Volume III. No. 09
 10-10-04
 Bush/Kerry Debate No. II
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2004
 

 A few days have passed since the dueling duo of presidential candidates
 had their second debate. So, it's as good a time as any to decide if this
 second go-round accomplished anything of significance for either man.

 But, a point must be made. George Bush came to play. He was certainly 
 lively. Perhaps to an excessive degree. In the first half-hour or so of the 
 debate he appeared so overly-anxious to confront Senator Kerry that it 
 is a wonder he didn't leap into the audience all on his own and demand, 
 "Give me that dang question. I'll answer it now, if you don't mind." 

 A Texas cowboy moment of sorts. 

 All kidding aside, this debate only reemphasized the fact that these are
 two very different men. Not only are Bush and Kerry stark contrasts in 
 manner of personality, each man lives, it seems, in a different reality.

 More about that later.

 Bush simply tried too hard to be both fiery and "in command." Senator
 Kerry, on the other hand, is still somewhat aloof and lawyerly even when 
 he tries hard not to be. But, at least Kerry no longer appears self-conscious
 about how his "refined" personality strikes people in this campaign of
 all campaigns. Thus, his answers - compared to earlier in the election year
  - are delivered in a more relaxed manner. 

 He's somewhat lost the tendency to overspeak. Kerry no longer uses 
 thirty or forty words to explain a point that could be made with half as
 many.

 Bush realizes he lost the first debate by a large margin.So this time he 
 attacked, and attacked, and attacked. The word "liberal" was resurrected. 
 Bush even called Kerry, Senator Kennedy. -- A sly slur. In response 
 Kerry explained to the Washington University audience that labels 
 didn't mean anything, and that Bush was merely trying to scare people 
 into voting for the Republican ticket.

 So this was the great change from Debate No. I to Debate No. II. 
 Kerry pretty much stayed the course, challenging Bush on his mishandling 
 of the Iraq War, and neglect of important domestic issues. President Bush 
 has decided to focus his campaign on consolidating his very conservative
 and intolerant base. So once again, he returned to the use of brash scare 
 tactics and fearmongering to regain the momentum that was squandered 
 after his dismal showing in the first debate two weeks ago. Plaudits must 
 go to the audience for some excellent questions. Although, the first one 
 { chosen by moderator Charles Gibson of ABC } about Kerry being 
 "wishy-washy" was actually kind of silly, and got the debate off to a 
 rather undistinguished start.

 Surely host Gibson could have selected a better question as the initial
 one. That particular question belonged in the dustbin.

 This second debate has starkly defined the candidates' differences on 
 all of the major issues from Iraq, the next Supreme Court justices, to 
 embryonic stem cell research. Short of a major new terrorist incident 
 in Europe or on the homefront, what is going to happen in the coming 
 days to influence the minds of the voters who claim at this late date to 
 have no favorite candidate? 

 Surely, these so-called undecideds are just a bunch of procrastinators.

 There is one good factor in all of this for the Kerry campaign.
 Based upon analysis of previous election results there is a tendency 
 for the undecideds to have been dissatisfied with the performance of 
 the candidate already in office. Otherwise, there would have been less 
 of a decision to make. Kerry has to use the remaining twenty-something
 days before the election to close the deal with today's undecideds.

 After all of Senator Kerry's election year troubles, challenges, and 
 mistakes. He just needs to make one final definitive push to turn 
 this campaign permanently in his favor. Maybe he can come up 
 with something novel before Wednesday night's final confrontation 
 with President Bush.

 Oh and just for the record. Put Debate No. II in the John Kerry 
 column.
 

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