Overall I thought it was more of the same, though I think Bush gave a slightly better performance than the last one… except one part when he insisted on replying to one of Kerry’s points when the moderator wanted to move on. He essentially went on to reply to it anyway irregardless, and I personally think that may end up reflecting very poorly on him.
Or maybe not, what do I know? :toast:
I thought Kerry won this one, but by a much narrower margin than he is generally considered to have won the first debate (which I did not see.)
I was not satisfied with all of Kerry’s answers. And, several times, I thought he put more time into going after Bush than he should’ve, at the expense of illuminating his plans a little better.
And the thing with the “lumber company” I think was a point where Kerry got too emotional and rattled. But he recovered fairly quickly.
Bush, eh, more of the same. Lots of rhetoric, lots of question dodging, and ad hominem bullshit. And not even relevant ad hominem bullshit, stuff like “senator kennedy is the most liberal member of congress.” 
Yes, I know he meant kerry. But that was funny. I really liked Kerry’s reaction to it, too. Every time Bush tried to pull the “liberal” thing [and what is “bad” about being liberal anyway?"] Kerry was all “oh don’t bring that shit. Labels are bullshit, they don’t mean a thing. People break party line. Labels don’t matter; plans matter.”
Bush had a couple moments. the “I own a timber company? buahahaha” joke was NOT one of them.
I got the impression that Bush knew he got his ass kicked last time, so he had to come out swinging this time around. At least, from the part I saw, that’s the impression I got. And I think to an extent it worked for him. But too many times he went for rhetoric and answers to questions that didn’t answers to the question. Kerry dodged a few too. But I thought his were fewer and further between, and less obviouis.
I’d say about 57-43 in favor of Kerry from the segment I saw.
Bush didn’t look like he did too well, but i didn’t catch all of it and none of the last. The only issue i care about, Do any have plans concerning opening the border with Canada again?
I am still voting for JK, but what both him and G-dub need to do(instead of slandering each other) is actually talk about a plan when they say they have one…or maybe it’s just the idea of a plan being used as propaganda. In the ninety minutes where the electorates debated on things and talked bad about one another’s plans, both candidates failed to even describe their own plans in any sizable detail. JK won by a much smaller margin this time. Bush came out looking like the Texas oil-hustler that he is, and showed signs of being bothered by some of Kerry’s remarks(if they cut that deep, then they must be true), whereas Kerry managed to keep his composure despte a small amount of stage fright. And like him or not(I sure don’t), Bush can be intimidating. oh well, let’s see how round three shapes up.
(If Colorado doesn’t recognize the fact that I registered before their deadline in about a week, I’ll get an absentee ballot from the State of Ohio, where I am currently registered.)
I think that this debate was pretty even. Bush really came around after the first debate. I couldn’t really declare either candidate the victor of the debate. I didn’t like how at one point Bush insisted on responding to Kerry’s comment despite the moderator telling him that they were moving on though. It just showed to me that he cared more about himself than America since he did the same thing with the UN on Iraq. It just signals to me that his going against the UN to show America’s power wasn’t so much about the UN as it was Bush wanting to do his own thing. If he can’t even respect an American moderator in a debate, it just shows that he cares mroe about getting his own personal poitn across, regardless of the rules or control which can hurt us on the national stage as we have seen. Kerry should eb able to get Bush in the next debate since it is on domestic policy which Bush has handled worse than foreign policy.