Kerry Wins First Debate
by Mike Hersh, 10-01-04
democracymeansyou.com
Bush can't explain his ever-changing rationale for his rush to war in Iraq as a first resort. This after Bush claimed it would be a last resort. Bush can't explain his ever-changing excuses for the utter failure to stabilize Iraq and mounting deaths and injuries. Key Republican Senators like Richard Lugar, John McCain and Chuck Hagel understand what went wrong. They blame gross incompetence by the Bush Administration.
As Sen. Kerry explained, Bush sent our troops into war with no plan for the peace. Bush ignored our military brass and anti-terrorism experts when he rushed into the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even worse, Bush rushed into war without arming, equipping or preparing our forces properly. They lacked body armor and armor for their hum-vees, even asking our military families to buy these items for their loved ones!
Bush can't discuss or defend these colossal mistakes, so he spent all his time heckling Sen. Kerry with misleading sound bites recycled from Bush/Cheney campaign commercials. Because that's all Bush could do, he ran out of things to say about 1/3 of the way into the debate then repeated empty phrases like: "you can't send mixed messages" and sneering that Sen. Kerry changes his mind all the time. Trying to fend off Kerry's factual points, Bush seemed like a teenager caught sneaking in drunk after crashing the family car - making shifty excuses, acting guilty and peevish at the same time.
Bush became more defensive and petulant as his frustration grew, while Sen. Kerry remained poised, relaxed and presidential. Sen. Kerry seemingly tricked Bush into agreeing that nuclear proliferation is the biggest threat then Sen. Kerry said Bush blew it with North Korea (which increased its nuclear stockpile since Bush took office) and Iran (which is driving toward developing nuclear weapons.) At the rate Bush is going, it will take 13 years to secure nuclear weapons materials from the former Soviet Union. Sen. Kerry pledged to accomplish that in four years. Bush seemed confused, like he knew he'd said something wrong but he didn't know exactly what, then he got mad and flustered.
Sen. Kerry stressed that Bush is sending the wrong message to allies and enemies alike by trying to develop new nukes which he plans to actually use while paying lip-service to non-proliferation. He explained that Bush is hurting our efforts against the nuclear threat because he refuses to meet with North Korea to get rid of that threat. Bush seemed frustrated at Sen. Kerry for saying that and claimed that direct negotiations with North Korea would upset China and Japan - which is not the case. China and Japan want us to deal with North Korea, but as Sen. Kerry said, Bush refused to establish a steady, common-sense policy to North Korea - or Iran for that matter.
Oddly Bush just got finished attacking Sen. Kerry, claiming his rival would turn over our national security to other nations - and repeatedly returned to that baseless accusation against Kerry - but Bush was complaining that he can't negotiate with North Korea because China wouldn't allow it. Sen. Kerry went right after that, saying just because Bush can't do something does not mean it can't be done.
Bush tried to claim he knew the way the world works, but admitted he had no idea how to deal with North Korea one-on-one, implying he was afraid to negotiate without China holding his hand and - because of that - he was letting China tell us what we can and can't do about the number one threat to our people. It's like how Bush was afraid to testify to the 9/11 Commission without Dick Cheney holding his hand.
Sen. Kerry correctly pointed out that Bush out-sourced the hunt for Osama bin Laden to Afghan warlords of dubious loyalties who let bin Laden and his terrorist organization escape. Then Bush shifted our military resources away from al Qaeda to Iraq. Bush tried to claim he attacked Iraq because they "attacked us." Kerry reminded Bush that al Qaeda attacked us, not Iraq. Bush - clearly upset to be caught this way - snapped that he knew Iraq hadn't attacked us. Then why did he try to imply that they had, not just a few moments before but for several months before and after letting bin Laden escape?
Clearly Bush either doesn't understand how the world really works, or else he's just making up more misleading excuses for why he can't get rid of the North Korean nuclear threat, deal with terrorism, catch bin Laden, or secure Iraq so we can bring back our troops. Either way, Bush came off as dishonest, incompetent, confused or all of the above on this and other key issues. Sen. Kerry clearly came off as well-informed, steady, smart and prepared to actually solve our problems. Bush just made excuses.
When he attacked Kerry personally rather than explain what he plans to do, Bush tacitly admitted he has no plan to get our troops out of Iraq and no plan to establish order in Iraq. All he has is "certainty," but as Sen. Kerry said certainty isn't any good if you're wrong. Bush is spending hundreds of $billions in Iraq as the American and Iraqi death toll goes up and up.
Meanwhile Bush neglects our needs and security at home. Bush kept saying how much more money he's spending, but apparently most of the money is going to no-bid contracts and pork for his campaign contributors like Enron and Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton. Astonishingly, Bush refused to consider a small roll-back of gifts to the wealthiest few although he admitted we lacked funds to secure our power plants, bridges, tunnels, ports, and other vulnerable sites.
Sen. Kerry agreed that Bush is spending a lot of money, but Bush is just not doing everything we can to protect America. Bush claimed otherwise, but couldn't deny he's cutting support for police and fire-fighters. Sen. Kerry explained his detailed 4-point plan, and invited viewers to read more about it at his website: www.johnkerry.com but as he pointed out, all Bush offers America is "more of the same" failure.
As we can clearly see, Bush's lack of planning and thinking are not protecting us. Bush is "not getting the job done," as Sen. Kerry said. Even more alarming, Bush is out of touch with reality as he keeps claiming that we're "making progress" by throwing money at national security problems he won't even try to understand - giving our money to his pals who then fail to do the jobs we need done.
Sen. Kerry showed he is the only candidate with the ability, temperament, courage and common-sense to serve as president. Bush once again showed he offers no leadership and no plan, and he has no idea how to solve our problems, keep us safe, or make life better for Americans. Bush doesn't even seem to understand what our problems are. Polls, Pundits Agree Kerry Won Big - Watch Out for Pro-Bush Spin
Pro-Bush pundits like MSNBC's Joe Scarborough conceded Kerry won the 1st debate. He wasn't the only gloomy GOPerative. MSNBC's Chris Matthews observed the Bush campaign officials including Ralph Reed and Ken Mehlman looked "grim." Their candidate put in a weak, wavering effort. The MSNBC panel saw the joy among Kerry supporters like Sen. Joe Biden and Gen. Wes Clark who corrected Bush's misstatements or lies on North Korea, Iraq, Iran and more.
Newsweek's Howie Fineman noted "Bush had 37 minutes of material for a 90 minute debate." That was generous. Bush was confused, contradictory, and unable to explain or justify his fatal mistakes. Bush admitted he would give our tax money to his wealthy friends rather than spend what we must to protect Americans from terror. Sen. Kerry said, "these are not my priorities." (Various Cable News Shows, see also, Kerry accuses Bush of 'colossal error' MSNBC News, Oct. 1, 2004)
Bush failed in Iraq, and lied to the American people about it. Bush failed in this debate when he lied again - and acted immature, shifty, angry, and defensive - not presidential. Let's see the media spin that.
USA Today reported "Early polls indicated Americans felt Kerry had won the debate. Fifty-three percent of Americans polled in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll said Kerry had won, compared to 37% for Bush. Kerry also was ahead in polls taken by CBS News and ABC News.... Kerry kept Bush on the defensive for the early part of the debate, saying Bush lost focus on the fight on terror in Afghanistan and failed to seize the opportunity to capture Osama bin Laden."
"'The president relied on Afghan warlords, and he outsourced that job, too,' Kerry said. Later, he said going to war in Iraq in response to the 9/11 attacks 'would be like Franklin Roosevelt invading Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor.' [Kerry added] 'I made a mistake in how I talked about the war. The president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?' [And] Kerry looked relaxed and hit the president with point after point, while Bush grimaced and found himself defending his positions." (Kerry, Bush clash on national security, USA TODAY staff 10/1/2004)
Watch Out for Pro-Bush Spin in the media, because as The American Prospect reported, "In 2000, television agreed on the first night that Al Gore won the debate. Then the spin set in. Look out for a replay. In case you were wondering whether or not to pay attention to the presidential debates over the next three weeks, CNN's blowhard-in-residence Jack Cafferty delivered the verdict in advance on Monday morning. 'The presidential debates begin Thursday,' he said. 'It remains to be seen whether they're going to be worth watching. My sense is they probably won't be."
What does this mean? The American Prospect explains: "By preemptively declaring the debates to be meaningless political theater, the television news networks are giving themselves permission to cover them not as a battle of ideas but as a spectacle. Ditto in the print media." (Re-Spin Redux? Rob Garver The American Prospect Sept. 30, 2004).
This debate focused on foreign policy, Bush's supposed strong point. On the economy and domestic issues - where Bush is trying to distract Americans from sky-rocketing poverty, oil and health care costs, millions of good jobs lost, and more bad news by gay bashing, race baiting and empty posturing - Bush is even more vulnerable.
When the topic shifts to economic issues, Bush can only show his shortcomings in all matters domestic. However, even though Sen. Kerry won this debate, watch out for another dishonest media rewrite trying to rob him of his debate victory, just as they did to Al Gore in 2000.
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