Clarification/Follow-up by Chouxxx on 08/26/04 1:13 pm:
"Big Shot"????

You foaming-at-the-mouth right wing liars and spinners FORCE ME to put forth an opposing and/or countering statements.

Equal time and all. :)

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 08/26/04 1:33 pm:
Chou,

1) Nobody is forcing you to do anything.

2) If you are going to put forward an opposing argument, try putting forward one that makes sense, not one that says that Bush's initial reaction to 9/11 was the same as most people's... shock. The intimation is that other people would have reacted differently. Which brings me back to my point: if you feel that Bush's reaction was lacking, then you clearly believe that your reaction would have been different. So what would it have been.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by Chouxxx on 08/26/04 3:46 pm:
Elliot:: I'm not getting into a discussion of irrelevencies with a master quibbler, that is for sure. :):)

Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 08/27/04 6:57 am:
Elliot,

Did you catch Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt's quip? It was priceless...

"There will be a time for debates after the convention, and during the next few weeks, John Kerry should take the time to finish the debates with himself."

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 08/27/04 7:59 am:
Gotta love it. Kerry makes it too easy.

Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 08/27/04 8:40 am:
Bobby ,here is Kerry's quote from Wednesday's fluff interview on Jon Stewarts 'Daily Show'

"The president has won every debate he's ever had," Kerry said. "He beat Ann Richards. He beat Al Gore. So, he's a good debater."

From the Atlantic Monthly articel I mentioned;Fallow writes:

Neither George Bush nor John Kerry has suffered more than an occasional lapse or setback in a debate. Neither has "lost" a contest in the only way that matters: a serious post-debate decline in the polls or an electoral defeat. Bush's achievement is the more surprising, because he has entered every debate at a presumed disadvantage and has had to be a giant-slayer. Ann Richards was the most celebrated orator in Texas, having succeeded U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan in that role. Garry Mauro, whom Bush trounced in his re-election campaign in 1998, was an experienced and knowledgeable Texas official. In 2000 Bush's main opponent in the presidential primaries, John McCain, was beloved by the press for his mordant "straight talk." And in the general election Bush had to face Al Gore, who until then had manhandled a long series of debate opponents. Bush beat every one of them -- in the election and, to judge by post-debate poll results, in the debates as well.

Clarification/Follow-up by Yiddishkeit on 08/27/04 9:10 am:
Tom-

I see from Fallows' remarks that Kerry was making reference. Fallow is right about her (Ann Richards) being the most celebrated orator in Texas, but he left short the reason. It's because she was one of the most gifted orators in modern US history. Reagan and Clinton were also very good.


Bobby