VP running diary

Welcome to my second debate running diary. Tonight we have John Edwards (playing the part of Luke Skywalker) going up against VP Dick Cheney (Darth Vader). Note that this was written the next night, so I already have a vague idea of what happened.

06:27:24 pm - I’ll be watching the CNN broadcast, right now Tucker Carlson (a Republican I can at least laugh with) is doing up the pre-game. The candidates are already sitting, no light sabers to be seen.

06:29:15 pm - First question, Cheney gives the standard White House line on Iraq (though he speaks better then Bush ever could). Edwards swings back hard, repeating Kerry’s statements of more troops dying each month. Cheney’s 30 second response tries to say that all is well and Iraqis are months away from doing it all on their own. Edwards reminds us that Iraq and Al Queda had no connection.

06:36:12 pm - Edwards takes on a good loaded question (“would Saddam still be in power if you were President?”) and handles it well. Establishes the point well of Iraq having nothing to do with 9/11, will be tough for Cheney to refute. As I talk, he’s trying to pretend that no one has recorded him saying that Iraq caused 9/11 (and yeah, I’m really biased, here, but that should be obvious).

06:40:35 pm - Cheney seems to be doing well on talking on Afganistan, Edwards is a bit fidgety. Edwards wasn’t terribly effective in his response, and Cheney’s response about El Salvador were good. Edwards got a small hit back on Cheney’s support of lifting Iran sanctions, but still a point for Cheney.

06:45:24 pm - Edwards is defending Kerry’s “Global Test” remark, he’s doing well, but the fact that it’s even remembered is a testament to Bush Co’s ability to spin an issue. Cheney came back with a cheap shot at Edwards voting attendance.

06:50:19 pm - “We’ve never questioned John Kerry’s patriotism, our friends at the Swift boat did.”

06:53:19 pm - Edwards just called Cheney out on his Halliburton. Cheney keeps trying to tie the flip flop label on them. It’s funny, from what I read this morning, people gave Cheney credit for not just giving talking points, but that’s all I’ve heard so far.

06:59:05 pm - Getting ugly now, Cheney is establishing his point well, and Edwards seems a bit out of his depth. Cheney is still glossing over issues, but he seems to be getting traction with his use of “wrong war, wrong time, but come join us” argument about allies.

07:02:06 pm - Great shot by Edwards on how Bush flip flopped on the creation of the 9/11 commission and the DHS (though in all fairness, I think the DHS is pretty useless).

07:06:59 pm - Iran’s come up now, and Edwards is tying in Haliburton, and the companies dealings with Libya and Iran, and those sweet deal no bid contracts in Iraq.

07:07:55 pm - Owned! Cheney asks for more time on the Haliburton statements, but is shot down. He also just gave out the wrong url for factcheck.org (he said factcheck.com, which is a Pro Kerry site)

07:10:24 pm - Cheney just got his Halliburton answer (in his response to an Isreal question), by attacking Edwards’ attendance at the Senate (ignore the fact that pictures have come out since last night showing the two together, and that Cheney just disappeared for a year after 9/11 to ‘undisclosed locations’). Also note he never actually talked about Isreal here.

07:15:17 pm - Cheney just threw out his first trial lawyer jab at Edwards. He’s also crowing about No Child Left Behind, which could be a good law if it was ever funded. If Edwards has any sense he’ll rip into him for this.

07:20:18 pm - Edwards is hitting on the Bush tax cuts, making sure to say that only the $200k + a year will see a tax increase, along with more fiscal responsibilities. He also is hitting them up for the expanding federal government, a dirty secret for a supposed conservative President.

07:24:16 pm - Cheney’s addressing the Gay marriage amendment. He’s playing it as it should be a state’s decision, unless they happen to disagree with the President. Edwards kind of pooches the question too, with his statement about Cheney’s family.

07:30:06 pm - This moderator loves the loaded questions. Hit Edwards with one earlier, and just got Cheney with :”Is Edwards the problem with medical tort reform?”. I’m all for making tough questions, but that seems a bit tacky.

07:31:48 pm - Edwards seems to be handling the tort reform, by giving some good ideas. Professional peer review of cases merit, putting economic pressure on the sleazy lawyers. Also threw in a good reference to a former case of his.

07:34:53 pm - Edwards seems to be hitting his stride now on the medical issue, he’s much better on the issue then I thought he would be.

07:41:22 pm - This debate doesn’t have the pop of the first debate, seems to be more subdued, even with all the attacks. Heck, I might miss old George after January, just for that “you never know what’s going to happen next” vibe his speeches have.

07:51:36 pm - Edwards just hasn’t blown me away tonight, I agree with what he’s saying, but for anyone who’s been listening, he added very little. He hasn’t made any major gaffes though, so I’ll give him a B-.