The VP Debates II

Kerry Edwards (thanks, Jerry! And then, thanks again to Jerry and Remy) is obviously the attack dog of the Kerry campaign. He's aggressive and, essentially, calling the Bush administration liars over and over again.

He's comparing the costs of the first gulf war (5 billion) to the costs of the second (lots and lots more). Of course, that doesn't compare the scope and the goal of the different wars; in one we simply removed Saddam from Kuwait and in the other we actually took on the re-building of a conquered nation. Different scopes? I would say so.

Cheney isn't backing down. He's a good advocate for the President and he came armed with facts and figures that put an interesting spin on Edwards' words. And Edwards responds by indulging himself in a little bit of Kerry hero worship.

Cheney just called out both Edwards and Kerry, basically accusing them of caving to the anti-war John Howard (jeepers, this live blogging thing can really catch you out, can't it? Thanks, McGehee) Dean voters. True.

Edwards is, in his body language, trying too hard. He looks at times like an actor trying to hit his marks. But that's just me...

Halliburton! You just knew that was going to happen.

Edwards didn't address the pandering to the Dean vote accusation. I find it suprising that he wouldn't have done so. I also find it surprising that so many people still consider 12 years of weapons inspections and Saddam's repeated violations of UN mandates not long enough. But hey, that's just me, too...

Snark: Did he get that hand motion from watching old Bob Dole tapes? Just wondering.

The "coalition of the coerced and the bribed makes a return." That phrase, from Kerry, annoyed me then and annoys me now. I'm glad Cheney brought it back up.

Huh. Edwards really does come across as a jerk. He should stop interrupting. It's unbecoming.