Random thoughts on the third presidential debate

[greybeta]

My raw thoughts on the third presidential debate tell me that Bush gained on Kerry.

Both candidates didn't disappoint by sidestepping the question on how to save Social Security. Bush's plan for young people to earmark their own money goes against the very idea of Social Security. Kerry talked like he wanted to preserve the status quo, which we know won't work.

My solution is to up the retirement age to 75. When the retirement age was 65, people weren't living much longer past that. With the advances in modern science and medicine, upping the retirement age makes the most sense. Of course, since senior citizens have the biggest turnout rate of any age group, that idea wouldn't even make it out of the gate.

The reason I think Bush gained on Kerry is that the President looked much more composed than he did in the first debate. Perhaps, the Republican speech coaches managed to convince the American public that Bush isn't a total robot idiot.

Comments

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. I think the point is not to show that Bush isn't a total idiot, but rather to show that Bush has a better plan. In that, Kerry hammered home his plans over and over again - much more so than Bush, who went with the emotional reaction more often than not.

If people think the country is going well, they're going to vote for Bush no matter what. But I don't think that the people who are worried about the future would have been swayed by him. He gained ground, but it was just the ground he lost in the first (and most-watched) debate; it wasn't the ground he had to gain in the debate overall.

(I could be wrong, though.)

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Sensei, I agree that Bush acted more emotionally. Then again, there's that whole theory that you should appeal to voters' emotions more than their intellect due to the taxonomy of knowledge.

Say that Bush only gained the ground that he had before going into the first debate. I still think that he's slightly ahead of Kerry at this point, at least electoral vote wise ;).

[culculhen.livejournal.com]

Yeah but he was losing support fast, he's stopped that but didn't grow new support. and If you don't leave the debates with a solid lead as incumbent you're still in trouble because usually the challanger does better in the voting booth than polled. (however there are exeptions like 2000 were Al Gore did better then expected against Bush although Gore could be qualified as the "incumbent")

[flcodemonkey.livejournal.com]

I started writing a response about Social Security, but it got kinda long, so I moved it to my journal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/flcodemonkey/8687.html)

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Ah, I love those comments that turn into journal entries.