lower taxes." It was really frustrating to watch.

[German-Lefty]

11. Chaney: I agree. Maybe I was expecting too much from Edwards

I expected him to rip apart the neocon elitist. Edwards beat around the bush too damn much. I was expecting the trial lawyer to be take control make his points and then shut up.

It's hard to get a feel for the poor delivery, but I'll try to pick out an example from the debate transcript:
"Now, I know the vice president would like to pretend that wasn't said, and the president would too. But the reality is it was said.

Here's what's actually happened in Afghanistan, regardless of this rosy scenario that they paint on Afghanistan, just like they do with Iraq. What's actually happened is they're now providing 75 percent of the world's opium. "
http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004b.html

Couldn't he have just said:
"Our opponents would like to ignore our position on preemption in order to misconstrue what my running mate said.

Whatever rosy picture they paint of Afghanistan, it is actually producing 75% of the world's opium. (insert a ton of screwed up things about Afghanistan)"

My point is just that he seemed to spend a fraction of his time babbling around to get to some talking point he Kerry team probably hammered into him. This may be the problem.

Another explaination might be that as a lawyer Edwards was allowed to ramble a little bit and didn't have to think up a 30 second answer in real time.

[ochazuke]

3. To those who did not vote for Edwards:

Two words> Cheney You.

[Tweed]

4. Cheney

Edwards continues to drop the ball.

[Guaranteed]

5. Were you a Clark supporter? nt

[Tweed]

7. I was anti-Edwards before I even knew who General Clark was

I continue to be anti-Edwards as he is unable to get any media attention and listening to him talk about foriegn policy is laughable. It is interesting to note that Clark gets as much TV time as Edwards does.

[mvd]

6. Definitely Edwards!

He met my expectations and then some.

[featherman]

8. Draw probably but will break against Cheney because of his obvious

lies.

[Awsi Dooger]

9. I'm absolutely amazed at the analysis of this debate

I'm a longtime Edwards supporter who thought it was his best performance. I have several of the primary debates on tape and reviewed them recently. He was much sharper tonight than any of those, making memorable points early in his answer and effectively retreating to previous topics to nullify a Cheney lie. Frankly, I have always viewed Edwards as a much better daily campaigner than debater, just the opposite of Kerry, and was very concerned about how he would perform tonight.

Cheney has done dozens of formats like this on Sunday talk shows and tonight was the first time I've ever seen him flustered and shaking his head, such a breadth of emotions when Edwards did not meakly fold like Lieberman. He had at least four distinct tones of voice at various points, completely unlike typical Cheney. After the Halliburton exchange I thought Cheney deflated and basically coasted home. During the summation, Edwards basically said, "Thanks for coming, Dick" while Cheney lacked the class to even mention Edwards at all. My debate watching group caught on to that immediately. Edwards bounced to his feet at debate's end with a smile, while Cheney sat leaden almost in a concession mode.

Keep in mind we are pursuing undecideds. There were 11 people in my home watching the debate and I'd say 7-8 of them are legitimately undecided. That's how I picked them to watch the debate. Four of the five undecided women in my home did not even think the debate was close. They loved Edwards' insistence that Saddam Hussein was not involved in 9/11 and all the mention of rising costs of health care. The snide belittling remarks from Cheney may play well with middleaged white men, but just the opposite with my group, and I guarantee they're very typical.

Edwards could have had a snappy response to the Howard Dean line, even sticking it in his closing summation. And the $87 billion topic remains frustratingly unexplained, when at face value it seems so simple to do so.

[AP]

10. He won over a lot of people who really didn't know him where I watched him

I think they're roping the dopes with the 87 bill. I think they want Bush to run on it for a few more weeks before they put the nail in the coffin for that BS.

[terrya]

12. Edwards won.

He more than held his own against "seasoned" Dick Cheney. The "stature gap" was officially erased last night.

[liberal N proud]

13. The arrogance and flat faced lies that Cheney puts forth are

unreal.
This guy would cheat his own mother!