Debates
John Kerry today formally challenged President Bush to eight debates, one per month from now till November. Not surprisingly, the Bush campaign said no.
Now, I understand that Shrub is afraid that Kerry will beat his face in if they were to debate every month, and that he would like to have no debates at all. (Fortunately, he's obligated to participate in three debates, if for no other reason than he'll look like a complete pansy if he doesn't.) It seems to me, however, that Bush is ceding the high ground on the discourse issue by not agreeing to participate in these eight debates (or, at least, more than the three he participated in four years ago). Both sides are now complaining that the opponent is dragging their name through the mud. Each side has called for an elevation in the discourse, and a cleaner fight. Now, John Kerry has the upper hand, because he is calling for a series of debates "on the great issues before us," and the Bush campaign (in the person of campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt) is responding with a snide "Senator Kerry should finish the debate with himself before he starts trying to explain his position to voters."
There's no way Kerry didn't know that this would be the response from the Bush campaign. However, even if for some reason Bush had accepted, Kerry knew that he could have walked all over Bush, all while not sighing through the debate like Gore four years ago. (Gore's sighing was one of the dumbest non-issue issues in a campaign full of them, but it is something that Kerry cannot do. Apparently it is doubleplusungood to let a professional politician know when you think they are full of it while they're still talking.) This was another calculated move, designed to make Bush look like a wuss, and that he doesn't really care about the issues. It is yet another smart move by a Kerry campaign that looks more and more like the Dean campaign every day.
As a side note, I do like that Kerry picked the site of one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates for the announcement of his challenge to Bush.
Robert
Now, I understand that Shrub is afraid that Kerry will beat his face in if they were to debate every month, and that he would like to have no debates at all. (Fortunately, he's obligated to participate in three debates, if for no other reason than he'll look like a complete pansy if he doesn't.) It seems to me, however, that Bush is ceding the high ground on the discourse issue by not agreeing to participate in these eight debates (or, at least, more than the three he participated in four years ago). Both sides are now complaining that the opponent is dragging their name through the mud. Each side has called for an elevation in the discourse, and a cleaner fight. Now, John Kerry has the upper hand, because he is calling for a series of debates "on the great issues before us," and the Bush campaign (in the person of campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt) is responding with a snide "Senator Kerry should finish the debate with himself before he starts trying to explain his position to voters."
There's no way Kerry didn't know that this would be the response from the Bush campaign. However, even if for some reason Bush had accepted, Kerry knew that he could have walked all over Bush, all while not sighing through the debate like Gore four years ago. (Gore's sighing was one of the dumbest non-issue issues in a campaign full of them, but it is something that Kerry cannot do. Apparently it is doubleplusungood to let a professional politician know when you think they are full of it while they're still talking.) This was another calculated move, designed to make Bush look like a wuss, and that he doesn't really care about the issues. It is yet another smart move by a Kerry campaign that looks more and more like the Dean campaign every day.
As a side note, I do like that Kerry picked the site of one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates for the announcement of his challenge to Bush.
Robert
posted at 8:17 PM
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