Dubya Vs. Algore: Debate I
Ampol Readers React

From: Ruth
Re: Bush's Notes

Did you guys see old Georgie Dumbya Bush rush back to his podium to pick up the papers he had left there? I know they were notes telling him what to say, but his rush to pick them up makes me wonder what else was in there. Do you suppose it was their list of dirty tricks that they have planned to pull in the future or what?

He attacked Al Gore's character and credibility at the end. Gore did not answer him back and I think that is a mistake because that is the spiel they have used against him since the campaign first started, and Gore has got to fight back at these lies and smears. Every time he lets those charges go unanswered, many people believe what Dumbya is saying. 
However, the polls they were showing right after the debate showed Al Gore winning 48% to 41%. I really wanted him to smash that cocky look off Dumbya's face with a neat attack about Bush's connections to big oil and his military service.

Maybe in the next debate he will attack Dumbya's credibility. I certainly hope so!

From: Doug
Re: Instant Polls

Dave and the Editors, you were on the money about the press spin.  Nothing made we want to lose my lunch more than the talking heads on NBC, CNN and even CBS talking about last night's debate ending in a "dead heat" and how "well" George W. Bush did, only to look like fools when two instant viewer polls deemed Gore the winner by a minimum of seven percent, and a panel of six debate coaches gave Gore the win by 5 to 1.

TV pundits are shills for the GOP.

From: anneboggs247
Re: The Shrub

The Shrub should count his blessings.  No, not the test-takers who helped him at Andover, Yale and Harvard, not the paper-shufflers in the Air National Guard who helped him stay AWOL for a year, not the investors who lost all their money when his oil companies went "ar-BUST-o," not the editorialists who support him.

The Shrub should thank God that Vice President Al Gore did not play the character assassination game last night after His Shrubness attempted to start a round of that favorite Beltway game.

Gore could have mauled Shrub for his brand of "character" -- like making fun of death row inmates before he signs their death warrants, or signing into law a "concealed carry" law so full of loopholes that a pre-law freshman could have seen the blood on the church wall, or engaging in a drunken, expletive-filled public rant aimed at a well-respected journalist in front of his family.

But Gore took the high road -- and won on character.

The Editors reply: We loved your note, Anne -- is your last name really Boggs?  If so, with views like that, we have to guess that you are not directly  related to the Hale-Lindy-Cokie wing of the family!

From: Tim Hundsdorfer
Re: Gore's Reluctance to Engage Bush a Little Unnerving

Gore won't win any debates by allowing Bush to attack his character and question his numbers without response.

Gore's attempt to show how Bush is prepared to play a Ponzi scheme with Social Security at the same time he uses the same $1.6 trillion surplus for what I counted as four distinct programs--tax cuts, Social Security privatization, pay increases for the military, and education--falls flat, because voters aren't sophisticated enough to get the big budget picture. The debates were an opportunity for Gore to really gig Bush on his budget plan shell game, but instead of engaging him and giving a series of left right combinations, Gore tried a number of class-warfare haymakers that probably failed to land. Although Gore is right, it's not enough.

But the Gore is startlingly sanguine about Bush's assault on his character. It's a lot like Dukakis and Willie Horton. Bush's whining that he was being outspent was too much--and Gore let it slide! Bush raised so much money during the primary that he didn't even get federal match--who is he to talk about being a PAC whore? What about asking who has stayed at the Texas governor's mansion?

Not a word about gun control! What gives? This guy signed a law to let people carry guns to church and high school football games--and he's getting off the hook for it. This isn't the same as calling the guy a cokehead--it's simply a differentiation of policy!

Gore only seems to be comfortable talking budget numbers and engaging Bush on his tax plan. Voters seem incapable of putting this in a meaningful context. Whereas Bush is allowed a great deal of impunity on a wide range of issues from his character, leadership on the gun issue and oversimplified foreign policy understanding.

If Gore starts riding a tank, I'm really gonna be scared.