Bush Won

OK folks, I’m going to be honest here. My analysis was way off. I’m not sure what I was looking for, because even the Kerry people seem somewhat dispirited here.

Glenn Reynolds, someone I feel represents the kind of 9/11 Democrat that will decide this election says that this was a Bush victory. He is a Bush voter, but he’s not a raving partisan. (I believe he voted for Gore in 2000.) His analysis:

THE CONCLUSION: Again, not bad for Kerry, but Bush is at the top of his game here at the end. He’s still no Ronald Reagan, but he’s good — much better than at the beginning or in the earlier debates. If he’d been like this in the first debate he’d be up by 10.

Sum up: Not much of a debate, though it improved dramatically in the last half hour or so. As I’ve said before, my judgment is suspect, but I think Bush wins this one hands down — if anyone was still watching at the end. And hey, at least I agree with Julian Sanchez’s rather different crowd.

And here is what Julian Sanchez notes at the libertarian Hit and Run blog:

I’m behind by about 15 minutes because of Debateoke, but the 80 percent liberal room I’m watching with seems to agree that Bush is winning.

And 9/11 Democrat Roger L. Simon has this to say:

Why did Kerry’s mother feel she had to remind him “Intergity! Integrity! Integrity!” from her hospital bed when he told her he was thinking of running for President? What did she know? My mother would have assumed I would have integrity in the same situation.

WOW! The Fox All-Stars, even Kristol, are saying Bush won big.

Kerry is a strange dude. Bringing in Cheney’s daughter Mary’s sexuality was weird indeed. She’s not running for office.

The CW on his is that Bush will come out of this with some additional momentum and that Bush walked away with this.

Well, I was wrong. And I’m damn glad I was.

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg calls this a Bush win as well. Goldberg was harsh on the President in the last two debates. If he’s calling it a win, it’s certainly emblematic of the way the vast majority of the Republican base is interpreting this.

If I weren’t spending this weekend doing something vastly more important, I’d rewatch this debate. Perhaps later I will.

UPDATE: Josh “Tacitus” Trevino calls this a win for Bush as well. He’s been harsh on Bush, and I trust his judgement.

Damn, now I know how Kerry feels… I should listen to myself when I warn against “misunderestimating” President Bush.

UPDATE: Jeff Goldstein gets the best line of the night – by far.

Yob tvoyu mat’! Andrew Sullivan was less harsh on Bush than I was.

12 thoughts on “Bush Won

  1. Yes, it’s not surprising that Republican partisans and “Democrats” like Roger L. Simon and Glenn Reynolds are calling this a Bush win. Unfortunately, public opinion is not conforming with your spin. ABC’s instant poll showed a one-point Kerry victory even though eight percent more Republicans called than Democrats. The analysis of a few Republican bloggers does not change the reality.

  2. A one-point victory?! Well, I guess Bush should just his stuff packed!

    One blogger doesn’t matter. One instant poll doesn’t matter. What matters is how Bush fired up the base and how that translates into votes in November. From everything I’ve heard Bush did what he had to do.

  3. It’s funny how you write about “the AP spinning” when it releases a poll showing Kerry with a four-point lead, alleging without even knowing the poll methodology that it oversampled Democrats. I am outright telling you that Kerry was chosen as the winner of an instant poll where it’s a documented fact that the Republicans were oversampled by an eight-point margin over Democrats, yet you have now ignored that fact twice. The bottom line….Kerry won even in the minds of Republicans, at least those who contributed to the ABC News poll. I will always bring to light your dizzying inconsistencies in my rebuttals, and use your past goofball claims against you. That’s one of many ways where I differ from George Bush, who never seems to be able to do the same. 🙂

  4. More bad news for Bush….

    CNN’s instant poll respondents declared Kerry the winner by a 52-39 margin. Ain’t no margin of error in those numbers. 🙂

  5. For what it’s worth, Yahoo’s online poll shows Kerry as the debate favorite by an astonishing 67-31 margin. Usually internet polls skewer right. If public opinion is really this strongly entrenched in Kerry’s favor after this debate, it’s a death sentence for the Bush Presidency.

  6. Pingback: The American Mind
  7. Pingback: The American Mind
  8. Jay, I was so glad to click on to your page and read your update. You are a must read everyday for me and I enjoy your commentary. So last night when I read your perception of the debate, I questioned if you and I had seen the same debate. I think Bush was great. I also think that Kerry’s gaffe with using Cheney’s daughter as his own political prop is going to plague him. It was a horrible error in judgement (the nicest way to put it). You can only use people this way if you have their permission and everyone watching knows it.

    Have a great day..

  9. Yes, Bush won: 413 billion deficit in only one year is definitely the new world record for the more unbalanced budget ever!! Way to go!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.