Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Third Presidential Debate

Transcript for the October 13, 2004 debate is here.

The spin from the left says Kerry sounds presidential. I think he sounds like a lawyer - "The measurement is: Are we as safe as we ought to be?" I was surprised he didn't suggest requiring warning labels on terrorists.

What does limited availability of the flu vaccine have to do with health insurance? Kerry replies to the question about the vaccine with complaints about how many people in Arizona, Ohio, and Wisconsin don't have insurance. I guess he only memorized numbers from debate locations.

Later Kerry says that "the president switched away from jobs and started talking about education principally." I can see a clearer connection between education preparing people for changes in the job market than I can between what the lack of insurance has to do with a vaccine shortage.

I'm also tired of Kerry telling me how the economic situation of the middle class is so bad. Maybe it is for a lot of people, I don't know. I do know that I'm doing better this year than I did last year and last year was better than the year before.

Even if you ignore the fact that it was tacky for Kerry to mention Mary Cheney, wouldn't it have made more sense to mention someone who actually supports him?

Kerry respects the views of people who are pro-life (he respected them in the last debate too) unless the person in question is a potential Supreme Court Judge, then they better support Roe v. Wade.

Questions about Social Security, immigration, and the draft. More whining from Kerry.

Question about the ban on assault weapons. Kerry tells an anecdote about a sheriff in Iowa:

I was hunting in Iowa last year with a sheriff from one of the counties there, and he pointed to a house in back of us, and said, "See the house over? We just did a drug bust a week earlier, and the guy we arrested had an AK-47 lying on the bed right beside him. "

A year ago? Guess the ban wasn't very effective so why are you complaining about it not being extended?

More nonsense from Kerry, this time about affirmative action. See a timetable for affirmative action here. Read it then read Kerry's reply to the question.

Question about faith. Bush spoke from the heart. Kerry spoke from talking points.

Time wasting question about bringing the country together.

Question about wives and daughters. Bush talks about his wife. Oedipus Kerry talks about his mother then goes on to say his wife and daughters "kick me around" and "don't let me get away with anything".

The question that wasn't asked: Senator Kerry, didn't all those years at prep school, Yale, and Boston College teach you the difference between "me" and "myself"? (I'll give you a hint. One's objective and the other reflexive.)