I thought it was a great debate. While I enjoyed watching Bush squirm much more than anything in last night's debate, it was good to see the sparring here.
I thought the moderator was really mediocre. There was the one gaff where she gave Edwards an extra reply when he shouldn't have had one, and then had to cut him off mid-sentence when she realized the mistake she made. And the question where they weren't allowed to mention their running-mates by name was bizarre.
Both did their share of avoiding questions. For Edwards, I thought he really missed out on the question about partisan politics. Cheney did a good job of giving some serious answers about how they initially had some success in bridging the gap, and how that unravelled as the term went along--he seemed genuinely concerned about the issue. Edwards, on the other hand, simply used the question as a chance to restate all of Kerry's policies, without any mention of partisanship.
The questions about homosexuality produced some really interesting moments--even the demonic incarnation of evil has a human side.
As far as Edwards, I think he's a charismatic guy, but the democrats would be in deep trouble if their ticket was reversed and he was the presidential candidate. It's hard to say who would make a better vice-president between Cheney or Edwards, as they both complement their presidential candidates in different and important ways.
|