First Debate: The Race Is Still On!

For those of you who have been regular visitors to this site it is well known by now that I am a very partisan Bush supporter and have no respect for John Kerry the man or the candidate, for those of you who are new to this site...well now you know! I had invisioned that this first of three debates would be a "slam dunk" for the President and the final nails into the coffin of the Kerry campaign. What I witnessed tonight was neither. I was suprised at some of the answers given by Kerry and found myself a little dissapointed that the President did not push certain of his acheivements and Kerry's short comings, ie voting against the $87 billion to arm and protect our military after Kerry himself mentioned lack of funding as a problem for Bush! The debate itself was a virtual draw with niether candidate actually shining, and niether candidate making the big, "blunder" that plays so well in the media. Several observations do come to mind though that are of interest. Throughout the debate Kerry continually emphasised his Iraq "plan" yet we still do not know what that plan is, nor do we know yet who Kerry is. His moment to define himself in a public forum and give the voters a reason to vote for him was tonight and he did not take it. That in a very real sense gives the President a distinct advantage over Kerry in this debate. We still saw George Bush, the President, the Commander in Chief and the man with stong un-waivering core beliefs. John Kerry did articulate a knowledge of certain events such as Korea but when all is said and done we saw two men with strong disagreements. Kerry stressed the need for the United States to "pass the global test" when protecting herself thus always seeking the UN and other nations permission. The President disagreed stating, "trying to be popular in a global sense when it's not in our best interest doesn't make sense!" Several times not suprisingly Kerry fell back on Vietnam and continually refered to Iraq as a "diversion" from the War on Terror, to which the President reminded us that sending mixed signals does not help US security, our troops and the Iraqi people. This is the one area that Bush did press with good success. The only clear point in the debate where one candidate took a strong advantage over the other were the closing statements. Kerry expressed many of the well used attacks against the President and repeated his convention statement "I defended this country as a young man and will continue to defend it as President." The President on the other hand expressed his heart felt belief in our victory in the war, support for our troops, hope for our future and the continual spread of freedom and liberty throughout the world. This debate should not change anything in the current polls nor convince the undecided either direction so they are still up for grabs. The Democrats will tout that Kerry utterly desroyed the President which is the same that was said after the 2000 debates, a position they now admit was wrong. Next Tuesday during the VEEP debates I believe that sparks and fireworks will fly, but for now suffice it to say that the race for the White House is still on with the President in the lead!

Ken Taylor