One last evening spent master debating...

Like the last debate, I spent this one in the chat room at the Command Post. Lots of trolls out tonight, but also lots of good commentary.

I thought Bush did very well tonight. He was strong, he connected with the audience, he didn't make too many silly faces, and didn't say anything too stupid. Kerry didn't do too badly - he managed to keep the Halliburon/ outsourced Bin Laden/ Vietnam references down, which is good for him. He didn't really say anything brilliant, though,

I think it's interesting that you don't usually see Bush name dropping, except to say that Kerry is more liberal than Ted Kennedy. Kerry, on the other hand, kept dropping names - mostly Republican names, like Ronald Regan, Dick Cheney's daughter, and John McCain. Bush did point out that despite what Kerry and McCain agree on, McCain is supporting Bush.

I thought it was odd that Kerry talked about how the assault ban was a good idea, and used as an example finding a drug dealer with an AK - since the drug dealer had the AK during the gun ban. Obviously the assault weapon ban doesn't work.

Bush dropped a lot of numbers - almost too many. I like theory more than I like numbers. It's great that Bush studied before the debate, but numbers bore me.

I thought most of the questions sucked. The "can you make America safe again" question seemed pointless, the flu question seemed irrelevant, and too many of the questions were too much about being personal than about policy (why are people gay? and the religion questions). The gay question also seemed irrelevant, since both candidates are against gay marriage, and the support of the marriage amendment seems pointless since it's dead in the water.

There seems to be a lot of controversy on FOX and on the web about Kerry bringing up Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter. I don't know if I agree that it is a plot on Kerry's part to get the vote of people who hate gays... but it did seem like a stupid answer. It didn't really answer anything, and it didn't have a whole lot to do with the question.

More thoughts later, maybe.