dumb as a box o' hammers

The great debate played out as I slept (3 am our time), but I recorded it and managed to watch it this morning. What a relief to see Kerry effectively smack Bush down repeatedly, with barely a misstep. I have to admit that Bush surprised me with the number of details he successfully pulled out, and despite his usual mindless repetition of the party line ("mixed messages mixed messages maxed miss--uh--mixed messages"), managed to make not a totally boob-like impression. I thought he'd come off a lot dumber. He certainly was at a disadvantage without his laughtrack -- the Republican-packed audiences he usually talks to, programmed to guffaw at his "flip-flop" jabs. It was wonderful to hear all that silence from the strictly-warned university audience.

Reported in Salon: "An instant poll from ABC indicated that undecided viewers who watched the debate thought Kerry had won by a 44-36 margin, while Gallup showed Kerry winning by a margin of 53 to 37. During real-time monitoring of a debate focus group, CBS found Kerry scoring consistently better than Bush, particularly among women voters. And 52 percent said their opinion of Kerry had changed for the better."