I’m not entirely caught up with the post-debate threads that made it into my newsreader last night and this morning, but according to a couple posts from Kos last night, I may have been too pessimistic in my debate wrap-up — people seem to be giving Kerry a definite win.
The Scorer’s Table unenthusiastically reports this bout as going to Senator John Kerry by 12 rounds to 4, with 5 rounds even. On individual points, Senator Kerry is awarded a net total of 19 points, and President Bush a net of 2, having undermined his own effort with no less than eight points subtracted, three of them in a disastrous 12th Round in which the President had to be told time was up, answered a question with, in essence, ‘all of the above,’ and stumbled by inadvertently criticizing himself by claiming the borders of Texas were tighter than they’d been when he was Governor there. He also lost points for having twice invoked the 2000 election, and for once having given back at least a minute of time when the question hadn’t really been answered.
So — final tally 3-0 for Kerry? Not bad, not bad at all.
“Download” by Skinny Puppy from the album Last Rights (1992, 11:01).