I was going to take notes and maybe blog live while watching, but I decided to catch it with friends on cable instead of going to the university's big open presentation in the student union and so lost the chance to comment via wireless. I watched it on C-Span so I missed most of what I'm sure is yet another hurricane of spin descending on Florida at this moment that will continue throughout the week, but I might as well toss in a short reaction now before I try and quickly catch up on all the homework I've put off till this point in the evening. I don't own a tv at home myself and so miss out on a lot of the coverage of this campaign -- mostly I read about events and speeches, rather than hearing them live, which makes an obvious big difference in how I percieve the events.
This is the first time save the convention that I've heard Kerry speak extensively on tv and overall I think it was a reassuring experience; I found him measured, strong in his criticisms of the president and I think fairly effective at articulating himself.
That said, while Bush's repetition annoyed me at points and while there were one or two points where I just had to shake my head disbelievingly (I'll have to track down a transcript because I remember one part in particular where I felt Bush stumbled badly in trying to formulate an answer to one of Kerry's allegations -- but alas can't remember what that was, now without notes).
(Edit: Remembered. Bush's lamest attempt to respond to Kerry's criticisms I thought came when he gave a half-hearted jab back at Kerry's list of homeland security initiatives -- something about a "tax gap" and then kind of trailed off, not even bothering to take that anywhere. Circuitous answers come with the debates, but I thought Bush's performance on that particular question was particularly -- and visibly -- weak.)
I wouldn't call myself satisfied by the debate -- even as someone who will in all likelihood vote for Kerry come November, I'm not sure he has articulated a security strategy to counter Bush's own any more comprehensive than "I can do it better" (something I'm inclined to agree with and which should be as good a reason as any to vote for a change of administrations, I should note). The talk of expanding alliances is a nice goal, but I'm not necessarily sure it's a path to success -- but there is of course a limit on how much a challenger can promise without knowing what situation he will face upon taking office, anyways. Over-all I think both sides held up fairly well and reassured their respective partisans of their capabilities to carry out the office, but what took place in the eyes of these mythical undecided voters out there I have no way of imagining.
One thing off the top of my head that did bother me was the fact that Kerry failed to call out Bush on his plans for missile defense, a highly shaky plan in my mind that should be subjected to a lot more scrutiny than it's recieved thus far. Noahmax of Defense Tech (link found through praktike's blogroll -- interesting stuff there) has some thoughts and I've also written previously about some of the questions NMD raises.
There was much more raised in the speech, obviously, but it's late and I need to get some reading on the Civil War (as in, US Civil War) finished up before bed. Hopefully more over the weekend once I find a transcript and have more time to digest.
Edit: More on NMD here as well. I realize there's only so much time to rebut in a debate setting, but this is something that needs to be questioned.
Edit the second: Making the rounds before bed -- I'd say I agree with Jeralynn Meritt's reactions at Talk Left to the candidate's performance temperament-wise. I thought Bush, even when making what from his point of view may have been a decent rebuttal of Kerry's critiques, seemed, well, kinda exasperated throughout the whole thing. Kerry in contrast was pretty calm and confident throughout with only a few uncomfortable grins. Bush always seems to be talking to some particuarly slow seven-year old, but this time it was a seven-year old asking uncomfortable questions, and I think it showed with the repetitive answers (anyone who makes a drinking game for these had better put in a couple of shots for the phrase "hard work") and the somewhat testy responses even when trying to assert the strengths of his administration.
Also - the "flip-flopper" accusations pain me to no end, so I was happy to see Kerry give what to me was a pretty strong defense of his positions. I'd like to see this 87billion silliness nipped in the bud once and for all, which didn't happen, but "You can be certain and be wrong" -- that's good stuff.
