Goldberg and Guthrie

I was going to comment on the debates; after reading Goldberg's post below, it appears that Goldberg and Guthrie has proven to a mathematical certainty that Kerry won the debate and will win the election.

In all seriousness, Kerry won this debate. Period. He had better ideas and was more prepared. Kerry appeared in control and confident; the President appeared annoyed and tired. I admit in some ways it's not fair; for all his faults, Bush is trying to wage a war while running a campaign. Kerry only has to talk about a war. It's no wonder Bush looks tired and pissed. However, I don't see how intelligent people can disagree about who won this debate. How this will effect the election, of course, remains to be seen.

Also, I've heard some rumblings over on Pandagon that some conservatives may be pointing the finger at Lehrer. I can't believe that this is true; he ran a perfectly reasonable and fair debate, and I'm sure any conservatives flirting with this line of argument will abandon it within a day. Never the less, I point you to the following exchange. If I went back and pasted this in the Bill O'Reilly thread below, you wouldn't know the difference.

LEHRER: Thirty seconds, Mr. President.

BUSH: You know my opinion on North Korea. I can't say it any more plainly.

LEHRER: Well, but when he used the word "truth" again...

BUSH: Pardon me?

LEHRER: ... talking about the truth of the matter. He used the word "truth" again. Did that raise any hackles with you?

BUSH: Oh, I'm a pretty calm guy. I don't take it personally.

LEHRER: OK. All right.

For some reason, all I could think about during this was the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David and David Schwimmer are in The Producers, and Larry forgets his line. David's attempt to cover/cue the line is: "I was saying, under certain circumstances a producer could make more with a flop than a hit. Does that, um, bring any scheme to mind?" This was the funniest moment of the debate.