The Debate Part II

Personally, I think Edwards looked like a deer in the headlights at times. Cheney was nearly perfect in deftly answering the charges of Edwards before neatly shifting to the attack and hammering Edwards and even more, Kerry. I caught Pat Caddell (former Democratic strategist) on Hannity & Colmes and he pointed out three major scores with sound bites, and all of them went to Cheney. First, he never met Edwards before tonight, even though Edwards has supposedly been a Senator for six years. OUCH. Second, right after Edwards made an impassioned spiel in favor of Isreal's right to defend themselves against suicide bombers, Cheney kicked him between the eyes by pointing out that Saddam had funded the bombers and no longer does. Hee-hee. Three, the Howard Dean point on the $87 billion was a hammer on Edwards, who seemed to have no real answer. "If they can't stand up to Howard Dean, how can they stand up to al-Qaeda?" Wow.

I thought Edwards held his own in the second part of the debate, but he should have been able to win this going away. I mean, Cheney's supposed to have a "fusion reactor" for a heart (I think I'm paraphrasing the Lord of Truth), but he looked okay, even on gay marriage. The problem was that I don't know that anyone particularly gave a damn about part II of the debate -- domestic issues in this election are like a fruit cup after the seven-course meal on foreign policy and the War on Terror. Cheney took the lead during the first half of the debate, and Edwards never re-gained his footing.

Notes... the fact correction on the $200 million was particularly fun for me. Edwards blinks too much. Man, Cheney's mean, but able to stay brief. Edwards looked like Bush in the last 30 minutes. Why are they both wearing red ties? I owe Gwen Ifill an apology -- she made Lehrer look like an idiot. Of course, I don't know where the AIDS question came from, but no one's perfect.

The take around the blogosphere is relatively consistent, with a few outliers. I caught MSNBC's post-debate coverage, where the panel voted 5-0 for Cheney tonight. Of course, their on-line poll, which was getting spammed pretty hard (480,000 votes on their poll may be more people than watched the debate on MSNBC) had Edwards at 69-31 at 11:45. But ABC's scientific poll had Cheney 43-35.

Geraghty throws out these classics:

This was the single most devastating one-sided drubbing since Lloyd Bentsen smacked Dan Quayle all around the stage in 1988.

If I ever need to sue somebody, I’ll call John Edwards.

If I ever need somebody killed - like, you know, terrorists trying to kill my family - I’ll call Dick Cheney.

Ouch. PoliPundit's D.J. Drummond is a tad rougher:

Will the family of a Veep wannabe, dark suit, dark hair, Dark Side, license # I-S-U-E-U, please come and claim the carcass?

Your junior lawyer has been trampled, pummeled, thumped, whupped, sliced, diced, julienned, fried, pureed, laughed out of the county, and has dismayed fellow slimebags across the nation.

I didn't think it was that bad. Then again, Andrew Sullivan actually said the following...

If last Thursday night's debate was an assisted suicide for president Bush, this debate - just concluded - was a car wreck. And Cheney was road-kill. There were times when it was so overwhelming a debate victory for Edwards that I had to look away.

I'm not certain he was watching the same debate. He seemed to think Cheney looked tired, but I'm missing something here, because Edwards looked exhausted at the end. CBS seemed to agree, but I think I'd believe an article in the Onion before I believe anything set up by Document Boy Dan Rather. CNN seems to think it was a draw, but for all I know, they're still covering the 2000 debate.

Here's the MSNBC panel at the end...

NBC's Tom Brokaw: "Dick Cheney Reminded Me Of George Foreman, Kind Of A Slow Gait, But A Powerful Right-Hand When He Unleashed It In A Number Of Areas As He Went After The Kerry-Edwards Ticket." (NBC's "Special Coverage," 10/5/04)

MSNBC's Ron Reagan: "This Time, I Think The Chattering Classes, And I Include All Of Us Among Them, Will Come Out On The Side Of There Was A Stature Gap There, And It Was To Cheney's Advantage." (MSNBC's "Hardball," 10/5/04)

MSNBC's Chris Matthews Calls The Debate Between Vice President Cheney The "Howitzer" And Senator John Edwards The "Water Pistol." (MSNBC's "Hardball," 10/05/04)

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell: "I Think Dick Cheney Did Awfully Well, At, First Of All, Putting John Edwards In His Place. Saying That I Have Been Presiding Over The Senate, And I Didn't Meet You Until Tonight. Talking About His Not Having Been On The Job Was Pretty Devastating." (MSNBC's "Hardball," 10/5/04)

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "I Tell You, Tonight, No Doubt About It, Edwards Got Obliterated By Dick Cheney. This Is The Most Surprising Part. This Debate Actually Turned In Cheney's Direction When They Started Talking About Domestic Issues. I Thought Cheney Handled The Foreign Policy Issues Very Well." (MSNBC's "Hardball," 10/5/04)

Let's go for Friday.