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Finer points
Bilmore, "My take (completely partisan, of course), was that Bush is saying "you keep telling the world that my problem in Iraq is that I skipped the international route, but here I am in NK trying just such a route, because I happen to think it will work better in this situation, and you're complaining about that, too."
Perhaps this is what you heard because you wanted to hear it. Problem is a few key words to connect the dots [not a cue] went missing. He talked about his tactic for NK. But didn't use it as an example of the two things Kerry criticized him for failing to use: (1) diplomacy and (2) "try everything else [but war] first." The viewing public would have enjoyed some stories about our President overseas somewhere using his influence as the leader of the Free World to accomplish something that is good for us as Americans and is good for the world over. Examples that show our President is respected and influential througout the world, even if his views aren't always agreed with.
Someone on here mentioned the failure to pick up on the 90% thing by putting it in historical context -- this is a good point. America has always taken the lead in righting a wrong and taking the right road for a cause, and sometimes dying for it ......[all these things should have been said].
Because I think for Americans (even the anti-war ones and/or the ones who profess their love for building UN ties and "coalitions" with cheese-eating surrender monkey type countries) there is VERY MUCH an appeal to the idea of belonging to a country that won't hesitate to flip the bird to the majority of the world when we are doing the right thing. It's the cowboy thing. Practically every movie made in the country has a subplot of someone going over someone else's head to accomplish something that is moral and right, even if they have to antagonize a lot of people in the process or even die themselves doing it. We take pride in this. Fuck off, majority of the world. I'm an American and I'm not scared to kick ass and go it alone doing it. So much lost opportunities to appeal to this!!!
This might also have helped in the (in my view) devastating point Kerry made: he said he needs to be able to look parents of dead soldiers in the eye and truthfully say, "I DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO PREVENT THIS". How did the President respond? By rambling, interspersed with awkward silence, about some lady who lost her kid and how he tried to comfort her (he fucked up and said "I tried to LOVE her the best I could") and ended up saying (for the umpteenth time) "You know, it's all hard work".
Huh? How about adressing the fact that he needs to look ALL of America in the eye and be able to tell us that he did EVERYTHING TO PROTECT THEM. That he will NOT allow nutcases like Saddam to go another 10 years keeping the world wondering if he is going to blow us up. Or stand by knowing countries like Afghanistan are being used to train people who plan to come over and turn our sons and daughters into piles of human garbage and rubble. We can't take the chance of this happening anymore. He needed to basically say "It ain't easy being a Bad Ass Motherfucker".
Well you get the point. I can only hope that Bush's camp connects some of these things post-debate.
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