Posted 22:30 by Grote 0 comments

Round 1!

Tonight is the first of three debates and as your source political commentary and opinion for the 2004 Presidential Election. Seriously though, you should watch at least one if not all three of these debates to make an informed decision. I know I'm not the only one not happy with the formats but we're going to have to make do with what we have, because let's face it, no candidate wants to look like a deer in the headlights by a surprise question. We'll be on MSNBC all night, unless I tell you differently. Our host will be Jim Lehrer from PBS.

9:00 And away we go.... Jim has written the questions and the candidates don't know what's coming to them.

9:05 First question deals with preventing another 9/11. Both thank Florida and they feel the pain and suffering of Floridians from the Hurricane. Both dance around the question. Neither provide a solid plan.

9:10 Will Kerry's election increase a chance of a second terror attack. Bush dodges the question by proclaiming he (Bush) will win. He puts out in front his achievements as President. Kerry's rebuttal includes the phrase "the President has made a collossal mistake by invading Iraq." I have to agree with Kerry here, we needed to go after Bin Laden before Saddam.

9:15 What collossal misjudgement has Bush made?" Alliances that were promised did not happen. We would go to war as a last resort. "I don't believe we reached that last resort."-- Kerry. Opium production, 10x number of troops in Iraq then in Afghanistan. Bush's rebuttal; brings up Kerry's agreement about removing Saddam. They're getting heated, although I suppose when you're called a liar you get kinda hot.

9:17 Going after Saddam vs. going after Osama. Bush: We can do both. We're making progress. "Iraq is a central part on the war on terror." But that's only because he made it part of the war on terror by destabalizing it. I have no problem with removing Saddam, we just should have gotten Osama first. Kerry basically echoes what I just typed. Me a genius? No.

9:20 Phone call, I'll catch up when I'm off the phone so nyah.

9:23 Still on the phone but MSNBC is breaking the rules by showing both candidates at the same time!

9:48 Finally off the phone, I kept half an ear on it and I don't think I missed much. One thing that really annoyed me that the President keeps calling Kerry, "my opponent". Come on, call him by his name or his title or something.

9:50 Huh. We're seeing a back and forth. Not really a debate but at least a back and forth.

9:50 What's Kerry's plan? I wait with baited breath. Convince the Iraqis that we aren't having a long term interest there. Close the borders. Bring the rest of the world in Iraq. EXCEPT IT WON'T HAPPEN. Changing horses midstream will not increase the posse (to coin a phrase). Is it me or is Bush leaning on his lectern?

9:55 George doesn't get it. We need to close the borders! Wait we haven't closed the borders?! WTF?

10:00 Kerry nailed Bush as Bush tried to link Saddam to 9/11 AGAIN. Bush really doesn't get it about Iraq. One more round of resolutions would have gotten more countries on board and probably wouldn't have changed much.

10:09 Leherer nails both campaigns about not stopping the genocide in Sudan. Nice. Kerry blames Iraq and the back door draft. Best quote I ever heard "No president has ever suffered politically or internationally by ignoring genocide."

10:19 This is my biggest problem with a foreign policy debate. You're making the grayest part of being president a black and white issue.

10:22 I got to agree with Bush. You HAVE to get the region in on talks with North Korea. We won't get anywhere except another war unless you have the weight of Russia and China behind you.

Ok I quit. The debates over except for the shouting. Really, I'm just as confused as I was 90 minutes ago. Iraq was wrong, but we need multilateral talks in North Korea and so we're doomed internationally with either candidate. Sigh.