Post-debate comments

As I noted, I was watching the PBS coverage, apparently the only one that didn't go to a split-screen format so you could see the opponents reactions. People who watched the split-screen thought Kerry won by much greater margins than those who only saw the one speaker. Yes, I know that seeing the President's facial expressions and his slumping on the lectern is style over substance, but considering the way Al Gore got savaged for much less, all I can say is "Payback's a bitch". And speaking of payback, James Wolcott has some comments on the debate, and President Twitchy.

James Wolcott: In birding, those fanatical about building up the life lists of species are known as 'twitchers.' But there was no bigger twitcher last night than the bird-hating Bush, who once ignorantly shot a killdeer during a photo op thinking it was a dove, according to Karen Hughes' merde-eating memoir. Bush's face suffered a silent outbreak of Tourette's Syndrome; he grimaced, smirked, sniffed, rolled his eyes, and did some weird thing with his mouth that as yet has no diagnostic name. He was President Twitchy, giving a performance that critics hailed as 'peevish' and 'petulant.'

We've seen President Twitchy before. When Helen Thomas persisted in asking Bush why he was trying to tear down the walls between church and state, and wouldn't be sluffed off with one of his standard nonanswers, Bush, as I wrote in Attack Poodles, went through a battery of irked expressions that ended with him imitating Tony Perkins in the final shot of Psycho, looking as if he had a fly on his nose.

Since then Bush has been wheeled out into forums where no one can dare question or contradict his majesty, where he can lean forward and repeat ad nauseam his patented soundbites. Last night I believe we saw the ugly comeback of the private face of Bush--the irritable expressions he flashes subordinates when he's presented with information he doesn't like or feels someone's taken up too much of his time or is pressed to explain himself to people he shouldn't have to explain himself to because he's the president and fuck you. The notion that Bush is 'likeable' has always been laughable. It takes a Washington pundit to be that dumb. He's an angry, spoiled, resentful little big man--I use 'little big man' in the Reichian sense of a small personality who puffs himself up to look big through bluster and swagger but remains a scheming coward inside--and next to a genuinely big man like Kerry, shrunk before the camera's eyes.

...I pity the fools who have to prep Bush for the next debate. Because they're sure going to have one pissy pupil on their hands.