Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Cheney-Edwards: a tie?
Photos courtesy: CNN.com
Well to be honest tonight's debate was kind of a waste of time. I almost tuned out after the first 10 minutes but persevered to the end. If I was being kind I would say it was a tie but, frankly, despite being inaccurate on many of the points he made and repeating a lot of the same bogus charges Bush had levied and that Kerry diffused last week, I hate to admit it but I think Cheney came off a little better and with a slight edge over Edwards.
Tonight Cheney was the one who seemed more poised and in control and Edwards, despite his reputation coming in for being a seasoned public speaker with fearsome oratorical skills honed from years as top trial lawyer, disappointingly looked more like the green political rookie that the GOP have been trying to potray him as throughout the campaign. Edwards' frequent flubs and flawed delivery mangled what should have been some sureshot lines. At times you could almost see him trying to remember the talking points he'd been briefed with and he often missed directly refuting points Cheney had made with what should have been easy knockout responses to come up with.
It was also a tactical error for Edwards to try and repeat almost verbatim some of Kerry's best lines from last week. Far from being the effective message reinforcement strategy it's been for the GOP campaign machine, it made him look more like a puppet . Cheney's gravitas was also in full effect tonight and, compared to the vice president's assured develivery, rebuttals (when he chose to give one that is, LOL) and experience which he referenced several times, Edwards frequently seemed out of his depth. I wish he'd just read the Center for American Progress's Cheney debate primer or at least internalized it a little better because they were pretty much on the money anticipating what the VP would come in saying tonight. Even I was sitting there reciting them waiting for Edwards to nail them.
Despite Cheney looking slightly better than Edwards though, his performance was far from stellar and there's plenty of room for Democrats to keep gaining ground via these debates if this is as good as it's gonna get from the GOP ticket. Kerry could have an easy time of it Thursday if he can repeat his performance from last week and he has his domestic policy debate game tight. No significant ground was gained or lost tonight and I doubt many swing voters (except maybe those who are planning to vote on the basis of assuming the next president might die during his term) were swayed one way or another by what happened tonight which only makes round 3 of the debates that much more important now.
Debate transcript (via CNN.com)
