Thread: The presidential debates

First, a mea culpa. Like Dan Rather at CBS, apparently my source for information about the debate format was totally erroneous. My fault for not checking things out further.

As for the debate itself, I thought it to be extremely unspectacular. No one was really embarrassed, no one said anything unexpected.
If you have already made up your mind, I seriously doubt that the debate made you change your mind. Both candidates are going to claim victories, both campaign spinmeisters are going to point out how they won and the other guy lost. Bush restated his point, Kerry restated his point.

Bush did make the only major gaffe of the debate. In the 53rd minute, in response to a question about launching pre-emptive strikes, Bush said "The enemy attacked us. That is why we went to Iraq."
It was keeping with the continuing Bush-Cheney stance that Iraq was somehow responsible for the Sept. 11 attack.
Kerry was quick to respond that Saddam did not attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us.
"Osama is the enemy that attacked us. Saddam Hussein had no part. Saddam's power was continually weakening, and would have had to give in if had been patient. At the time we invaded Iraq, there were 35-40 countries that had more nuclear weapons capability."

It was not the candidate's answers that impressed me either way. It was the body language that told a big story.
If you remember the 200 debate, one thing that reason got people (even Democrats) worried about Gore was how uncomfortable he seemed during the debates. While Bush sat smiling and occasionally smirking, Gore did a lot of grimacing and shuffling. Gore looked like he would leave if given the chance.
In the Thursday debate, it was Bush that looked uncomfortable. Which is really unusual, since Bush is normally a very good orator. Did anyone notice how many times Bush frowned, rolled his eyes or appeared to grimace?
Kerry was more of the continually smiling stone face, sort of like I always heard Clinton did.
I was really puzzled by this. Was Bush unprepared for the serious nature of some of the questions? Did he get caught off guard by some of the topics?

On a final note, I thought the debate was moderated as well as any debate I have ever watched (or read about).

Your opinions?