LOOKING AT ROUND 2

As the MSM continues to harp on Kerry’s brilliant win in the last debate while the candidate himself tries to explain, re-explain, nuance and fudge just exactly what he meant about a “global test”. Even the silver tongued pretty boy, John Edwards had trouble explaining how the “global test” isn’t really a test, maybe just a pop-quiz, and even if it is a real test, it’s more continental than global.

Their logic goes something like this - John Kerry is for a strong America. John Kerry would never give another nation veto power on American security but (Have you noticed that there is always a “but” with this crowd. I voted for the war but against funding it. I voted for the Patriot Act but want to change it. I voted for No Child Left Behind but want to repeal it. Al Qaeda is in 60 countries around the world but was never in Iraq. etc. etc. etc. etc.) we must work with the UN and the international community. We can’t continue to go it alone when American security is at stake. blah, blah, blah. So while Kerry gets adulation on style from the media, he is getting hammered on substance by Bush.

Friday night’s debate will be even trickier for Bush than the first. The so-called Town Hall format is a set-up against the incumbent. Think about it, a forum of supposed “undecided voters” asking the candidates questions. Why are they undecided? Conventional wisdom says that this election is a referendum on the current administration. If that is true, who are the undecided voters? They must be people who have a problem with the administration. That being the case, we can look for Kerry to field softball questions, a la Jim Lehrer, “Well, just how tall are you senator?” while Bush gets the high hard ones like, “Have you stopped beating the prisoners at Abu Gahraib?”

Bush can still win. He has to stay focused and include a bit of offense this time around. Bush did an admirable job defending his record in the last debate. But, the impression was that he played defense all night. This left the impression that he was drubbed. Friday he will need to defend his record while contrasting Kerry’s liberal and dismal record on defense, taxes, and social issues. If Bush said Kerry was the most liberal member of the senate 50 times, it wouldn’t be enough.

Other possible zingers could include:

“You were privy to the same intelligence as I was, if you’d ever bothered to show up for the committee meetings.”

“You’ve irritated our allies now to the point that even the French and Germans say they won’t send troops to Iraq.”

“If you can’t stand up to Howard Dean, how are you going to stand up to the McDonald’s dude when he shorts you your fries at the drive through?”