Kerry vs. Bush debates

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Will Kerry look "arrogant" next to Bush the way Gore did? Or will the media finally allow that a man of intelligence can and should soundly beat up a mental midget in a verbal sparring match?

[DeepModem Mom]

1. Judging by media coverage of the campaign so far, I'm not hopeful nt

[MallRat]

2. Kerry won't repeat Gore's mistakes.

Kerry has the benefit of history. No matter how warranted it might be, I think Kerry will resist the urge to roll his eyes or sigh exasperatedly, so as not to give the media anything to grasp onto.

Kerry will be respectful and courteous. And then he'll kill Bush softly with the facts.

-MR

[GCP]

3. Judging by the way they covered the Dem convention

you can bet your ass they'll be bending over backwards to show us all what a leader the Chimp is, and how dare Kerry contradict what he says.

I have no confidence left in the so-called free press. The only outlets I trust nowadays are The Guardian and Independent, and the Daily Show. How sad is that.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. Pretty damn sad

Since one if comedy and the other two aren't even in this country. It's terrible that we have to leave our country to get our own news.

[AntiCoup2K4]

5. Kerry should insist on a REAL, unscripted debate (the way they used to do)

Unfortunately, Rove will push for the sit down pre-scripted questions format to save Junior's ass, and the DLC moles running this campaign won't challenge it.

Or in the unlikely event that a real debate IS scheduled, Bush will stage some sort of "terra emergency" which gives him a way out.

[earthside]

6. Assuming ...

Assuming there are debates. I still think there is only a 50-50 chance that the debates will come off.

At some point Rove is going to have to make a political call. Will there be more political damage if Bush doesn't debate, or more damage if he does debate? It is entirely possible that by debate time, Bush may suffer less consequences if he does NOT debate.

As we saw with the 'terror alert' earlier this week, it will not take much for Bush to contrive an 'emergency' that will prevent him from participating in a debate.

[OneBlueSky]

7. you really think there are going to be debates this year?

highly doubtful, imo . . . GWB is in no shape to take on Kerry in an unscripted forum . . . BushCo will find some excuse -- terror threat, sore throat, sick parent, something -- to bow out . . . won't look good for them, but will be a lot less damaging than if the shrub actually tries to debate . . . jmho, of course . . .

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. I don't see any way around it, to be honest

I'd be very surprised if, in such a close election, that there aren't debates. Not to mention, as far as I can tell, they're already scheduled.

[MallRat]

8. Kerry MUST insist on a Lincoln-Douglas round in each debate.

Kerry has to have an opportunity to go head-to-head with Bush... none of this moderator/panel crap.

In fact, if I were Kerry, I would even compromise to reduce the number of debates from 3 to 2, so long as there was a Lincoln-Douglas round.

-MR

[King Coal]

10. I heard that Bush won't debate unless Cheney gets to come too.

[uconnyc]

11. I really hope the debates are cancelled

Right now I think Kerry needs to just "bring the campaign home."

Debates, negative ads (e.g. Bush AWOL), stupid soundbites are all potential bumps in the road, thus I want to avoid them.

Expectations for Bush are just so low in these debates that we can't win. Think of all the stupid things Bush has said in the past couple years and yet he still has decent support. Plus our moronic countrymen judge the candidates by who had the best tie or made the best joke.

Kerry needs to simply visit the battleground states and keep the campaign positive and the WH is ours.

[Kid_A]

12. Rove won't pull Bush out of the debates.

He's pure evil, but he's not stupid.

The debates are one of the most important things in an election, and it's how a lot of people form their opinions on the candidates. Rove knows that if he were to pull Bush out of the debates that people would see Bush as a high-school kid who fakes an illness to get out of a test he didn't study for.

If he doesn't debate, he's fucked. If he does debate, he's fucked.

Bush is fucked.

[uconnyc]

13. That's what I said in 2000

That's what I said in 2000 and I was wrong. Don't underestimate the stupidity of the American public

[Kid_A]

15. But remember that the American public picked Gore in 2000.

They watched the debates and listened to the news, and made their choice. Certain forces in this country didn't like their choice, but that doesn't erase the fact that the majority of voters didn't choose Bush the first time, and they won't this time either. Whether that means Kerry actually gets to be president remains to be seen, however.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

14. If Kerry slaughters Bush in the debates (assuming they exist)...

...the media will still claim Bush had won.