Foreign policy debate mistakes
Some of Bush's mistakes:
| 0:06:10 | "Do you believe the election of Senator Kerry on November the 2nd would increase the chances of the U.S. being hit by another 9/11-type terrorist attack?" "No, I don't believe it's going to happen. I believe I'm going to win." |
| 0:07:55 | "The enemy understands a free Iraq will be a major defeat in their ideology of hatred. That's why they're fighting so vociferously." |
| 0:14:20 | "Of course we're after Saddam Hussein -- I mean bin Laden." |
| 0:15:44 | Bush tries to pound on the podium. |
| 0:30:57 | "What's he say to Alexander Kwasniewski of Poland?" |
| 0:32:37 | "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." |
| 0:40:25 | "Let me finish" (who was interrupting him?) |
| 0:42:20 | "You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can" |
| 0:45:35 | Bush interrupts Kerry. Lehrer lets Bush respond, but Bush pauses for five seconds and then babbles about mixed messages. |
| 0:52:00 | In response to a question about Iraq: "the enemy attacked us, Jim". (Kerry called him on it.) |
| 1:10:35 | "You cannot lead if you send mexed missages." (How are the Capitol Steps going to make fun of this spoonerism?) |
| 1:11:55 | Referring to his daughters: "I'm trying to put a leash on them." (Kerry called him on it: "Well, I know. I've learned not to do that.") |
| several times | Being the president is hard work. |
Some of Kerry's mistakes:
| 0:37:00 | "United States, the America and Great Britain" |
| 0:57:15 | "Global test". (Bush called him on it.) |
| 0:58:00 | "Iran and Iraq are now more dangerous -- Iran and North Korea are now more dangerous." |
The times refer to the Washington Post's Real stream, which I watched using Real Alternative and Gebest's Media Player Classic. Political Animal: Clip Contest, commenters on Daily Kos, and georgewbush.com caught some mistakes I might have missed otherwise. I copied some quotes from the MSNBC/FDCH transcript of the debate.
October 4th, 2004 at 5:28 am
I don’t understand why everyone likes to focus on the small nuances their characters. I personally don’t care about Kerry’s tan, Bush’s slip of the tongue, or any of the other trivial matters people keep talking about. There are life and death issues on the table, and they should be the focus of our attention.
October 4th, 2004 at 9:58 am
I don’t understand why so many Americans still support devil Bush.
Saddam only harmed Iraq but Bush harmed the world.
October 4th, 2004 at 3:43 pm
I’m treading dangerously close to the line that separates this currently-manageable thread from a flame war, but exactly how did Bush “[harm] the world”? By removing a sometimes-unruly dictator from office? By removing a dictator who has disobeyed multiple UN resolutions saying, “Shape up or we reserve the right to discuss what to do about you”? By telling the world that the US cares about itself more than it cares about the rest of the world? I’m sure France and other countries on the UNSC care more about themselves than they care about the rest of the world — it’s just that in this case, interests coincided.
(Please note that I’m not even coming close to questioning the veracity or falseness of Bush’s statements, past or present, in my questions. Please ignore those issues and respond only to the specific questions I asked, because any responses you make in this area will be irrelevant to the questions I do ask.)
October 4th, 2004 at 3:44 pm
Oh, by the way Jesse – the Post button on your comment preview page is broken and gives a 404.
October 5th, 2004 at 2:54 am
Americans should not vote Bush not only because he started a war in Iraq IMMORALLY, he PRACTICALLY harmed the peaceful of the world and the world economy as well.
You could see the outcome of the war. Lots of innocent people died in Iraq. The return is not the peace but even more terror attack in the world. The oil price also goes up to historical high as a result and hurts the recovery of the economy.
October 5th, 2004 at 4:37 pm
Err, some more of Kerry’s mistakes(to balance the list a bit).
“Right now the president is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to research bunker-busting nuclear weapons.”
Hundreds of millions? Try $35m.
“And I was probably one of the first senators, along with Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire, a former senator, go down into the KGB underneath Treblinka Square and see reams of files with names in them.”
Treblinka Square was a Nazi death camp, not a KGB area.
“And we got weapons of mass destruction crossing the border every single day, and they’re blowing people up.”
Obvious.
And some of the stuff about Bush is mostly looking for things to harp on and couln’t in anyway be considered a mistake. Come on… “Referring to his daughters: “I’m trying to put a leash on them.” (Kerry called him on it: “Well, I know. I’ve learned not to do that.”)” is a mistake?
I personally think Kerry won this debate, at least rhetorically.
October 6th, 2004 at 11:11 am
Nigel Tufnel: “Well, that’s just nitpicking, isn’t it?”