Presidential Debates: Town Hall V

President: Who would you put on the Supreme Court if there were a vacancy today?

Definitely didn't see that one coming, but it's a great question. With multiple vacancies on the court coming up, this is a valid question. Bush's answer? Not bad. "No litmus test except how they interpret the constitution."

Kerry just basically said what the President said, only he said that the President didn't believe it, or something like that...huh.

Kerry gets the abortion question first. Tough question. I'm not getting into this one again...

Kerry answered it well, I think. Bush's answer is much stronger on substance, but it may or may not help him. I have no good feeling on the subject of how people will vote on the subject; there is a bunch of talk on the subject but it mostly involves people talking around each other, not to each other.

President: Give three instances where you made the wrong decision and the things you did to correct them.

This is a truly tough question that gives Kerry a free shot at the Pres (the question doesn't really ask him to do the same thing). Bush's answer was an evasion and I'm not necessarily happy with it; he didn't give any examples or really honestly address the issue.

And Kerry gives it precisely the response that I expected. I didn't like this question because of its bias--but that's the tough part for an incumbent. The record is there to attack for the incumbent, but the challenger only has to say, "I would do it better."

The question devolved into another argument about Iraq. Precisely what could be expected.