NationStates Jolt Archive

In the second debate, Dubya did a couple things that I believe the Democrats should point out very clearly (so I'm going to point them out here) and repeatedly during the final weeks of the campaign:

1. Bush's short temper: He practically yelled at the man asking about Canadian drugs being cheaper, simply because he's been defensive and unable to separate himself personally from the questions asked of him. The Kerry campaign ought to state how a man who can't calmly accept disagreement from the citizens he supposedly represents doesn't deserve to be put in the most important decision making position in this country. They should also point out how that type of defensiveness only increases the risks that he'll engage in detrimental policy when challenged, because he feels overly defensive and can't control himself.

2. Bush's timber company snafu: I own a lumber company? It's been shown very clearly that Dubya did file $84 from part ownership in the lumber company, and hence would be qualified as a "small business" under the Republican definition. Not only did he not answer Kerry's argument, but he then proceeded to act like Kerry was lying about it. If Bush isn't able to keep track of his own personal finances, why would we trust him with the finances of the entire country?

My favorite moments:

1] Bush: "I like the Supreme Court ... they ele ... voted for me."

2] The deer caught in the headlights stare as the man asked about the Patriot Act and why it was usurping his freedoms. You'll notice you don't see that guy in the audience after the debate was over and everyone was on the stage shaking hands with the candidates and getting pics and such.

3] Bush winking at someone in the audience. I vomitted in my mouth a little.

4] Thinking for just a few moments that Kerry was actually going to slap the shit outta Bush.

5] Watching Bush flop around like a dying fish when asked to give 3 mistakes of his.

6] Watching Charlie ask the same question 3 times (about how they were going to cut the debt in half) and giggling as neither candidate actually answered him.

7] Bush implying Canada was a third world country.

8] Is it me, or did it look like Bush gave Kerry a peck on the cheek when they shook hands during the greeting?

9] The timber company thing, of course, because that shows Bush at his finest. Just watch, in a few years he'll be interviewed by Stone Phillips or somesuch reporter and he'll say, "President? I was President? That's news to me!"

10] I'll have to find a still shot of this, but I remember it clearly: The hideous woman just over Bush's left shoulder picking her teeth. I guess she forgot those cameras could see her too. Tee hee.

"Battling green eyeshades."

Metaphor & Metonomy*, and off the top of their heads, at that. Even if it made almost no sense in the context of the conversation, that was still quite a moment.

*It might technically be synecdoche, but I can't spell that.