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October 04, 2004

The Clash of the Titans: The First Presidential Debate

On Thursday September 30th, millions watched President Bush and Senator Kerry go on their first face-to-face debate to prove whose fit to be the next commander in chief. The main topics discussed were foreign policies and homeland security. The debate gave each candidate an opportunity to express their views in hopes to influence huge audiences for the November 2nd election.

Kerry focused on the war on Iraq calling it "a colossal error of judgment." Meanwhile, Bush accused Kerry of being inconsistent and made this the basis of his arguments throughout the debate. Kerry retaliated by stating that President Bush had left the US bearing 90% of the casualties and 90% of the costs. But neither of the candidates managed to deliver a clear blow to show the audience who was victorious on the debate. John Shovelan, a Washington correspondent, states, "He [Kerry] didn't land, though, a king hit, he didn't knock the President out."

On the overall performance of each candidate:
- Kerry was direct, knowledgeable and stirred far from the indecisive attitude that he has been projecting throughout his campaign.
- Bush was strong, defensive and held a firm grasp on the issues.

They ended the debate with the problem in the Sudanese region of Darfur and they both agreed that nuclear proliferation is the number one threat in the United States.

Although the pre-debate polls showed Americans divided almost evenly over whom they would likely vote for, according to a CBS News Poll, the polls started to sway the uncommitted voters to Kerry's favor. Forty-three percent of the uncommitted voters who watched the debate believed that Kerry was the winner, whereas twenty-eight percent chose Bush.
Read more on the details:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/01/opinion/polls/main646712.shtml

Posted by Wild Bill at 01:59 AM | Comments (520)