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I did, the whole thing. I actually thought it was fascinating for a few reasons:
1. Just as in the first debate of 2000, bush was able to get away with the "aw shucks" persona. It seemed to work.
2. Gore (hey I love him this is just an observation) seemed a bit eager to distance himself (just a bit) from Clinton. Just something I noticed. He did brag on some things they accomplished, but of course, wanted to stand on his own as a candidate, who can blame him for that?
3. I really think the bush people exploited the Clinton scandal to the nth degree. They don't have that this time.
This time, it is bush's record to defend and it is a dismal one. This time, the Democrat doesn't have the perceived weakness of wanting to stress the positives of the previous administration without linking himself too closely to it.
And again, I saw bush was much more fluent. He spoke more quickly, he formed his thoughts more effectively.
But the BIGGEST thing I noticed as a difference between now and then? Back then, he got away with smirkiness, little jabs at Gore, little snickering with the audience stuff, his open handed "hey I'm just a regular guy, what's this guy trying to do to me?" thing, and claiming to be an "outsider" to Washington (which wasn't completely true but a lot of people bought it).
Well nowdays, the smirkiness and the little jabs and snickering and other things he pulls just look immature and childish. The PRESIDENT isn't supposed to act that way. In other words, he is STILL acting like the CHALLENGER. The challenger can get away with that kind of shit, sometimes. The incumbent NEVER can.
He is still using the same tired emotional (affective) appeals he used in 2000, when he was a challenger, which don't work now, with the added disadvantage of his obvious decline in verbal abilities.
If you haven't caught that second Gore debate on CSPAN and they rerun it, be sure to catch it. Strictly from a political/strategic viewpoint, it is fascinating.
By the way, I thought Gore won that one, too. He was solid and knew his stuff. But bush got too many "brownie points" from the audience for his little faux-exasperated moments ("can I talk now?" said with a little grin) and little digs and "aw shucks I'm just a downhome guy" act.
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