Let Kerry be Kerry...

John Kerry took on some very complicated subject matter last night. He did not dumb down his answers. His answers were dense, trying to pack as much as he could into his 2 minute to 30 second time limits. It is not the kind of scripting you would get from a speechwriter. These were not the sort of answers politicians would usually show up with, canned and memorized.

And it worked.

Kerry won these debates hands down. Don't take my word for it.

CNN/GALLUP POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE
Kerry: 53
Bush: 37

CBS POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:
Kerry: 44
Bush: 26
Tie: 30

ABC POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:
Kerry: 45
Bush 36:
Tie: 17

ARG POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:
Kerry: 52
Bush: 42
Tie: 6

Kerry was a stateman and Bush was a whining, petulant manchild. Kerry clearly had a keen grasp of the issues, while Bush simply repeated himself regardless of the question. Bush's pauses and silences just hung there in the middle of the room as if he was waiting for Cheney to come out and finish his nswers for him. People have been talking about what a stark contrast the Vice-Presidential debates are going to be, with John Edwards' smiling boyish features against Cheney's scowling Christmas-stealing demeanor. But I think last night was a contrast no one would have predicted. The president looked annoyed, rolled his eyes, turned away disgustedly. All in all, he was uncontrolablely angry because Kerry walked in there and took control of the room. Bush dosen't do well without loyalty oath-swearing fans applauding his smug arrogant lies. Bush can't perform underfire, while Kerry performas best there (both figuratively and non).

It's going to be a sweet October.