Oct 1, 04 02:44 PM
JK v. GWB
I think Kerry took it.
I said to a friend yesterday afternoon, "I think Kerry's going to look nine times smarter than Bush, but everybody will like Bush and his 'folksy' shtick better." But I think homey stepped up to the plate and rocked it.
There was a good 45 minutes in there when Kerry was hammering Bush on Iraq, and the President looked anguished, flustered; I thought, I can't understand a word Bush is saying! And not just for his verbal flubs per usual; he seemed to be on the run, ideas coming in and out of focus as he struggled to stay on message. I thought: If I can't piece together what the dude is saying, who can?
When the debate turned to arguments for and against bilateral negotiations with North Korea, both candidates veered a little too far into what seemed esoteric to me. Neither seemed particularly strong. And I thought Bush got his shit together for his closing statement. Also, I was bummed that Kerry didn't have his kids up onstage, like Bush did. (I think Kerry's blended family of stepchildren would look a lot more like America to America than Bush's party-girl daughters shoehorned into their roles as smiling offspring)
Still--those 45 minutes of Kerry being forceful, direct, rocking it on the flip-flop issue, clear, concise, referencing his war service but not grandstanding--a fantastic performance, just the thing. Bush's late gains were kind of like the losing team that scores a single touchdown when it's 28 to 0 in the 4th quarter.
I wondered if my bias was making me think crazy. But NBC interviewed a half-dozen undecideds in Ohio, and they all said: "Kerry seemed more on top of it." "Kerry really did well. "Kerry won." "Kerry." "Kerry." "Kerry."
I think he'll take it November 2. I think America is seeing the incompetence of the Bush administration. They may not love Kerry--many of the undecideds mentioned above remained undecided even after declaring Kerry the winner--but when they get into that voting booth, they're just not going to be able to endorse the Bush agenda.
A psych student friend of mine once told me: "The subconscious doesn't hear the negative." Hence, when a parent tells a child, "Don't drop your plate! Don't drop your plate!" The child subconsciously recieves a suggestion to drop the plate. I know that when people are telling me, "Don't blow it!" I'm more likely to blow it when they put it positively--"Succeed!"
So I was VERY glad that W kept repeating, "My opponent says this is the wrong war, in the wrong place, and the wrong time." Because I think the American subconscious kept hearing: Wrong War. Wrong place. Wrong time.
Posted by Mike at October 1, 2004 2:44 PM
