October 13, 2004

Post-Debate III Spin

There had to have been more excitement in the Houston-St. Louis baseball game. Tonight's debate was dry, full of wonkish policy details. Kerry sounded like the know-it-all, well-prepared debate veteran we know he is. One would come away thinking policy was all Kerry thought about. Such technocratic habits can be a blessing because he's well versed on the issues but also a curse because a technocrat's inclination is bigger government.

President Bush held his own with facts and figures of his own. He mentioned how many times Kerry voted to increase taxes (98 times). Kerry had no defense. Bush mentioned how few bills Kerry got into law. Kerry disputed that number. Kerry voted 277 times to waive budget caps that would have reduced the deficit. Kerry offered no defense. Bush brought up Kerry's "global test." The Senator's response wasn't to disavow the term, but to state multiple times that he wouldn't give foreign nations a veto on U.S. action. Too bad for Kerry that his global test fell into a long pattern of putting internationalism ahead of U.S. interests. Finally, the President made Kerry try to defend his political past. Bush could have been more forceful and more focused but put Kerry on the defensive.

My initial view was Kerry won again on style. The man is a seasoned debater who can easily go from any question asked into his talking point and attack against the President. On the issues, the substance, Bush won. Kerry talked about plans he can't pay for, better foreign relations he can't be sure of, higher taxes on the most productive members of the economy. While doing this he barely mentioned anything he accomplished in a long career as Massachussets Senator.

To get into some Kerry specifics, he again said he's increase the army by two divisions without noting that doing so doesn't come by simply hiring 40,000 more troops. He claimed he'd bring health care costs down by increased federal government involvement yet people would still have heath care freedom. Anytime the government gets involved they exert control. Then on the minimum wage, Kerry thought that simply increasing it would lift the incomes of millions of women. That's static economic thinking. The Law of Demand is clear: when prices go up demand for something goes down. That happens with oil, baseball cards, and wages. Unless employers see a corresponding increase in labor value, an increased minimum wage just takes away from their bottom line. A rise in the minimum wage WITHOUT an increase in workers' productivity results in increased unemployment.

What was striking tonght was Kerry's demagogery. He blamed the President for the highly polarized political climate, but didn't admit the role Democrats have played. Kerry was the man who let Michael Moore sit in a box with President Jimmy Carter at his party's national convention in Boston. Kerry blamed the President for poor relations with the NAACP without mentioned the hateful remarks and actions by that organization's leadership. Kerry said Bush "turned his back on the wellness of America." I guess it's the President's fault there's so much obesity.

To Kerry, the President's call for partial privatization of Social Security is an "invitation to disaster." He claims Bush is responsible for a "separate and unequal school system." The Senator even went so far as to compare the President to fictional mob boss Tony Soprano.

A real low blow came when Sen. Kerry brought up Mary Cheney's sexuality. He decided to tell the world that she was a lesbian and used her to try to score political points. In this election Kerry Edwards has decided that the sex life of someone with no bearing on the race is an issue. This is from a party that cried foul when Bill Clinton's sexual acts in the oval office became a political issue. It's Democratic hypocrisy plain and simple. Should the personal lives of Kerry's daughters now be an issue? Should we bring up any strange fetishes Teresa Heinz Kerry might have?

Kerry's cynical use of Mary Cheney could be the negative meme coming out of this debate. Fox News' Carl Cameron reported that there were groans by reporters in Tempe when Kerry brought up Ms. Cheney. Morton Kondracke was appalled and called it a "low blow." This could put Kerry Edwards on the defensive for a day or two.

This was President Bush's best performance and Sen. Kerry once again showed he was the stylistically-superior debater. If you go by expectations, then Bush won because domestic issues was supposed to be Kerry's strong point. He offered his ideas, but had to defend them from the liberal, big government label. Bush had lowered expectations with his history of below-average speaking, yet he confronted Kerry with his Senate record (got him on his "no" vote on the Persian Gulf War) and made him defend it. Bush's tenacity only emboldens his supporters. Since getting one's base to the polls is key to victory this year I give President Bush a slight victory.

I will update this post with other post-debate reaction. Feel free to trackback this post, leave your link as a comment, or e-mail me.

• PoliPundit has the Bush quote of the night.
  
• Michelle Malkin on Mary Cheney.
  
• James Joyner is full of laugh-out-loudness. He hated both candidates' performances. "Both guys have been spouting sheer idiocy and clumsily fitting in talking points even if only tangentially related to the topic."
  
• Taegan Goddard: "The bottom line is that Kerry not only sounded more presidential, but looked presidential. By this measure, he was the clear winner."
  
• Eric Lindholm: "The android formerly known as Kerry was pre-programmed, repetitive (GO TO 10) and flummoxed by the end of the debate."
  
• Jay Reding initially was disappointed in the President, but gave in to blogosphere persuasion.
  
• Joe Carter: "Doesn’t Kerry have any family member of his own that he can “out?” Did he really need to borrow one from Dick Cheney?"
  
• Kevin Aylward: "I now declare that the winner is Ralph Nader."
  
• Early TradeSports action gives Bush a victory.
  
• Cam Edwards notes some muddled thinking by Kerry Edwards.
  
• Ryan Zempel might have found a mid-debate Kerry flip-flop.
  
• Crush Kerry: "Tonight [Bush] brought the 'A+' game."
  
• Enter Stage Right: "Kerry came across as a cold liberal technocrat."
  
• Owen at Boots & Sabers: " I give Bush an A. I give Kerry a B-. I just wonder how much of America was watching."
  
• Orrin Judd: "It wasn't easy to achieve but this truly was the most boring debate since Carter vs. Ford."
  
• Charlie Sykes: "How unhappy do you think Teresa was about the answers to the final question?"
  
• Stephen Green: "Much as I thought the candidates sucked, Schieffer was worse."