Anybody here ever see Kerry debate in Mass?

[dave123williams]

All I can say is, at this point, he'd better PUMMEL * in those debates. He'd better BRING IT like he did after the GOP convention.

I can't take 4 more years of these fanatic, pious, self-righteous dicks.

[graywarrior]

1. I saw his debate with Weld

He's laser sharp, fearless and ruthless. He's great under pressure.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Will he be this way with *?

[DaveinMD]

3. I saw the weld debates

they were a sight to behold. Kerry was a tiger in those debates. Is in Kerry's nature to be a fighter. They just have to let Kerry be Kerry.

[Nite Owl]

4. The ones with Weld?

I remember those. He was great but Bush* is going to be different. Weld was a gentleman, an intelligent person but Bush* is going to play games of gotcha and have some one liners that will zap him. Any of the normal rules of civility will go out the window. People will remember the laugh lines not the substance.

[dave123williams]

5. Well, it's reassuring...

that Kerry's got some chops; he's probably got some very good people around him that will (hopefully) anticipate 'zingers' and have a quiver full of vicious reposte at the ready.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. The debates are more about emotionally connecting than scoring points

It was emotional disconnects that sunk previous debaters:

Gore sighing.

Bush 41 looking at his watch.

Dukakis stunned by the rape question.

Nixon's five o'clock shadow and shifty eyes.


Kerry needs to go with his natural rhythm, which is to be a fighter. But he needs to avoid the jugular. He needs to hit Bush in a way that gets him flustered, get him off the script, get that deer in the headlights look. Alternatively, Kerry can make a connection by scoring with a real issue with real language, but getting Bush to respond witht the script (that's all he knows). Then Kerry can call him out on being "all hat no cattle".

Kerry needs to win the watercooler debates the next day. He needs to get people saying things like "I never knew Bush was so hollow. Kerry talked about my issues and Bush didn't have anything real to say".

[Mz Pip]

6. I hope so

because this isn't MA anymore. This will be a whole new ballgame. I doubt William Weld had the full force of the GOP behind him.

MzPip
:dem:

[A_Possum]

7. When Bush chirps, "You voted for the war"...

I hope Kerry answers, "Are you trying to blame me for giving you enough rope to hang yourself?"

[cheshire]

8. Bush is a lame brained wuss. Kerry scared the shit out of Nixon and

he was young. Nixon was scared of a speech Kerry made. That is no small statement. Nixon was a hell of a lot smarter than shrub.

[Nicholas_J]

9. I saw him debate Weld

When I was living in Massachusetts for a few months with my younger brother who was a Kerry contributor and owner of a fair sized contruction firm as a contractor. I wasnt in the cheap seats, as my brother was a fair to middlin degree of contributor back then.

So far no one during this campaign has seen Kerry turn on his abilities of persuasion in debate.

We have yet to see him really running a campaign.

[graywarrior]

11. Kerry is focused.

Plus he has been raising the expectations of Bush as a debater by telling us how good George is.

[Nicholas_J]

15. Kerry seems to have all of the answers at his fingertips

He does not have the personality of a Clinton during debates, but his intellect is razor sharp adn he is very good at speaking extemporaneously, and has more of a grasp of facts that even Clinton did.


He will slaughter Bush during the debates, which is why Bush wants to avoid them.

My ex wife has spent over twenty five years teaching debate and we have dicussed this at length. It is her opinion that Kerry is the best debater that Washington has ever seen, and that skill has rarely been seen by the general voting public outside of his own state.

[girl gone mad]

10. Kerry has a lot of self confidence.

Which is good, because he will need it.

[LonghornJack]

12. There Should Be a Way to Suggest One-Liners

...to the Kerry campaign. A_Possum had a good one on this thread.

Isn't there some e-mail address to send in some suggestions?

Has anyone had any luck getting in touch with a campaign staffer or anyone would be willing to listen?

I'm sure there are a lot of DUers who would be more than happy to volunteer some choice thoughts.

Any thoughts on how to get through to the JK camp?

LHJ

[virgdem]

13. Go to JohnKerry.com...

I've already emailed the campaign 3 or 4 times about various issues. You will get an email back from them acknowledging receipt of your email. At least they responded. When I emailed Gore 4 years ago, I never heard back from them. I think that's the best you can do as far as contacting them is concerned.

[LonghornJack]

20. Thanks, virgdem....

....I'll give that a try.

If you got a response after a couple or three days, that means at least someone is reading the e-mails to JK.

Thanks again.

[Chili]

14. here's a link...

...to an article about Kerry's debating style. I'm feeling optomistic!

http://www.time.com/time/international/1996/961007/senate.html

Also, the article in the Atlantic Monthly entitled "When George Meets John" by James Fallows (Jul 01 '04) is long but a great read. I searched and searched for it online - and I know it has to be there somewhere, because I read it - but I can't find it now. Somebody must've had it up illegally and took it down. Really good analysis of Kerry's debating style vs. Bush.

[cynthia]

16. Do we have a date for the first debate?

I can't wait to see Kerry take * down

[gohawks]

22. Sept. 30 - Coral Gables, Fl..... But

Bush has not agreed to attend.... wants to debate the debates first..... Kerry said he will be there.

Then:
Oct. 8 - St. Louis, Mo
Oct. 13 - Tempe, Az

source: This week with George Stephen..... today

[RevolutionStartsNow]

17. In the primary season debates

I thought Kerry was sometimes very good, sometimes flat. But those debates were pretty meaningless, too many candidates on stage and the media having decided the "winner" before each one even started (for awhile it was Dean, then Kerry -- even as a Dean supporter, I was embarrassed by the media saying he "won" some of those debates).

I do expect Kerry to fiercly debate Bush, and to all of our eyes, he will slaughter the mushy-mouthed Bush.

But that might not matter -- if the media wants to they will simply decide that Bush "won", they will say it is so, and many people will believe it.

[dave123williams]

18. Not unlike boxing...

In this ring, Kerry's going to have to have an obvious knockout lest crooked judges call it for the guy who lost.

[merbex]

21. I saw hthe Kerry Weld Debates

Weld was no slouch; he was/is very bright.

KERRY WAS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE HIM AT THAT FORMAT

He is sharp and knows how to answer the question and zing and get his point across AT THE SAME TIME

And Weld is no slouch in this area

[Gin]

23. I heard this morning that there will be no advance notice on the questions

I can just imagine the uh-uh-uh's we will hear from the shrub.

I agree that Kerry should not run from his votes...admit them..and turn it around on the bast**d.

[foo_bar]

24. Bush just has to show up

Since words are effete (and occasionally French), candidates are judged on their peacock struts. We can thank the human ingenuity that invented television before we evolved the sense to turn it off.