Oh...My...God...

Did I see what I think I saw tonight? If so, I saw the worst debate performance in my life delivered by the sitting President of the United States. I think he chunked it, and in a way that even surpasses his own demonstrated capacity for failure. And, while he slowly strangled himself on stage, I thought Kerry actually did a superlative job, not that mattered much in comparison to the President's dramatic implosion.

What can one say about policy? Not much. President Bush didn't seem to bring it up too much. But let's look at what I would consider "unforgivable" gaffes on the part of the President:

1) A woman stands up and asks him to name "three mistakes" he's made as President of the United States. First, he refuses to name any. Then, he says that the mistakes were probably appointees of his, but he doesn't want to name them because they might get upset. Now, if you're like me, you're wondering, "what kind of CEO is this? If your mistakes were appointees, why haven't you fired them." Donald Trump manages to fire one person a week. If your only mistakes as "America's CEO" were in your hiring practices, why not fire your mistakes? But wait. It gets worse. President Bush then says, to the very sweet-looking lady who asked this question: "But let me tell you what people are really talking about when they tell me to talk about mistakes. They're talking about Iraq." Now first of all, he's just told a woman to her face that she's not really talking about what she's saying. I can't imagine she didn't resent that implication. And then, after being asked quite simply "name your mistakes" he starts talking about Iraq. Now, listen to this. You say - "What's a mistake?" President Bush says "Iraq." Then he says, "Iraq wasn't a mistake." So, you can't name a mistake but if anybody asks you to name one, you're going to talk about Iraq? If it's such a brilliant idea, why is it the first thing that leaps to mind when asked about your mistakes? I'd loan you a shovel to dig your own grave, but you're doing so well with your mouth...

2) The environment question. First, assume you care about the environment. Not that you're brilliant, but just that you care. Do you get the impression the President knows what he's talking about when he says he's going to develop "hydrogen-generated cars?" What the hell is a hydrogen-generated car? Hydrogen powered? I've heard of that. But hydrogen generated? Are you awake? But wait. It gets better. He's going to increase wet lands by three million. Three million what? Don't ask. Bush certainly didn't bother to say. OK. But maybe you're not an environmentalist. Maybe you're one of these NASCAR dads or something. The very first thing he chose to emphasize is that we've cut emissions in off-road diesel vehicles by 90%. Now, do you have an off-road vehicle? Does it run on diesel? Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I'm pretty sure not too many off-road vehicles run on diesel. Is there anyone in America who cares about off-roading that things off-road diesel omissions are a significant source of pollution? How common are such vehicles? My guess is that anyone with a familiarity with these things will know "not very." About the only person who knows what an off-road diesel vehicle is is going to be in agriculture and construction. And I don't think they're going to be thrilled by the President's proposal. Though I will note he strategically used the word "steward" in relation to the environment. So, point with evangelicals, deftly executed.

2b) Speaking of staggering misstatements - the internets?!?!?!? Where's HE been?

3) OK. So, enough with the President's staggeringly abysmal performance. Let's look at when he went head-to-head with Kerry. First of all, Kerry continued to piss him off, and visibly so. He even admitted it. "If anything would make me want to scowl..." Sure, it was amiable and self-deprecating. But it was also obvious the man was pissed. Did you see him shout down the moderator like that? Did you see him call Kerry "Senator Kennedy, the most liberal senator in America?" When Kerry mentioned that Bush files as a small-business based upon his receipts from a timber investment, he acted like he'd never heard of such a thing. Now, maybe Kerry made this up, but I'm willing to bet he'll turn out right, and we'll find out that Bush doesn't even understand his own taxes. SCORE! Kerry spoke the exact words Americans want to hear when he talked about abortion - "I don't want to legislate my faith." The original Senator Kennedy had to promise he wouldn't surrender American sovereignty to the Vatican, this one has to promise not to surrender it to Paris. But he just did it in a way that will appeal to Catholics (who are vaguely distrustful of Protestant bias against them) and appeal to moderate non-Catholics by reassuring them that he won't cram his faith down their throats. But on stem cells, he was absolutely devastating. I could swear Bush leapt out of his chair when Kerry accused him of flip-flopping on it. But he swore up and down, "I respect your values on this issue, but we have to look at these embryos, which will be thrown away, and wonder why we can't do this?" It's the glaring inconsistency in the conservative Christian position. If we don't use them for research these embryos get flushed down the toilet. I think he made that point clearly and succinctly, while Bush was left stammeringly trying to defend that it's OK to mutilate previously killed life, but not life that will be destroyed as a matter of course.

I don't know what to say. I thought Bush hung himself up there tonight. He didn't EVEN fail as badly, in my eyes, as he did last week. This was probably the most atrocious debate performance I have ever seen. Far worse than the mediocrity which was last Thursday.

Recognizing, of course, that's just my subjective impression. But Bush came across as a man who doesn't understand his country, doesn't understand his own finances (but can use the word "facile" to mean "easy" correctly in a sentence, indicating a closet "big-word" user...), and doesn't even sound like he knows what he's talking about when he talks about the lives of ordinary Americans.

The man was a portrait of incompetence. I've never thought he was a good President. But I felt he demonstrated a level of unfitness for office tonight which exceeded even my worst previous impressions of him.