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[BlueDjinn]

OT: Not that my opinion will surprise anyone, but I gotta agree:

Kerry creamed Bush.

And I don't mean in a technical, "debate forum argument/rebuttal" way--though he won that as well.

I mean in the Court of Public Opinion, Joe Sixpack, "Likeability" way (ie, the only way that Bush beat Gore back in 2000).

Bush didn't seem like a likeable "drinking buddy" type tonight. He seemed like a whiney, pouty "mom, he keeps *picking* on me" child type; Kerry seemed like a responsible adult.

Not to mention these Bush gems:

Whining about how gosh-darned *hard* it is to "free" Iraq:

"It‘s hard work to go from a place where people get their hands cut off..."

(yeah--now we're at a place where they get their *heads* cut off instead. Big improvement).

Responding to Kerry's list of what we *really* need to do to protect America:

"I don‘t think we want to get to how he‘s going to pay for all these promises."

(Um, here's a clue: kill your beloved tax cuts to the rich...or is Securing the Homeland just not something we should bother paying for? Besides, it's not like you've given a crap about how to pay for anything up until now...)

On the UberCoalition:

"My opponent says we didn‘t have any allies in this war...What‘s he say to Alexander Kwasniewski of Poland?"
(later on): "Well, actually, he forgot Poland."

Yup, you really got him on the ropes--Kerry did, indeed, snub Poland.

After Kerry explains to Bush, yet again, that Hussein/Iraq *didn't* attack us, Bin Laden/Al Queda did (in response to Bush *once again* stating that Hussein was responsible for 9/11):

"I know Osama bin Laden attacked us.  I know that."

...which makes tonight the first time Bush has uttered the name "Osama bin Laden" in about 8 months or so in any context.

Guess he wasn't kidding when he went from this:

"I want justice. And there's an old poster out West, I recall, that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'" (President Bush, on Osama Bin Laden, 09/17/01)

...to this:

"I don't know where he is.You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him." (President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02)