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An overnight of commentary
Oct. 1st, 2004 08:43 amFirst, a quick summary of last night - we went to the Kerry event at the Miami Arena - it featured a miniconcert by John Mellencamp & Babyface, and since we went with a friend who's done a lot of fundraising for the campaign, we got to watch it in the VIP section with Miami's next mayor, Jimmy Morales, a few current & former congressmen, and our friend Richard Steinberg, who's a city commissioner. The food was amazing - they had this custard-and-merangue cakey thing that was just the most light and decadent thing I'd ever tasted. Yum.
Now, on to the politics. I've never watched a debate with a crowd before, although I did watch the 1996 one in an online chatroom and being surrounded by partisan Democrats made for a fun event. The whoops and gasps and claps echoed through the arena, which, btw, was full on the lower level and the floor (although luckily the floor wasn't so congested that one couldn't walk).
Yes, of course, I think Kerry won. I think he didn't hammer Bush hard enough on certain things, but Bush just looked frozen. While I was concerned about the way Kerry started - I was paranoid he was going to run over-time because of his start with comments about Florida - seeing BUsh, then, freeze on his first line was just shocking. And yes, of course I was not surprised to see the "...a...." bit by Bush make its way onto the Daily Show (no, I didn't see the whole TDS yet - it'll be on repeat in 70 minutes, so I'll catch it then yay).
While the debate was going on, I kept an eye on my fist here (comments from both sides of the aisle were interesting!) and on The Daily Kos, Wonkette and Americablog and I'm now catching up on the fun over at AirAmericaRadio.
So in doing this, I managed to collect some quips as the night went on, and the spin and commentary began - these are my favorites:
Now, this last quote is a bit weird. I wish Kerry had called him on it, but given the setup of the event, he didn't have a simple opportunity - but it's one I wish he'd seized on, because this comment has been seriously overlooked in the coverage of the event. When he said it, I looked up, expecting an assault - and I certainly expected some commentary about it overnight. But I haven't seen anything, and I haven't even seen much coverage of it outside some blogosphere commentary. I did a news.google.com search on it two minutes ago, and I only found six articles with the quote, "I fully agree that one should shift tactics". So, wutever. . This was one especially interesting comment on it, again from William Rivers Pitt (author of 'War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know' and 'The Greatest Sedition is Silence) at truthout.org:
Now, on to the politics. I've never watched a debate with a crowd before, although I did watch the 1996 one in an online chatroom and being surrounded by partisan Democrats made for a fun event. The whoops and gasps and claps echoed through the arena, which, btw, was full on the lower level and the floor (although luckily the floor wasn't so congested that one couldn't walk).
Yes, of course, I think Kerry won. I think he didn't hammer Bush hard enough on certain things, but Bush just looked frozen. While I was concerned about the way Kerry started - I was paranoid he was going to run over-time because of his start with comments about Florida - seeing BUsh, then, freeze on his first line was just shocking. And yes, of course I was not surprised to see the "...a...." bit by Bush make its way onto the Daily Show (no, I didn't see the whole TDS yet - it'll be on repeat in 70 minutes, so I'll catch it then yay).
While the debate was going on, I kept an eye on my fist here (comments from both sides of the aisle were interesting!) and on The Daily Kos, Wonkette and Americablog and I'm now catching up on the fun over at AirAmericaRadio.
So in doing this, I managed to collect some quips as the night went on, and the spin and commentary began - these are my favorites:
"No president who has presided over Abu Ghraib should ever say he wants to put anyone on a leash." Conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan
Convictions don’t mean a thing if you’re just plain stupid, said Aaron McGruder, creator of Boondocks (It's not an exact quote, but that's the gist of it).
"Perhaps Bush believes his own spinners. He seemed surprised and a bit befuddled to be confronted not by the weak, waffling, French-looking wimp he attacks on the stump" - Paul Begala, former Clinton advisor, in his blog
"You kicked ass!" Crowd, to Kerry, at Miami Arena
"John Kerry put the bricks to Bush and the last four years of his administration clearly, concisely, eloquently and with devastating effect. Bush reacted like a man who has never, ever had anyone tell him anything other than 'Good job, sir.' Truthout.org
"I think John Kerry looked more Presidential." Joe Scarborough, former Republican congressman & MSNBC host
And, to borrow a term fromjust_kellie, this is the wutever moment, for me, in the whole thing: ""Well, I think -- listen, I fully agree that one should shift tactics, and we will, in Iraq." That's from George Bush, the flop-flopper.
Now, this last quote is a bit weird. I wish Kerry had called him on it, but given the setup of the event, he didn't have a simple opportunity - but it's one I wish he'd seized on, because this comment has been seriously overlooked in the coverage of the event. When he said it, I looked up, expecting an assault - and I certainly expected some commentary about it overnight. But I haven't seen anything, and I haven't even seen much coverage of it outside some blogosphere commentary. I did a news.google.com search on it two minutes ago, and I only found six articles with the quote, "I fully agree that one should shift tactics". So, wutever. . This was one especially interesting comment on it, again from William Rivers Pitt (author of 'War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know' and 'The Greatest Sedition is Silence) at truthout.org:
One last thing - you can see a very blury photo I took of Kerry at the rally last night. He was just moving too fast, but one of the people I was with took some good photos on her digital - it'll just take a bit longer to get those online.
So, OK, let me get this straight: We have to stay the course and not send mixed messages, and you've been blowing voluminous amounts of sunshine up the collective American backside for weeks about how boffo the Iraq situation is, but after an hour of taking rhetorical body blows from your opponent, you suddenly claim we are going to change tactics? It seemed for all the world that John Kerry, his opponent, convinced Bush that things in Iraq are as bad as people have been saying for weeks and months now.
