Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

It's debatable

Nobody was expecting much from last Thursday night's debate.

Bush and Kerry had signed a memorandum of agreement the size of a Manhattan phone book. Who wants to see a prefab debate, was the question.

I tuned in on the off-chance that George would forget what state he was in or Kerry would finally lose it and kick George in the groin.

I was disappointed at the civility shown by both men but impressed with the give and take. They were both substantive, though George had about twenty minutes of material for the ninety minute show, and finally the differences between the two were clearly defined.

The lights indicating time remaining to talk showed a profound difference in the two.

Kerry seemed to be ready for more time and had to rush to get his points across before being timed out.

Bush had finished his prepared remarks before the caution light came on. The little man in his head was screaming for that red light to come on.

Most impressive was John Kerry. "He found his voice," was the oft-quoted line from the spin-doctors after the debate. I have to say I was on pins and needles waiting for Kerry to screw things up.

He didn't.

He was on point, focused and committed to the difference between the two of them. He looked much more like a president than did Bush.

Bush, on the other hand, looked confused at times and gibbered quite a bit, always returning to his one and only debating point -- Kerry is a flip-flopper. His one good point, according to one post-fight pundit, was in response to Kerry's determination to get other nations to help in rebuilding Iraq.

"How are you going to get them on board if you think this is the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

The answer of course is that the deed is done, the fray is entered no matter how clumsily and ill timed it is in everyone's interest to see that Iraq does not become a haven for terrorism. It won't just be the USA that will suffer. Just ask the citizens of Madrid.

Another interesting factor in the debate was the split-screen effect. While one candidate was speaking we got to see the reaction shots from the other. Kerry seemed to know that and Bush did not. He was clearly troubled by some of Kerry's arguments. At one point he smirked so hard I thought his teeth would fall out.

And for some reason the more miffed he got, the skinnier his neck became. He ended up looking like his own caricature in the political cartoons. Alfred E. Newman with an impacted hemorrhoid springs to mind.

Kerry knew about the camera. When Bush was talking, Kerry took notes or just shook his head. I did catch an eyeball roll when Bush, like his trainer Cheney, mixed up Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

The result was a victory for Kerry.

It was not a slam-dunk but it didn't need to be. Kerry had to energize his Democratic base. He had to prove to them that he has a chance to win so that they will get out and hustle votes in those swing states.

Bush probably didn't disappoint his base. He displayed his normal bug-eyed rooster, never back down, and never admit you are wrong attitude.

Tuesday night has John Edwards against Ernst Stavro Blofeld AKA Dick Cheney in a Vice Presidential debate. Edwards should be able to use his oily lawyer skills to ambush the old geezer and send him running back under his rock.

Kerry has always been a late bloomer. He beat Bill Weld for Governor and Howard Dean in the primaries in the eleventh hour. We may yet see another Bush sent packing after one term. Maybe I'll hold off on that move to Vanuatu.