I don't know what debate you guys watched!

[girl gone mad]

I was observing the reaction on a non-political board, and they gave it to Edwards, saying he faltered during the first 1/3, but came back strong.

I was frankly surprised by the reaction here.

The C-SPAN callers were very favorable to Edwards.

My son and husband both say Edwards came accross better.

I know you were hoping for a repeat of Kerry's colossal ownage, but it wan't going to happen.

Edwards showed up, looked affable, held his own on foreign policy, cleaned up on domestic policy and got a few good shots in. Sure he missed some opportunities, but Cheney did a good enough job looking like Darth Vader all by himself.

[WI_DEM]

1. But I thought that Edwards more than held his own even on Foreign policy

[girl gone mad]

16. I thought he did fine..

I was just reporting on what the non-partisan reaction was.

[KittyWampus]

2. Thank You. And Once More-Cheney Fucking MUMBLED The Whole Time

nobody could understand him... he droned and looked totally closed off.

[Lugnut]

11. In addition to the mumbling

He flat out lied his ass off.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Cheney never answered a question. He pontificated about "other" things...

i.e.,"Look at me...the elder statesman" Edwards had substance, and no scary mouth twitches. :hi:

[glitch]

4. Americans don't want to see young handsome guy K-O old guy with wonky tick

ticker. Most people don't know how evil Cheney is, and debate not the place to lay it all out. Best for criminal trials after we get the govt back.
Edwards played it very, very smart.

[w13rd0]

17. Those criminal trials...

...wouldn't happen to be prosecuted by TRIAL LAWYERS, would they? :)

[indie_voter]

5. Couldn't agree more

Cheney is NOT *, there was no way he was going to wilt.

[Connie_Corleone]

6. I thought the debate was a draw

Which means that the momentum goes to Kerry/Edwards.

I think we're more political junkies here and some of us wanted Edwards to do more. I thought Edwards did very well against Dr. Death.

The average non-political folks are seeing Edwards for probably the first or second time, and they like what they see.

[Seabiscuit]

25. According to the online polls available, it was *no draw*!

I've voted on around two dozen now, and except for two which have Edwards ahead by 4-8 percentage points, the average for the rest was about 90% Edwards, 10% Cheney. IOW, according to those voting so far online, Edwards wiped the floor with Cheney's snarling face far worse than Kerry did with Chimp's pouting smirk.

[Mizmoon]

7. I thought Edwards ATE Cheney's lunch

Methinks we got trolls on these here boards.

[Nimble_Idea]

19. yeah big time troll pukes.

like tweety

[progressivebydesign]

8. I agree.. I gave it to Edwards mostly...

It was not the most exciting debate, and it's hard to find a "winner" in such a low key event. Edwards won because he was able to really articulate their vision, and was able to deflect the ugly, ugly personal attacks Cheney hurled at him. Cheney came off as extremely old, sickly, mean, and rude. It was not Cheney's finest moment.

John Edwards won, if there is to be a winner in this. The moderator sucked big time.. she was so blatantly deferential to Cheney, automatically giving HIM all the 30 second rebuttals.. even OFFERING THEM most every time, and then shutting out Edwards when it was obvious he wanted to respond. That was wrong.

[Nicholas_J]

9. So far in every almost every poll

Edwards has a sigfnificant lead on Cheney. 60 percent to 40 percent is the average differnce between Edwards and Cheney so far.

[sonicx]

10. yup, as i said before, Cheney isn't very popular in America.

Most people are going to say Edwards won.

[leftofthedial]

12. Edwards did great

he put cheney on the defensive for at least 75% of the debate and kept him there.

he also did it without letting it turn it into a name-calling series of ad hominem attacks, which was what the repukes were hoping for. instead, he got in his licks AND made positive statements about what he and Kerry stand for and would accomplish.

this was marginally closer than the first one, but cheney looked utterly defeated by the 1-hour mark.

I score it 78 - 22 Edwards.

[eaprez]

13. I thought it was a draw.

No fatal blows to either side.

[incapsulated]

14. I thought he KILLED Cheney on Forgein Policy

I just don't understand the reaction here. He nailed him, point-by-point, on all his bullshit. He killed him on Haliburton. He made him angry, and Cheney was making evil faces when Edwards was talking.

After that, Cheney tried to sloooow it down and bore everyone to death, which made the rest of it a tie.

That's a win in my book.

I don't get it.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. Edwards wins on boyish good looks and smarts

Cheney gets the nod for sheer evilness.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is all pure bias from our appearance driven society.

[democrat_patriot]

18. I've seen 4+ polls J Edwards 94% !!!

I really thought JE did very well.

[Seabiscuit]

26. I saw one 97% Edwards, 3% Cheney!

[girl gone mad]

20. Some other points from the non-political board:

Cheney didn't know that AIDS is bordering on an epidemic among African-American women, shows him as out of touch.

Voting against meals on wheels, the Martin Luther King holiday and freeing Mandela will hurt him.

Edwards was wise to bring up Cheney's lesbian daighter, because it hurts Cheney on two fronts - with the fundies and with anyone who cares about gay rights.

Cheney didn't give direct answers for most of the debate, and Edwards got in a good swipe ("What was the quetion again, Gwen?").

Cheney kept repeating the same talking points, and his lies were pretty obvious.

Edwards connected better. Edwards was talking to the cameras while Cheney was talking to the moderator.

Cheney was wringing his hands, talking to his hands, mumbling and sneering.


I have to repeat, this all came from an apolitical message board.

[girl gone mad]

21. kick.

You guys should know that the undecided people I've been talking to think Edwards did better.

[Tangledog]

22. I'm not sure which one I watched

I thought Edwards could beat Darth at his own game -- being nasty -- but at times he sounded slightly petulant, as if he was being manipulated down to Darth's level and couldn't put a smile on his zingers.

So much of the debate was "You lied", "No, it was you who lied", that I'd have thought that non-news junkies (people unlike us, fellow DUers) would have been confused and unable to make up their minds. The fact that the undecideds appear to be breaking so strongly for Edwards tells me that one or more of the following transpired:

a) Cheney's cork-in-the-anus demeanor is a real turn-off.

b) I'm underestimating the intelligence of the undecided voter, who noticed that Cheney didn't answer most of the questions.

c) Cheney's trying to dissociate himself from the Saddam/Osama connection didn't play too well.

d) Edwards impressed a lot of people.

Telling moment: the closing statements. Edwards was totally personal, Cheney made no personal references. Ms. Tangledog described it as "hope" vs. "fear", and she's usually right. I thought of it more as "inspirational leadership, join with us" vs. "technocracy, stay in your place while we fix things", which I guess is similar to hope/fear.

Funniest moment: the 3 or 4 silent minutes after they came out but before the debate started, and both sat there scribbling in their notebooks. They were bound and determined not to be the Boy King!

[girl gone mad]

23. what I got from the undecideds..

was that Cheney was repeating things they'd heard before when they were looking for something new, and that Cheney's answers were indirect.

There was also a negative reaction to Cheney's body language.

[johnnyrocket]

24. It's no contest, why all the analyzing? Cheney is a mumble mouth..

...dark, frowning, evil, bullshitting asshole.

That's an automatic win for Edwards!!!