Allah has the master roundup.

One issue no one has raised: who gets the better soundbites. The Bush team is going to win on that, because Kerry said plenty tonight that can be thrown back in his face in terms of substance. (Bush was awkward, but the Kerry people are going to look silly if they just show Bush struggling to think of a phrase.)

But Kerry lived to fight another day.

Posted by: Attila at 09:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Green is drunk; Joyner isn't. Goldstein is having fun with Photoshop.

Bush and Kerry were both wearing bitchin' suits. And Lehrer did a nice job.

Kerry is more polished, as you might expect. Sometimes it's painful to watch Bush struggle to find a word. But it's more painful to watch Kerry selling his service in Vietnam, particularly in light of the scrutiny he's received for all the things that happened during that time—both in Southeast Asia and here in the States. (And how much rouge was he wearing, anyway?—or is all that color from the infamous fake tan? He managed to negate his height advantage with that.) Bringing that up several times within the same debate is tantamount to hooking.

One of the most dramatic moments was when Lehrer gave Bush the chance to comment on Kerry's character, and he didn't take the bait. Bush is making it clear that he doesn't want to make personal attacks, and he doesn't want this campaign to be about events that took place 30-35 years ago.

There seemed to be a role reversal of sorts going on: Kerry is acting dispassionate, and even tries to smile as the President hammers him. Bush, who often appears to be above the fray, was clearly annoyed as Kerry made his own points. I suspect this was a decision that Bush and his advisors made, and that the intention was to show how engaged his was. To underscore that he's a regular guy.

And, as I've said before, he is now the master of that smirk. He owns it; it doesn't own him like it used to. And he didn't hesitate to play up his real strength, which is the fact that he's doing the job of President now. At every turn he was willing to remind Kerry and everyone else that he's actually doing the work, making the tough choices, and so forth. That it's easy to Monday-morning quarterback the leader of the free world.

The debate was probably a draw, but I don't think it'll change many minds. Most of the people who watch these kinds of things are political junkies to begin with. And there is still the sizzle vs. steak question: what matters at the end of the day is how people will respond to the underlying message. Bush's messages: 1) the President needs to be steady, and not vascillate; 2) we need to stay the course, in Iraq and elsewhere. Kerry's message: George W. Bush has been fucking things up.

What I love though is that we had this debate in the first place. It's essential to Democracy that the President be required to defend his record in this way. And we're alone in doing it in this way, placing our leader on the spot to this degree.

Each guy held his own.

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. . . not to pick Kerry? But you didn't listen to Aunt Attila, did you? And it's too late, and there you are crying into your Kool-Aid.

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Points out that Kerry is hangin' out around The Daily Show,where he can reach the stoned slackers who form his most natural constituency.

Oh, do let's. Let us rock that vote, shall we? Otherwise it'll be Chimpy and his Halliburton advisors, who will come up with more ways to give blood for oil; see if they don't.

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Is up over at Protein Wisdom. I may do a scene for it later, but don't miss out on Jeff's comments section, which contains a few soliliqies from Omelet that pertain to the situation.

The goal is to finish the entire play, of course. Each blogger does one scene.

Me, I want to do the scene wherein the forest starts moving . . . Oh, wait.

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WaPo: Among likely voters, 52-43. Some of this could be bounce, of course—but we were supposed to be living in an era wherein bounces were no longer really possible. At least, that's what we were told.

Via James.

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. . . the President used to drink, and may even have used drugs, in his youth. I'm shocked, shocked.

For crying out loud: it sounds like everythiing in the Kitty Kelley book is either beating a dead horse (the National Guard business; Dubya and booze/drugs) or is obviously made up (crooked business deals by Laura Bush, suspicious deaths, and the like). Some of it is reminiscent of that stuff Kelley made up about Nancy Reagan.

Even Dubya's former sister-in-law, Sharon Bush, maintains that, no, she didn't confirm this notion that G.W. used to do lines of coke at Camp David. And she's no fan of the Bush family at all.

This is just silly. Any "news outlet" that has this woman on it as a guest is just discredited, in my mind. Go. Dig. Fact-check. If you find something true, then talk to her—but giving her credibility before you've done your research is asinine.

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Jay at Wizbang! discusses the virtues in having a President who says funny things, and doesn't take himself too seriously.

Has anyone, by the way, tried to parse out what Bush actually meant when he committed his latest gaffe? I believe that instead of OB-GYNs practicing "their love of women," he meant something like "practice the work they love," and got snarled up as usual. But Jay's right: Kerry's idea of self-deprecating humor is to discuss his hair, and when you reduce those jokes down, they essentially mean, "yes, I do have great hair." There's nothing self-deprecating about it. No humility in this man.

"Isn't it funny that I'm perfect?"

"Well, a) no; and b) you aren't."

Via James.

Posted by: Attila at 01:25 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Protein Wisdom compares and contrasts the various John Kerrys.

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. . . is starting a syndicate of chick bloggers who support Bush, especially in light of his dynamite speech last week. If you're a chick, stop by and sign up. If you're a guy, go over and offer moral support. If you aren't a Bush supporter, rethink your position.

Thanks!

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has a thing or two to say about dirty campaigning—and how both sides have been doing it for decades.

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—Bush in particular—keep their mouths shut and the spotlight away from them during the Democratic convention?

That's classy. Too bad Kerry can't bring himself to do that.

Posted by: Attila at 02:21 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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. . . decided to accept the nomination.

He did a very nice job. He really exceeded expectations with this address.

I didn't happen to mind all the liberal proposals in his domestic policy, because I have such a soft spot in my heart for all that is do-goodism, but it led me to reflect, once more, on how odd it is that Bush is so frequently described as a conservative, or as a conservative extremist. Reagan was a conservative. Bush is just right of center.

It's also worth noting that he's now the master of that infamous smirk, and it doesn't just flash across his face at inappropriate times. Now, when he's delighted with something his eyes light up, and his smiles have extra dimensions to them. I also think he was very effective when he seemed to be on the edge of tears—and that was so much more genuine than the old Clinton-biting-his-lip routine that we've all seen a dozen times or more.

The speech was beautifully written, and stirringly delivered. I simply can't imagine it being any better than it was. Even the protesters were terrific: nice to see the President have to work to keep his thread going. (And, as the husband points out, he may well have had to do this wearing a Kevlar vest, if our buddies in the Secret Service had their way.) And the Secret Service men were wearing baseball hats with their nondescript suits! Because they were in disguise, doncha know.

And the Texas delegates were sooooo cute in their matching outfits with the Lone Star on the breast, waving their ten gallon hats in the air. I swooned.

G.W. can phone in the rest of the campaign if he likes. Tonight he made his case to Middle America ("to the Reagan Democrats," as Rush suggested this morning), and he did it very well.

Sleep well, George. Thanks for making the world a safer place.

UPDATE: Steven Taylor live-blogged it. I was tempted, but had left the laptop upstairs.

UPDATE 2: James Joyner has a roundup of blogger reactions, minus his—since he was out last night and hasn't watched his TiVo yet. (I was wondering what was going on, and figured all the East Coast bloggers were just early-to-bed types.)

Posted by: Attila at 11:36 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Accuses me of being "in your face" on my blog lately. Hm. It is an election season, and the stakes are rather high this year. So one is going to hear about this stuff.

Still, I think "in your face" would be to post something like this:

Kerry and Edwards are dead in the water. Bush and Cheney are going to win this thing, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. The slide has started.

Democracy has a beach head in the Middle East, and within a decade this will mean a more peaceful world. Al Qaeda will be vanquished. In a few decades you'll have the chance of looking back and recognizing that you backed the wrong horse. Or not.

Like Ronald Reagan, Bush is the right guy for the right time, and the future democracies of the Middle East will one day look upon G.W. as Eastern Europeans do Reagan, who destroyed the chokehold socialism had on their countries.

Just so you know what it looks like.

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for months seems to be getting a lot shorter, all of a sudden.

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. . . gives us some "bite-sized toast," which is lovely.

But next time could I maybe have some silver-dollar pancakes, please? That would be even better.

With Mrs. Butterworth syrup, if you've got it.

Posted by: Attila at 12:40 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 We'll see what we can do

Posted by: Steven Taylor at September 02, 2004 05:35 AM (TzaXj)

2 Mrs. Butterworths? I thought better of you. A pat of butter and some maple syrup. We go to some trouble to find Grade B maple syrup; it has more flavor and isn't quite as sweet.

Posted by: triticale at September 03, 2004 05:40 AM (8M1Uy)

3 In real life, I use only real maple syrup—and unsalted butter—but ever since James Joyner (responding to the Log Cabin Republicans) came up with the Mrs. Butterworth Libertarians, I've been delighted with that and made it part of my identity. I'm a MBL all the way in my political affiliation.

Posted by: Attila Girl at September 03, 2004 12:39 PM (SuJa4)

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But—you know.

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Check out their letter, reprinted over at Xrlq's place.

It's an olive branch; wonder what the Kerry people will do with it.

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Karol discusses the pro-life element at the RNC, and the pro-choicers there as well. And the fact that they weren't always at each other's throats.

Mandatory reading: this will be covered in your final exam.

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