ANNANDALE, Va. — The immediate consensus on the Fox right was
that Bush had hammered the Tall Guy rather decisively — this from
the same hard-to-please folks who had felt Bush hadn’t done too
well in last Friday’s rather successful townhall debate. The ABC
left preferred to call last night a draw, though one could detect a
lack of confidence on that score. On Nightline George
Stephanopoulos conceded Bush was “much more likable and human” than
Kerry — this in reply to a question from Ted Koppel fretting at
why Kerry had “failed to ignite” his campaign. Not the sort of
comments one might expect from media libs confident their guy had
carried the night. Even Nightline guest John Edwards came
off churlish. Why else would he have claimed that last night’s
debate was less important than the first two if not because his guy
had lost and thus his own political career was entering its
lameduck phase?
Scoring these events doesn’t make much sense, in any case. For
one thing, Kerry was Kerry was Kerry at all three debates. It’s not
a pleasant sight to see a tall guy overmatched. But what else can
one conclude when over and over Kerry responded by rote recitation
of his talking points? This allowed Bush to escape more than once.
In other circumstances, for instance, Bush would have been hammered
to calling on the young and healthy to abstain from flu shots this
winter, owing to shortages of the vaccine UNDER HIS WATCH. Instead
what did Kerry say? “This really underscores the problem with the
American health care system.” You know, five million Americans lost
their health insurance under President Bush. Children nationwide
aren’t being covered. So rather than zing Bush on a timely issue
ripe for demagogy, Kerry got zinged instead.
Mr. Schieffer: “Mr. President would you like to add
something?”
Mr. Bush: “I would, thank you. I want to remind people listening
tonight that a plan is not a litany of complaints.”
At other times Kerry just sounded like warmed-over Gore. Comedy
show talent scouts must have been licking their chops. He explained
his “truth standard” this way: “That’s how you gain legitimacy with
your own countrypeople … ” Countrypeople? As in Friends, Romans,
and Countrypeople? At one point he defended religion only to end up
a practicing pagan, again via the weirdest wording: “And I think
that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your
faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any
official way to other people. That’s why I fight against poverty.
That’s why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this
earth.” Give the poor guy an L.L. Bean gift certificate and a Good
Earth catalogue.
Most painful was his closing oration, which could have performed
by Kevin Kline practicing being presidential in front of a mirror
in the movie Dave. Read it very slowly, as if you were
practicing too. “I ask you to allow me the privilege of leading
this great nation of ours, of helping us to be stronger here at
home and to be respected again in the world. And most of all, to be
safer forever. Thank you, good night, and God … bless … the …
United … States … of … America.” It’s the closest Kerry ever
will come to delivering orotund from the Oval Office.
At times Kerry appeared to be wincing. He couldn’t keep his eyes
open beyond a squint. Was it because Bush was showing no mercy
working him over? Certainly Bush showed him no respect. Where Kerry
regularly referred to him as “the President,” Bush didn’t have the
grace to refer to Kerry as anything other than “he” — unless, in a
more compassionate moment, he deigned to call him “my
opponent.”
Kerry cowered in other ways. Those bishops who don’t want
Catholics to vote for him? “I respect their views. I completely
respect their views. I am a Catholic…” Bush waxing about his
religious beliefs? “Well, I respect everything that the President
has said and certainly respect his faith. I think it’s important
and I share it…” Last and certainly least, he was asked about his
fearsome wife — and he took a pass, in favor of some invented
story about his mother on her death bed. This, mind you, right
after Bush had scored huge in talking about his perfect wife. One
could easily conclude Kerry must be a very lonely man.
To add insult to injury, Bush beat Kerry at his own game: he was
the nuanced one. Is homosexuality a choice? “You know, Bob, I don’t
know, I just don’t know.” Illegal immigration? “I see it as a
serious problem. I see it as a security issue. I see it as an
economic issue, and I see it as a human rights issue.” You could
see him jump with joy after throwing those categories back in Bob
Schieffer’s face.
And although there were no questions about the environment, Bush
went ahead anyway to demonstrate that he’s a recycler. Amazingly,
he led off his closing remarks with the story of a West Texas
painting by Tom Lea. It depicts a mountain scene, which, as Lea has
described, shows the east side of the mountain. “It’s the sunrise
side not the sunset side. It’s the side to see the day that is
coming not to see the day that has gone.” The thing is, Bush told
the same story in his acceptance speech at the Philadelphia
convention four years ago. Expect to hear it a third time next
Inauguration Day.
