In regards to the debate:

Face it, Kerry mopped the floor with Bush, both in terms of style AND substance. I love the new Republican spin that says, yeah, Kerry won a lot of style points, but he again was just flip-flopping blah blah blah blah....face it, YOUR MAN LOST and looked like an idiot in doing so.

Basic synopsis of Bush's debate: "Well, uhhh, it's really, uhhhh, hard bein' president, and we got ourselves a tough fight o'er der in Iraq, and it's, uhhh, really hard, and uhhh, it's gonna take some time to win, but uhhhh, we're workin' hard, and we gotta be strong...we gotta be strong. (*nod head meaningfully, sigh, then look over at Kerry with a smirk as if it say, "Top that, ya little pansy!"*).

Now a few points: I will be the first to admit Kerry has at times seemingly contradicted himself. So has Bush. So has every candidate that's ever run for office. As for his stance on Iraq, I've done quite a bit of research, and honestly, he's been pretty consistent (but not completely, I'll give you that), as has already been pointed out in this forum. However, why don't we discuss Bush's attempt to stonewall the 9/11 commission? Let's see: 3,000 people killed in the WTC, but we better not investigate it because it might come out that it was partly our fault! And then when the 9/11 commission does finally happen, he blocks his little toadies from testifying under oath! What the hell does that imply?!? And when it's finally all wrapped up, he practically takes credit for the commission, talking about how valuable it was blah blah blah.

Another point: It DOES matter how the President comes across and that the President does seem "Presidential" as Kerry did Thursday night--articulate, calm, confident, knowledgeable, and empathic. The President is our representative to the rest of the world, and I, for one, would personally prefer one who can speak eloquently, in complete sentences, and display some understanding of the complexities of foreign diplomacy.

Which brings me to a final point (and then I need a stiff drink as well). I hate it when Republicans say that by trying to work with other major world powers (no, Poland is not a major world power) and the U.N. to address global issues that we are allowing other nations to determine our foreign policy. Uh, noooo, we're actually "doing" foreign policy, the concept of which is utterly lost on this embarrasment we somehow got stuck with as our President.

Fight on 'SC! Three-Pete Baby!