illusionofjoy | The 3rd round of the debates: Bush vs. Kerry

Tonight was the third debate overall, and the second round in the presidential debates. Held as a "town hall meeting" at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, the questions came from an audience of "Gallup poll approved" uncommitted voters, fielded by the moderation of ABC new anchor Charles Gibson.

The opening half of this round proved to be the more interesting part, with the focus being on the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues. John Kerry entered the arena with an air of confidence about him. Conversely, George Bush looked apprehensive about having to face off against the Democratic challenger once more. This nervousness degenerated into anger and cocky miscalculations on the president's part in the first part of the debate as Bush, continually on the defensive, rudely interrupted the moderator in an attempt to rebut Kerry's statements. At one point, Bush even verbally plowed through the moderator's decision to move onto the next question in order to counter one of Kerry's claims. It was as if the president were a child on a playground, trying to convince everyone that he was the big cheese of the group, but ultimately looking little more than petty. His flushed face an irritated expressions only served to reinforce his verbal defensiveness.

Domestic issues led to more dry rhetoric for both candidates. While Kerry remained calm and well-poised throughout the entirety of the debate, it was during this second act that the fire in Bush died down and began acting like a candidate who might actually be concerned that his polls could drop. The command of the facts remained squarely in the Kerry camp. However, Bush successfully gave the same perception of compassion and empathy that his opponent had been showing the whole night. On foreign issues, Bush comes off as a bully, however, on domestic issues, he appears more like the father of the neighbour kid.

Still, the man who appeared more presidential - especially during the first half of the debate - was John Kerry. Judging by the second half alone, one would have to ceede that this debate was a draw. However, in the first half, Bush's actions, which would have been political suicide in a race less close than this one, squarely gave this debate to the democrats. As I see it, this leaves our current score as follows:

Republicans - 0
Democrats - 3

John Kerry and democratic party may be winning these debates, however, his performance tonight leads me to believe that he is going to have to take a more passionate stand on domestic issues if he is truly going to swing the vote in his favour. Surprisingly for a debate held in Missouri, the issue of gay marriage did not come up once.