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October 06, 2004
The Dick & John Show
I heart John Edwards. I really do. Since the beginning of the Democratic primaries, I've been a big supporter of his, and as a result, had very high expectations going into the Vice Presidential Debate.
Overall, I think he did a great job. He fought fire with fire by debating Dubya-style, making strong use of repetition and his fisted thumb. His attacks at Cheney for wrongly linking the war in Iraq to the war on terror was extremely compelling.
But I was disappointed in how he dodged many questions, in particular, the question on why he is qualified to be Vice President. As a relative newcomer to the poli-scene, he needed to talk about himself more. Critics continually accuse him of being an inexperienced one-term senator, and he failed to address this concern to the American public.
Cheney matched John Edwards point for point. Much like John Kerry last week, he spoke intellectually, with the facts to back his statements. Unfortunately, many of those facts were incorrect (i.e. never meeting John Edwards before, never directly linking Hussein and Bin Laden); tricky, since the majority of viewers won't be able to call him on his lies.
Cheney's greatest strength was knowing when to shut up. He gave succinct answers, and chose not to talk about the subjects he didn't want to talk about. While I found this appalling - to not rebut when given the opportunity - his tactic was generally effective. Why? Because once again, the average voter won't even notice. Instead, they'll likely remember Edwards' breaking the rules by twice name-dropping "John Kerry," when he was supposed to be speaking about his own qualifications.
All in all, I think there was no clear winner. If the press does their job and exposes Cheney's lies, it's possible that Edwards will emerge victorious. Here's hoping...
Posted by Michele at October 6, 2004 12:01 AM
Comments
did you notice Cheney has no neck. Was he a wrestler before he got into politics?
Posted by: cootie girl at October 7, 2004 10:51 AM
