Posting the Flow of the 2004 VP Debate

I took notes of some things that caught my ear as I was going along… [note, these are definitely edited from their original form, but the gists are the same]

  • Cheney sounded good when I first walked in, but I missed the question
  • Edwards can pronounce “Colin Powell” correctly
  • Cheney said Edwards said Afghanistan was falling about earlier, but they’re about to hold elections now… what’s the real state of Afghanistan?
  • Cheney mentions women in Afghanistan, good
  • “the reality is” — Edwards keeps saying that over and over
  • Hm… I’d rather have these guys running for president than vice president
  • “more of the same” Edwards says it as an aside when mentioning the plan for Iraq, not as effective since it was an aside
  • Edwards taking security forces out of Iraq to train them, good specifics
  • Cheney says Edwards is not counting Iraqi sacrifices… even though Edwards was making a valid point about one thing, I thought Cheney’s line hit hard
  • Edwards mentions Halliburton and Enron, slick association
  • Cheney says FactCheck.com… it’s FactCheck.org… I should know, it’s a link on the side. Too bad the average person listening doesn’t know Cheney has cut Halliburton ties since becoming vice president (Yes, I do know that Edwards was also mentioning stuff when Cheney was CEO)
  • Cheney’s “First time I met you” line… OUCH! (Too bad it turned out to be a lie)
  • Cheney says removing the tax cuts would hurt small businesses, appealing line (too bad he had inflated figures)
  • Cheney did not do well at all answering the Marriage Amendment question… does he disagree with Bush?
  • I was most impressed with Edwards when mentioning the lawsuit reform, etc, because he said “we have a plan” and then actually went into specifics!!! I like the 3 strikes thing!
  • Edwards says the best defense is a good offense — totally yoinked Bush’s war on terror line
  • Edwards was prepared as hell for that flip flop question. He was waiting for something like that.
  • Good closing statements, lost me with “we have a plan” then back on track with “you get to decide”
  • I really really really hate the “we have a plan” line. Don’t say, “we have a plan,” tell us, “we will”
  • Cheney’s closing statements emphasized the homeland security/war on terror angle, very good
  • Cheney didn’t thank Edwards. What the hell? I think it was intentional.

About Saletan’s article on how Edwards destroyed Cheney:

“Cheney seemed to think most viewers were tuning in to judge the vice presidential nominees. Edwards seemed to think they were tuning in to hear about the presidential nominees. [new paragraph] If Cheney guessed right on that question, he probably won.”

We are not in 100% disagreement. I watched the debates to judge the vice presidential nominees, and I thought Cheney won. I agree with Cheney that the most important thing about a vice president is that he could take the reigns in a moment’s notice. So what? Am I watching the debates wrong now? I think the debate about the debate is getting out of hand. Tune in tomorrow for the discussion (discussion, what the hell am I talking about, I mean: post) on that exciting topic!