Edwards Wins
... but aren't we glad it's over?

Dick Cheney specializes in sucking all the joy out of a room, making you feel depressed and hopeless, and wanting to perhaps not vote at all, because what's the point? Looking back on the comment threads (I've been over at Atrios), the consensus was that in Cheney we were listening to pure evil incarnate, so purely evil that it was clear he doesn't even believe half of his own bullshit.

I think I figured out how he can get away with it. He can make lies look like truth because he makes it so flat and "matter of fact". Lies are supposed to be interesting, at least, but he's so utterly deadpan (though often smug and twitchy) that things slip right through and you find yourself nodding.

I think he crossed the line with some ad hominem attacks on Edwards that the moderator should have slapped him down for. Speaking of which, Gwen Ifill was AWFUL. She seemed nervous and cranky, and came across as very disorganized. Lehrer was a dream moderator.

Edwards was over-prepared, if anything, and so came off as a bit over-eager. He does his best when he can roam around a room addressing people individually. He has such obvious, boundless energy and upbeat demeanor (compared to Cheney's life-suck), I hope people stayed to the end, because his closing statement was very fine. Cheney just tried to scare us to death.

And indeed, having Cheney back in office does scare me to death.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:40 PM | | | Link |