The New Road

I watched most of the debate last night--while also watching the 'Stros lose their first round. I agree both looked pretty lackluster and not ready for a knock-down drag out type debate with a clear victor--which I think both sides were hoping for.

Here's what I took away from the answers I watched last night. Neither one of these candidates has a clue about healthcare and how to make real changes. Both of them profess to be religious men who embrace their leader, respect that others have the right to worship as they choose and make decisions based on information and policy, not religious advisors. They both presented a lot of numbers that turned out to be bunk (according to fact checkers on at least two different news channels. At every opportunity, Bush said how much more money he had put into programs than his predecessors (yeah, so what?); Kerry talked about veterans and their opinions and what they're missing out on under this administration. And then both presented their rebuttals.

In terms of their presentations, Kerry is droll, dull and unengaging. His words are fine and his ideas are fine, but his presentation is incredibly boring to watch--no facial expressions, no voice inflections, etc. Bush is boring to watch as well, but at least he is a little animated. True, his attempts at humor did not meet with laughter. I'm thinking this was not the forum in which to say, "My wife speaks better English than I do."

I was pleased to see that they actually answered most of the questions that were asked of them...not ones they wanted to talk about. Of, they used half of their time on their own agendas before they actually answered the question, but I guess that's beside the point!:)