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Master Debater - Kerry Delivers
Tonight I watched the debate alone in my hotel room in Findlay, OH. I had no focus group or outside influences. My assessment is as follows:
Senator Kerry and President Bush didn't have any knockout punches thrown, but the debate was a victory for Kerry. Kerry looked very Presidential, knowledgeable, consistent and well tempered which beat the expectations set by the Bush/Cheney campaign. Kerry did a great thing by admitting a mistake when he spoke about voting on the $87 Billion supplemental for Iraq. It made him look human and stands in stark contradiction to the President who refuses to admit mistakes. Bush seemed to stumble and seemed irritated at times. While his answers were on message, the President was very very redundant which exactly fit the expectation set by the Kerry campaign. People were looking for something other than talking points from the President and that did not happen.
The telephone calls I have received in the moments since the debate favor Kerry. The key will be in the polling that comes out over the next couple days. NBC's focus group from Ohio immediately following the debate was a unanimous win for Kerry. Note: My conclusions are based solely on my gut reaction and calls from fellow liberals.
Please participare in our post debate forum. Keep scrolling down to comment!
Post Debate Discussion
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Select the picture that best summarizes your reaction to tonight's debate and vote in our poll in the right hand margin:
Can i just tell you... I was disgusted by the whole thing.
What are you crazy? Kerry won.
Bush won, clearly
I'm still in the middle (this picture is featured on new merchandise at The Chief Source / Keeler Report store... click on the picture to see the store www.cafepress.com/chiefsource)
Post Debate Discussion
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Nader Off the Ohio Ballot
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The staff at the Chief Source has come to a censuses and pledged the Patriot level. Share your thoughts on this issue in our comments section.
Bill O'Reilly on 60 Minutes
Exerpt from the show transctipt:
But there's more. He supported President Bush on the war in Iraq, but declared that he would never trust the Bush administration again if no weapons of mass destruction were found.
With none yet found, O'Reilly grilled the president on Saddam Hussein's chemical arsenal in an interview last week that hasn't aired yet.
And Iraq is why the O'Reilly finger is increasingly being pointed at the Bush White House. "A huge mistake was made in underestimating the aftermath of Saddam," says O'Reilly.
"I think Rumsfeld has to take the responsibility there, because he's the defense secretary and it looks like he didn't have a clue that this was gonna happen. But, just like a baseball manager, I think he should take one for the team."
As for the president, O'Reilly says he hasn’t made up his mind yet.
"You're going to vote for George W. Bush," asks Wallace. "Oh, yeah," says O'Reilly.
"You think he's a great president, right," says Wallace. "Wrong," says O’Reilly. "I'm one of those Independent, man. I'm open to be persuaded right away. I've known Kerry for 25 years. He's a patriot. I'm listening to what he has to say."
What does he think about the men from the swift boats who have been bad-mouthing Kerry?
"Awful. It's terrible," says O'Reilly. "It makes me sad that this happens."
And one more surprise. He doesn't consider himself part of what he calls "right-wing radio."
What does he think of talk show host Rush Limbaugh?
"I respect Limbaugh for basically making a success out of himself and putting on an entertaining program. But he's not a primary source of information, or shouldn't be," says O'Reilly. "He's an entertainer. I'm a journalist who provides a program that is entertaining."
Let's get ready to rumble... I mean debate.
Vote for which color tie you think President George W. Bush should wear in his first debate in our latest Chief Source Poll.
Gay
To appear on the Ohio Ballot:
ISSUE 1 PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT(Proposed by Initiative Petition)
Be it Resolved by the People of the State of Ohio:
That the Constitution of the State of Ohio be amended by adopting a section to be designated as Section 11 of Article XV thereof, to read as follows:
Article XV
Section 11. Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.
A majority yes vote is necessary for passage.
Two Men at a Table
I wish that George Bush and John Kerry were going to be this close in the Presidential debates this fall. That is not going to be the case. Last Sunday's debate between Senator Daschle and challenger Thune on Meet The Press helped set the stage for what will be entertaining debates this fall.
A note to our readers: The Chief Source has applied to the Commission on Presidential Debates regarding our press pass for the Vice-Presidential debate at Case Western Reserve. We have yet to get a response.
Presidential Debates Information
First presidential debate: University of Miami Coral Gables, FL Thursday, September 30 Jim Lehrer Anchor and Executive Editor, The NewsHour, PBS
Vice presidential debate: Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH Tuesday, October 5 Gwen Ifill Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator, Washington Week, PBS
Second presidential debate: Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO Friday, October 8 Charles Gibson Co-Anchor, ABC News Good Morning America
Third presidential debate: Arizona State University Tempe, AZ Wednesday, October 13 Bob Schieffer CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Moderator, Face the Nation
All debates begin at 9:00 EDT
The format of the debates is as follows:
- Each debate shall have a single moderator and last for 90 minutes.
- In the first and third presidential debates and the vice presidential debate the candidates shall be seated with the moderator at a table.
- The first presidential debate shall focus primarily on domestic policy and the third presidential debate shall focus primarily on foreign policy. The second presidential debate shall be held as a town meeting in which citizens will pose questions to the candidates. The vice presidential debate shall cover both foreign and domestic policy topics.
- There shall be no opening statements; there shall be two-minute closing statements.
- The order of questioning and closing statements shall be determined by coin toss.
- The moderator's job in the first and third presidential debates and the vice presidential debate will be to introduce and change topics, to ensure that the participants have equal time, and to encourage some direct exchange among the candidates. The moderators will select all topics and questions.
- In the second presidential debate, the town meeting participants will pose their questions to the candidates. The town meeting participants will review their questions with the moderator before the debate for the sole purpose of avoiding duplicate questions. The participants in the town meeting, to be chosen by the Gallup Organization, will be undecided voters from the St. Louis, Missouri, standard metropolitan statistical area.
- The moderators will have discretion to ask follow-up questions in all debates.
- Each debate shall take place before a live audience.
vote for your favorite picture in our poll
Smith
Reading
Masterlock, Ron, and Chuck discussing whether to go to Teschner's
Garrett Naping at Traditions
Kerry Back on Track
Yesterday John Kerry at NYU outlined his plan for Iraq. I listened to the full speech. It was a solid message and strong delivery. With less than two weeks to the first debates I was relieved to hear a solid case being made. Plenty of time until November...
Kerry's Plan for Iraq
KERRY BRINGS IT ON
Read Kerry’s speech.
Read it. He’s hitting Bush on Iraq--hard. Directly.
His two main rationales – weapons of mass destruction and the Al Qaeda/September 11 connection – have been proved false… by the President’s own weapons inspectors… and by the 9/11 Commission. Just last week, Secretary of State Powell acknowledged the facts. Only Vice President Cheney still insists that the earth is flat. And: Before the war, before he chose to go to war, bi-partisan Congressional hearings… major outside studies… and even some in the administration itself… predicted virtually every problem we now face in Iraq.
This President was in denial. He hitched his wagon to the ideologues who surround him, filtering out those who disagreed, including leaders of his own party and the uniformed military. The result is a long litany of misjudgments with terrible consequences.
He’s right. And it’s clear. He runs through the litany. Then:
In Iraq, this administration has consistently over-promised and under-performed. This policy has been plagued by a lack of planning, an absence of candor, arrogance and outright incompetence. And the President has held no one accountable, including himself.
In fact, the only officials who lost their jobs over Iraq were the ones who told the truth.
Bam!
And then Kerry goes into the officials who told the truth and got the boot.
And it’s clear from the speech that not only has Bush done a terrible job--Kerry will do a better one. Why? Simple. George Bush has no strategy for Iraq. I do. Is that direct, or what? That’s the difference between Bush and Kerry. George Bush has no strategy for Iraq. I do.
The specifics of the plan:
1. Hold an emergency summit of major allies and Iraq’s neighbors to rebuild the coalition.
Greatly expand the project to train Iraq’s troops, and make sure they’re trained better--he’d double classroom training time.
2. Fire the officials responsible for screwing up Iraq’s reconstruction and hire more Iraqi firms instead of Halliburton. Actually spend the reconstruction money.
3. Pull together a U.N. protection force to make sure the elections go forward.
Good ideas. (If people tell you that Bush’s plan is the same as Kerry’s, ask them to list the Pentagon officials who’ve been fired for mismanaging the reconstruction. And ask them which countries are invited to Bush’s emergency summit.) The key thing, though, is that if people recognize that Kerry has a plan and Bush doesn’t, Kerry will win.
Spread the word: if you still think Kerry isn’t fighting back, you aren’t paying attention.
Text taken from The Al Franken Show Blog
Fuel for the Fire
One of the many reasons why the United States is so hated in the Arab world is because of our support of Israel. If you listen to the rhetoric of groups like Al Queda, they talk specifically about the United States giving aid to Israel to kill Palestinians. The following excerpt was taken from an article that was posted on today's Al Jazeera English website. I check this site with some frequency because it is important to see what the media in the Arab world is covering.
US to sell Israel 5000 smart bombs
The United States will reportedly sell Israel nearly 5000 smart bombs in one of the largest weapons deals between the allies in years. The deal could face political controversy since Israel has used such bombs against the Palestinians. In one such instance in July 2002, a one-tone bomb meant for a senior Palestinian resistance fighter also killed 15 civilians in an attack in the Gaza Strip. The deal is worth $319 million and was revealed in a Pentagon report made to the US Congress a few weeks ago, Israeli daily Haaretz said on Tuesday.
Haaretz said Israel sought to obtain the US-made, one-tone "bunker-buster" bombs for a possible future strike against Iran or Syria. A senior Israeli security source confirmed the Haaretz story saying: "... Bunker busters could serve Israel against Iran, or possibly Syria". "Our response to any invasive measure will be massive," Massoud Jazairi, spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said in Tehran. Iran, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, says its nuclear program has only peaceful purposes to meet its growing energy needs. An Iranian defense Ministry spokesman said the disclosure of a US-Israeli deal could be "psychological warfare to test us ... This relationship has a long history. The United States has given Israel more advanced weapons than this."
Full text available here
Total amount raised by the candidates according to the latest FEC reports. Taken from CNN.com
17 Days Until Vice Presidential Debate
Cheney-Edwards contrasts couldn't be greater
Veep debate is likely to be as memorable as Bentsen-Quayle
By Tom Curry
National affairs writer, MSNBC
WASHINGTON - Even before Sen. John Kerry announced that Sen. John Edwards would be his running mate, Democrats were savoring what they expect will be a highlight of this fall’s campaign: when Edwards turns his trial lawyer’s cross-examination skills on Vice President Dick Cheney and the Iraq contracts of Halliburton, the firm Cheney once headed.
The Edwards-Cheney battle is a keen-edged contrast of age (Edwards is 12 years younger than Cheney) and experience (Cheney was serving as President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff when Edwards was a freshman in law school). Not to mention personalities: Cheney’s phlegmatic stump-speaking style amounts at times to almost a radical form of anti-campaigning, a polar opposite from Edwards’s relentlessly peppy populism.
Cheney and Edwards are just as much ideological opposites as are President Bush and Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry. This is emphatically not a case of Kerry putting a conservative Democrat on the ticket to appeal to wavering middle-of-the-road voters, as it would have been if he had chosen Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh.
Story taken from MSNBC.com
This debate will take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH and will be the one of the highlights of the election. Vote on who you think will win in our latest poll.
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