I almost broke out into laughter when Bush said “I don’t think it’s credible to cite the largest news sources…nevermind”. Even though Bush didn’t finish his thought, I think he pretty much shot himself in the foot right there.
I agree with most of what has been said in this thread thus far, except for all the “ANYBODY BUT BUSH!!” rhetoric that a couple of people seem fond of throwing around. Bush isn’t the best president, for sure, but I’d trust him with the presidency over anybody here at RPGC, for example (but then again, who wouldn’t?). And I’d trust him more than Ralph Nader, for sure. But more than John Kerry? That, I’m not so sure…
Kerry actually impressed me in the last debate. When he stops trying to be so serious, and he talks like a real person, rather than a Frankenstein’s Monster, I actually kind of like the guy. I mean, he’s got his faith, he hunts, and he likes ketchup. What more could you ask for in a guy?
And I don’t see anything chilling about Bush’s response to the religion question at all. In fact, I would have been shocked if he said anything differently, since as a Christian, he is obligated to have his faith be his highest priority. Unless you’re just chilled by people who are religious, of course…o_O
Unfortunately, I only caught the last half of the debate…
I liked a lot of Kerry’s stances on things better; however, it was really not cool of him to attack bush so damn much. Even on stances they both seemed to agree on, or questions where he wasn’t making the rebuttal, he took the opportunity to say some shit about Bush. That really isn’t good debating. But, I suppose debating ability has little to do with it…Most people seem to find it a good thing to do that, for some reason. In any case, the most important thing is the stances on the issues, and I liked what I heard from Kerry a lot more.
It was this quote near the end that I found a little unsettling, not the whole thing: "I believe that God wants everybody to be free. That’s what I believe.
And that’s been part of my foreign policy. In Afghanistan, I believe that the freedom there is a gift from the Almighty. And I can’t tell you how encouraged I am to see freedom on the march."
The disconcerting part of his statement came when he said, “God wants everybody to be free. And that’s a part of my foreign policy.” In essence, he’s saying that his policy of starting aggressive wars against “evil,” over false pretenses, is founded on divine right. A government that believes that it has the approval of heaven to wage aggressive wars, no matter what the cost, is a government that doesn’t consider itself accountable to anyone on earth and sees no need for analysis of reality or empirical evidence.
Yeah, but shouting “CRUSAAAAAAADES” is so old it’s relatively new.