Kerry Did Fine

[liberalpragmatist]

Okay, so he didn't make any waves. He's had better debates, and he didn't come off spectacularly or show a ton of energy. But he was perfectly competent.

As for the Kerry-bashers insisting Kerry was shrill and pulling a Lieberman on Dean, watch the debate again. Kerry barely touched Dean. His only tussle was relatively calm and measured and came during the candidate's question time. He simply took issue with Dean's penchant for misstatements.

Credit is due where credit is due and Dean answered the question very well. Kerry did not disagree with Dean's statement and he never took issue with it, he simply criticized Dean's penchant for inconsistency and misspeaking. That's valid, and personally, while I felt Dean did pretty well through most of the debate, his answer to Kerry's rebuttal was poor. It had a clever jibe at Washington insiders, but it didn't answer the question.

The exchange was not particularly fierce and he didn't pursue him anywhere near the level Lieberman did. He didn't sound shrill or viciously anti-Dean. He did fine.

[Lobo_13]

1. He didn't stink the place up like Leiberman

But he didn't do nearly as well as he needs to.

[pasadenaboy]

2. I agree

the problem he has is he needs something big to break for him to get back up in the polls. I don't know what that is.

[killbotfactory]

3. He was lying about Dean's statements...

That pissed me off.

Dean put him in his place with the "rule of law" thing, too.

[ryharrin]

9. That was the only part that I caught.

Kerry was vile for those two minutes at least. I'll rewatch the whole thing at 9 and see if I get a different impression. I doubt it.

[Evanstondem]

4. Kerry barely touched Dean...

but not for lack of trying. He also continues to run on and on with his answers. I've heard that he's trying to become more succinct but it didn't show in this debate.

[Lobo_13]

6. Like I said in another debate

It is not a good thing to have your mic cut off in the middle of your answer.

And that happened to Kerry more than it should have.

[askew]

8. His habit of running over his time limit looks bad.

Also, the moderators gave him a nice softball question about "No School Building Left Behind" that the audience and all of the candidates laughed at except Kerry. Kerry needs to loosen up in these public appearances. I am sure that he is not this uptight, but when Gep. gets more laughs out of the audience, you are doing something wrong.

[zulchzulu]

14. The time limit is always handled badly

Many times the candidates are obviously wrapping up their statements and might run a few seconds over the minute to tell their response that would normally take at least five minutes to answer. The moderator usually sounds like a school marm that cuts off what is usually the tagline in the answer they wanted people to hear.

This applies to all the candidates.

[mb7588a]

16. I dunno man,

if the roof had been leaking on my history book back in the day, I wouldn't be laughing.

[Padraig18]

5. In comparison, Kerry did TERRIBLY.

To call his performance 'wooden' would be an insult to trees...

[zulchzulu]

13. Too partisan to even give an even-handed response

If you hate Kerry, just say it. He wasn't "wooden". That's so predictable.

[Padraig18]

17. It happens to be true.

That may be why it's 'predictable'.

[zulchzulu]

27. Thanks for your "proof"

You give some mighty convincing evidence.

[watercolors]

7. Kerry looks like

a tired ole politician that he is!

[oasis]

10. "Tired old politicians" played a valuable role founding and maintaining

the U.S. Constitution for over 200 years. Dance with who brung ya.

[DemOutWest]

11. Fair and balanced

Kerry bashing going on. People let up. I am starting to believe we have many repugs in here.

Don't bash the other candidates. My god re-read your posts.

Dean did OK today, not great. Kerry had his moments and also was off in some.

This was a better debate but still no way to correctly decide on a candidate.

[Egnever]

15. I am starting to believe we have many repugs in here

Well duh

[zulchzulu]

25. I guess you define a repug as someone who is not a NBD?

Give it a rest. This paranoid-meets-arrogant child's play is a tad tiresome.

[zulchzulu]

12. He did well and maintained himself as a polished statesman

Sure, some Dean supporters will say how much they hate him and blahdeddy blah blah, but on seeing the debate the second time around, he did well, imo.

My guess is that the average undecided voter who is uncomfortable with Dean's gaffes and such will give a good look at Kerry from this debate.

[JohnKleeb]

18. I hear that Kerry did well, btw I did not see the debate

[curse10]

19. He did as well as anyone else

Edwards was the clear winner, but he was truly the only exciting candidate tonight. Kudos for Edwards.

[blm]

20. I thought both Edwards and Kucinich performed best tonight.

Kerry was more low key, but always competent. Too many campaign events and an early morning Face the Nation appearance today.

[JI7]

22. agree, though his closing was very good

yeah, kucinich won overall i would say, with edwards coming on strong as time went on. kerry was very good but kept it down a bit, maybe on purpose or as you say, he was just tired. and not important, but i thought his hair looked nice.

[JohnKleeb]

26. Thats general concenus I get

I am liking Edwards more and more.

[Clark4Prez]

21. I loved his closing comments

To Bush, "I know what an aircraft carrier is like, for real" And if he wants to question Dem's patriotism "I have three words I know he understands, 'Bring it on'".

I jumped out of my chair on that one, they could have heard me yelling in Iowa!!!

[JI7]

24. he uses it often

and it's just as good or better each time you hear it.

[last1standing]

23. Kerry spent WAY too much time attacking Dean.

It made him seem shrill in the face of Dean's love-in approach. Then when Kerry made the mistake of misrepresenting Dean's comments on bush* and 9-11, he looked like he was doing the very thing he was accusing Dean of. Kerry was outmanuevered this round and it's going to be hard for him to move forward at this point.

As for the others, Edwards and Dean did the love-in thing. I can understand Dean doing that, but Edwards might want to get a bit more aggressive at this point. Still, I liked his charm. Kucinich has the advantage of being able to say what he wants without too much repercussion although Mosely-Braun took him to task over Iraq. She has impressed me more than I thought possible this election. If she had run her senate campaign this intellegently, she might be in the White House right now. Gep is just done. Nothing he says sounds sincere. The last three years have hurt him beyond repair, I think. Dean was as on as he ever gets. He will always seem stiff at the podium, but has a good way of reaching out and drawing you in. As for Lieberman, after this appearance, I'm not sure I could vote for him in the GE. He's a mean spirited, socially conservative, hack who will say anything he can to win the nomination. It's like he wants to make sure that if he doesn't get the nod that the nominee loses.

Just my opinion of today's debate. :)

[RafterMan]

28. As usual

Yes, he did fine.

The problem is, he always does fine, or better. It just never makes any difference. Kerry seems fatally unable to move people. We'll see if there's any difference this time, but I doubt it.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

29. John Kerry "The Quiet Man"

I'll take him.