Kerry -vs- Bush ....Round 2

The second debate has come and gone. I've been out of town for the past few days and haven't had a chance to post since now. Sorry about that. I just whish I had a laptop. Anyhow, regarding the debate. Being a Town Hall style debate left me concerned whether any hard questions would be asked. I'm also not too keen on the time limits set forth for responses and rebuttals. It kind of defeats the concept of a debate when you can't go in-depth. It has also led to the Candidates basically re-hashing the basics of their position without being able to really go into any real details. Sadly this has worked against Kerry by not allowing him to fully tackle the issues with depth and thought. Bush on the other hand has benefited from this format since he really only seems to have spunky catch-phrases and declarations concerning his position and refuses to go into any in-depth discussions regarding his statements or his position.

Compared to their previous debate, this one definitely had a lot more energy. A lot was said in the short time they were given to respond to the questions. Before trying to score this debate, I decided to take a look at the manuscripts from the debate to see just what exactly Kerry and Bush were telling the American people and how they were telling it. I was also pleasantly surprised to see some really great questions put forth. Questions that were well thought out and well phrased.

Kerry immediately had to defend against the President's claims that he is a flip-flopper. He did a good job at explaining why the President accuses him of being indecisive. He also explained how his positions have not changed. Bush's' response was to attack Kerry. Throughout the whole debate, Kerry talked about issues, offered as much depth as the time frame allowed, and cited confirmed sources to support his claims and statements. Bush stood steadfast in his attack tactics, continued to cite sources that have now been debunked and even went so far as to occasionally cite those sources that have shown he was WRONG as support for why he is right.

When Bush was asked whether he has made any mistakes or had any regrets about his decisions over the past four years, he skated the question by going into a rant about how others may view his decisions as unpopular but refused to admit that he had ever been wrong about anything. It's as if he wants the World to believe he's some sort of infallible leader. At one point he even continued to talk over the moderator, which shows a clear disregard for the rules that he himself had agreed to put in place.

Concerning domestic issues and job growth specifically, Bush continues to state that he has created jobs without taking into account the jobs that have been lost. The recent report concerning overall job growth shows that after his last four years in office our Nation has seen an overall loss of jobs not known since the Great Depression, yet he claims the economy and job growth are on the rise by only looking at one side of the equation. It's pretty simple to figure out that two minus four doesn't equal two, yet it seems to be the way he looks at the equation. It's one thing to be short sighted, but it's another to be blind altogether.

With respect to Foreign Policy. Bush continues to attack Kerry by stating you can't build alliances and gain support by saying "Wrong War, Wrong Time". He fails to see how Kerry can take this position. Bush continues to claim that you can't go out and say, "Join me in the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place. Risk your troops in a war you've called a mistake."

Well I can see why Bush can't do so, because it would mean that he had been WRONG and had made MISTAKES. This argument doesn't apply to Kerry though. Kerry didn't make the decision to abandon the United Nations. Kerry didn't make the decision to rush off to war without providing the troops with the proper support and equipment. Kerry didn't make war without a plan to win the peace. Kerry can go in front of the World and say "Wrong War, Wrong Time." because he's not admitting to having made these mistakes. These are Bush's failures, yet somehow it seams to mystify Bush that somebody out there can see him as having been wrong, misleading and rash in judgment. Kerry isn't saying to the World that he was wrong, he's saying to the World that Bush was wrong.

Throughout the debate Bush also continued to use Patriotic statements such as "...our long-term security depends on our deep faith in liberty. And we'll continue to promote freedom around the world."...."Freedom is on the march."...."In Iraq, we'll be having free elections, and a free society will make this world more peaceful." (note that he did not say THEY will be having free elections. His statement implies ownership of Iraq by America), and "...the way to defeat them (terrorists) long-term, by the way, is to spread freedom." Bush seems to believe that the only way to better the World is to spread his ideology of "Freedom and Democracy" to everybody.

Now this isn't the first time the American people have seen this sort of thing. The last time was back in 1939 and we fought to ensure that Hitler would not succeed in this kind of egomaniacal ambition. It's said that history repeats itself. I can only hope that it is true and that the American people rally together to put a stop to what has happened in this country and what is being done in the World under the guise of "Freedom and Democracy".

At the end of the second Presidential debate I have to give Kerry the point and also give Bush a -2 since he has had two chances to prove that he is a leader and has only succeeded in proving that he aspires to be a Dictator.

Current Score: Kerry = 2 ---- Bush = -2