Presidential debate Round 1

[Goodwill]

I would rather have a president that leads than a president who sounds good. I give credit to Bush for the fact he doesn't back down on his good and/or poor decisions unlike Kerry who seems to say whatever people want to hear (aka the flip flop).

[once a runner]

That's what we really need....a president who will stick to his poor decisions. Bush has made such an issue of Kerry changing positions that he can't change his view, even if it's dead wrong. I don't know about you, but when I'm driving the wrong direction, I turn around. I don't continue driving in the wrong way and hope things work out.

[southpaw]

Where did we go wrong. Keep watching CNN and CBS. 90% of Iraq is pacified! Only 3 provinces have problems and they are foreigners not Iraqis.

If Bush is wrong once a runner what's the solution. Let's what JFFK would do different in Iraq. Hey let's make it multiple choice

A. Get out before it turns into Vietnam! the Howard Dean position.

B. Get France, Germany, and Russia to send troops and money even though they have NO EXTRA TROOPS AND MONEY!!!! Do I need to repeat that! That is a fact!

C. Blame everything on Bush. He lied!

D. Pull out before we get out. Makes no sense right, neither does JFFK's answer to voting for the 87 billion before he voted against it.

E. Turn the whole thing over to the UN (useless nations)!! what a hoot!

F. Return Saddam to power! have a summit and make him promise to be a good benovalent tyrant.... Jimmy "the peanut farmer" Carter likes this one!

G. Blame everything on Haliburton they got us in the war!

H. All of the above- For Kerry depends on the day of the week

I. None of the Above- Next week it will be something different

J. Hold elections, train the Iraqi troops, support the new gov't, kill the terrorists - only a little faster than is current schedule.

Answer: Who knows but Kerry has had all of these positions on the Iraq war! J is the current JFFK position but is pretty much what Bush is doing now.

How 'bout them apples!

[bison]

[quote="Goodwill";p="62677"]I would rather have a president that leads than a president who sounds good. I give credit to Bush for the fact he doesn't back down on his good and/or poor decisions unlike Kerry who seems to say whatever people want to hear (aka the flip flop).[/quote]

AMEN brother. My thoughts exactly!

[11th man]

John Kerry won the debate, one cannot argue that. Both candidates, however, achieved their goals. Kerry appeared electable, presidential, and started to clear up some of the mixed messages he has sent, albeit not doing a GREAT job, while the president maintained his positions which we have all heard countless times. He pounded home the theory that John Kerry changed convictions, and basically pleaded with the people to believe him because he's been there. This is a good tactic for the president, as it definately rallied the bases, but I don't think it brought any new blood to his side. I heard an interesting comment last night on MSNBC made by Joe Scarborough about the president being at a loss for words. Joe said that this might actually make him more appealing to middle American voters because he "talks like us." Basically, if George appears smart (obviously he's not always the bumbling fool he's often portrayed as) the people will say he has such great ideas and if he appears a bit off, but still carries his normal attitude, the people will like him because he's one of their own. It's really a win-win situation for the president.
In order for John Kerry to win this election, he must send a clear message to the people on Iraq. Obviously, many of you will claim that he has no clear message, that he contradicts himself on the issue way too much to even have a message, but he does have a plan. He just needs to do a better job of separating his plan from the president's and articulating his message. Even though Kerry "won" the debate, he will get only a minimal boost, if any, from his win. The real test for Kerry is going to be the time between the debates. If he continues to build on his successes from last night, we will definately be in for a tight race.

[Former Wildcat]

FYI Southpaw: Communism is a form of government where the community (or the state) controls the means of production and the economy. One by-product of this is that the government ends up having control over the media. Dan Rather has made a living by pointing out flaws in the government. Therefore, he would probably be opposed to communism because it would greatly restrict what he could do in his job.

You can thank me later for the vocab lesson...oh, I forgot, your vocabulary is already great.

[foghorn]

IMO:

*You know, Lefty, you're getting pretty nasty here -- and paranoid. "Communist" isn't a world to throw around lightly. You'd think after a big win and a nice restful half day trip with those quiet players of yours you'd be sort of low key today even after your loss at 9 last night.

*I also heard Scarborough's comment about Bush being at a loss for words and that he "talks like us." He sure as heck doesn't talk like me. Nor does Kerry. In fact, I want the man/woman who has the most important job in the world to not only NOT talk like me but also be smarter and talk smarter. Talk about negative expectations.

*They're not gonna come into my house and visit me or meet me at the DewDrop for a brew anyway.

*And the folksy aw-shucks dumb guy image of Bush is just as bogus as the wine-swilling effete snob image of Kerry. They're both smart, tough, rich, incredibly ambitious, and ruthless big time politicians.

*Whoever wins, Joe Bidan and John McCain need to be put in the cabinet. They come from boths sides of the aisle, and each is heads above the two main candidates. IMO.

*Now excuse me while I take a few hours to reread a few favorite passages from "Das Kapital."

[CoachK]

Southpaw, I couldn't agree with you more. JK plan for the war in iraq has already been laid out by President Bush!!!!!! Amen. I only hope people see through JK and see that he is only a person who tells people what they want to hear. A politician.

[southpaw]

I guess we don't have an active communist party in the US. Then why do Rather and his cronies just giggle with delight when they talk about Castro in Cuba. Answer the question.

foghorn- the dark side of the force took the gloves home almost 4 years ago and have called Bush everything including the anti-Christ since.


Another George that we had as president wasn't a good public speaker either! Hint: not Bush the 1st!

[Derabasse]

but on the other hand, Bush looked "stumped" too many times and didn't come across very smooth.[/quote]

Does Bush ever look smooth??

I am not a big fan of either but Bush can't even speak, it's embarrassing when our president answers a question and takes five seconds to start talking, and then stumbles on his words. It looks like either way things aren't looking that great for our country with one of these two winning...