•• Did They See The Same Debate? ••
Dallas Morning News • Sez:
"Mr. Bush, whose style was dramatically more confident than it was
when he faced Al Gore in debate, hammered relentlessly at the
Democrat's Achilles heel: his indecisiveness. 'As the politics change, his
positions change, and that's not how a commander in chief acts,' the
president said. Time and time again, he backed up that claim by
quoting the senator's own previous statements and votes regarding the
Iraq threat against him. The president also did a masterful job of
characterizing Mr. Kerry's internationalism as weakness. Fair or not,
Mr. Bush made his opponent seem as if he would make America's
interests subservient to the international community's. Said the
president, 'Trying to be popular in the global sense, if it's not in our best
interest, makes no sense.'
That might not play in Paris, but it sure plays in Paris, Texas.
Few minds were changed by this debate, we'd guess, but it's hard to
imagine what either man could have done last night to better advance
his candidacy."
Vanity Fair's James Wolcott • Sez:
"John Kerry grape-stomped Bush into a sullen mash.
We've seen President Twitchy before. When Helen Thomas persisted in
asking Bush why he was trying to tear down the walls between church
and state, and wouldn't be sluffed off with one of his standard
nonanswers, Bush, as I wrote in Attack Poodles, went through a battery
of irked expressions that ended with him imitating Tony Perkins in the
final shot of Psycho, looking as if he had a fly on his nose.
Since then Bush has been wheeled out into forums where no one can
dare question or contradict his majesty, where he can lean forward and
repeat ad nauseam his patented soundbites. Last night I believe we saw
the ugly comeback of the private face of Bush--the irritable expressions
he flashes subordinates when he's presented with information he
doesn't like or feels someone's taken up too much of his time or is
pressed to explain himself to people he shouldn't have to explain
himself to because he's the president and fuck you. The notion that
Bush is 'likeable' has always been laughable. It takes a Washington
pundit to be that dumb. He's an angry, spoiled, resentful little big
man--I use 'little big man' in the Reichian sense of a small personality
who puffs himself up to look big through bluster and swagger but
remains a scheming coward inside--and next to a genuinely big man like
Kerry, shrunk before the camera's eyes.
Frankly, I'm amazed by this reversal of fortune. Bush let Kerry get to
him. I truly thought Bush would stick to the Reagan playbook and
genially shrug off Kerry's criticisms with a grin and a quip, but he's a
greater mass of insecurities and arrogant entitlements than even I
imagined. I pity the fools who have to prep Bush for the next debate.
Because they're sure going to have one pissy pupil on their hands."
LINK:
Repubs Have Their Say •• Kerry Vs Kerry
LINK: Demos Have Their Say
•• Emperor's Face Of Petulance
2:24:18 AM
