So What Did You Think Of The Presidential Debate?

My thoughts; They both did well. Kerry answered some questions for me that until this point I had not clearly heard from him. I believe in my heart that they both have a deep love of this country and want the same goal, peace. They just have very different opinions on how to get us their.
Bush made a great point about the talks with N. Korea. A lot of work has been done to create multilateral negotiations. China is a huge advantage with the leverage they have over N. Korea and to go bipartisan at this point would be a bad maneuver. Kim Jong II is a very smart, very evil nut case and a bipartisan discussion with him will not work. He needs a force stronger then just the US. We need Japan, China, Russia and S. Korea in this effort to get Kim Jong II to stand down on his weapons program.
As far as us having and developing nuclear weapons, I'd have to say that is in our countries best interest as well. Because as long as there are people out there with Nuclear capability that wish great harm upon the US, the US needs to stand in a position of defense.
Furthermore, I don't see going into Iraq as a mistake (I did at first but it evolved) but as a developing strategy to target terrorist. Not to say they were an easier target but let's face it Hussein was a bad guy and his people suffered under his dictatorship. This being known, we used it to create a reason to go help these people be free. In turn, once Iraq is set up to defend itself we will have an ally in them. Slowly but progressively we should work our way into that sector of the world so as to negotiate more with Saudi Arabia. They are way heavy in the terror game. Right now the Saudis are too tough to tackle and yes it is about oil and money because we are not in a position to attack the terrorist networks their. Hopefully soon though after some networking in that area we can begin to build a solid and more effective relationship with Saudi. It's a tactical maneuver and I believe it can work. But you can't make stupid mistakes with them or they will "f" us up.
Bush repeatedly said, "you can not change your mind with these people, you can not admit your wrong and you can not waiver because of political pressure." I hope Kerry hears WHAT he is saying and adopts it in his thinking. It's okay if you know you made a bad decision and to change your mind but for the love of God spin it differently then saying, "I made the wrong choice". Just move forward but in a slightly different direction. Evolve with your thought and feelings. I don't think that Bush thinks he makes the right decisions all the time but he wont admit it because YOU CAN'T SHOW WEAKNESS OR MISCALCULATION WITH THESE OTHER COUNTRIES. They will find your weakness and hurt you with it. The leaders of other countries that operate under dictatorships do not think like you and I they think the same way as Stalin, Hitler, Moussalini etc.
I think Kerry has the potential to be one of the best Presidents we've seen. His mentors are those that most of us can agree on. But he needs to start seeing the enemy for what they are and stop trying to think you can simply reason with them because it's not possible. He also needs to recognize that pulling out of Iraq in 6 months is going to cause some really bad ramifications for us. We must finish the job Bush started. Shift focus from it was the wrong place at the wrong time, to ok were here, deal with it, finish it and move on. There is no time for looking back and criticising what should have or could have been done right now. There will be time later just not right now.
Personally, Bush is a good man and I respect his devotion to this country and the people. He's strong and yes comes off as arrogant but I don't believe he is arrogant. I believe he's following a philosophy of, "you can't and shouldn't admit to your enemy when your wrong you simply must correct your path and move steadily forward." And also be confident in yourself if for nothing else be confident in your core values and what chief objective is. He is a strategic thinker. I like that and if he tells us his strategy he tells our enemies. That's like telling the opposing team in a football game what play your going for next.

The debate was awesome. I was at a Democratic debate watching party last night, watching it live.

I never expected Kerry to be so good. Bush was on the defensive from the start. Very nice.

I can't wait until the next debate, I'll join in on the drinking games. People last night were drinking every time Bush said, "hard work."

If any one could watch that debate and still say they would vote for Bush then they are pathetic...period. I have always said that you need to get tested and have a license to drive and I think you should have to do the same thing to vote...only this test would be an IQ test...if you don't get a score of over 120 you can't vote...

The country would run a whole lot better if the morons who read the bible (those who I am sure would fail the IQ test mentioned above) would just stay in church and pray and let the rest of us vote...live our lives...and make the world a better place.

I think it is clear that GW would not qualify to vote and certainly not qualify to be President!!

I've heard a lot of comments, and just wanted to add my .02 :p

First, in terms of the debate, I have to agree with Brian that Bush continued to beat a very dead horse. It's ok to reiterate a message, to get it across, but it's one thing when you hear the message everyday, and it's another thing when it's said over a dozen times in 90 minutes. We get it, Kerry is supposed to be a flip-flopper, if anyone is unsure that they are trying to make him seem like a flip-flopper, they must be seriously stupid. Can the Republicans please find something else to beat into the ground?

Secondly, about Iraq. I think Kerry made the right decision. I think everytime he talks about it, Bush tries to flip it around. Kerry did support going into Iraq, he did support removing Saddam Hussein, but supported it on false pretenses from the Bush administration. He assumed they had a plan, from start to finish, and it turns out the only plan they had was to find Saddam Hussein. Now in the aftermath, where more people are dying, the cost of keeping troops there, the cost of rebuilding, and the lives lost since Saddam was captured, it's now obvious that going into Iraq was a bad idea. Sure, you can't blame the Bush administration for pursuing a good idea at the time, but you can blame them for poor foresight, bad execution, and not having a fail-proof plan. And Kerry isn't saying to just abandon Iraq, he's saying there is a mess, and we have to deal with it - but he's also saying that we created the mess, which Bush doesn't want to say. It's the equivalent of coming out of Vietnam and saying, "We still think it was a good idea." People are saying that Kerry needs to support the war in order to support the troops. That's ridiculous. You can have a love for this country, respect and honor for our nation's military, and still believe that the war in Iraq was a crock of shit. As far as bringing the military home, as Kerry reiterated in the debates, he doesn't want to bring them all home in six months, he wants to START bringing them home in six months. And that's what he needs to do. In six months, we will have been occupying Iraq for two years. A year and half already we've been there, and what have we accomplished? We've removed Saddam Hussein. And Bush wants four more years? He didn't accomplish shit in his first four, why give him four more?

And people have said they feel safer with Bush as president. I don't know about you, but since they captured Saddam Hussein it hasn't made ME feel safer. Saddam Hussein wasn't sending people on airplanes to blow up our buildings and kill our innocent people. Yeah, the one who is doing that is still FREE. And look at the wonders we've done in Afghanistan. We've been there for THREE years, we "freed" them, three years ago, and they haven't even had their elections yet (but Iraq is going to have elections pretty soon - right).

And all the talk about North Korea - North Korea is a threat, a real threat. Not a supposed WMD threat, because we know for a fact they have nuclear armaments. And Bush talks about how diplomacy wouldn't work with Iraq, so why does he think it'll work with North Korea. There's pretty much a consensus that Kim is a psycho, probably more so than even Saddam Hussein was, but we can't go to war with him, we just need to sit down and talk. Oh, maybe it's because North Korea has shit for natural resources that we can take, or perhaps because we've got our hands full with the BS war in Iraq and we can't actually afford the troops or the money to put pressure on North Korea.

Anyways, I've ranted on enough I suppose, but the bottom line is, I dislike Bush, and I'm not saying Kerry is the right man for the job, but he's better than the one we have.

Michael