President Bush turned in a masterful performance out debating Kerry on domestic policy issues.
Starting with the first question President Bush Nailed Kerry for his terrorism as a nuisance statement:
My opponent just this weekend talked about how terrorism could be reduced to a nuisance, comparing it to prostitution, illegal gambling.
I think that attitude and that point of view is dangerous. I don't think you can secure America for the long run if you don't have a comprehensive view as to how to defeat these people.
President Bush nailed Kerry again during the second question saying "a plan is not a litany of complaints, and a plan is not to lay out programs that you can't pay for:"
He just said he wants everybody to be able to buy in to the same plan that senators and congressmen get. That costs the government $7,700 per family. If every family in America signed up, like the senator suggested, [it] would cost us $5 trillion over 10 years.
Kerry was on the defensive starting with the third question on how he could keep his pledge that he would not raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year. Kerry said we had to go back to pay as you go. President Bush responded:
He talks about PAY-GO. I'll tell you what PAY-GO means, when you're a senator from Massachusetts, when you're a colleague of Ted Kennedy, pay go means: You pay, and he goes ahead and spends
The President managed to win the discussion about jobs by focusing on his education reforms.
Kerry made a huge mistake in the discussion about homosexuality when, like Edwards in the VP debate, Kerry gratuitously mentioned that Vice President Cheney's daughter is a lesbian. That was out of bounds, a dirty political cheap shot, and Kerry should be forced to apologize for it.
The abortion discussion was won by President Bush.
Kerry also blew it when talking about his health care plan. Kerry was incomprehensible. No one could understand what his plan is. President Bush was clear and concise on health care. The President explained health care costs are on the rise because the consumers are not involved in the decision-making process and because of the cost of lawsuits.
During this exchange Kerry again claimed the President hasn't fully funded the Veterans Administration. President Bush nailed Kerry on that:
We've increased VA funding by $22 billion in the four years since I've been president. That's twice the amount that my predecessor increased VA funding.
President Bush won the exchange on Social Security. the President said he would take on and reform Social Security while Kerry said he wouldn't touch it:
And we're of course going to have to consider the costs. But I want to warn my fellow citizens: The cost of doing nothing, the cost of saying the current system is OK, far exceeds the costs of trying to make sure we save the system for our children.
During the Social Security discussion president Bush got in this about his tax cuts:
He talks about middle-class tax cuts. That's exactly where the tax cuts went. Most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans. And now the tax code is more fair. Twenty percent of the upper-income people pay about 80 percent of the taxes in America today because of how we structured the tax cuts.
People listening out there know the benefits of the tax cuts we passed. If you have a child, you got tax relief. If you're married, you got tax relief. If you pay any tax at all, you got tax relief. All of which was opposed by my opponent.
And the tax relief was important to spur consumption and investment to get us out of this recession.
People need to remember: Six months prior to my arrival, the stock market started to go down. And it was one of the largest declines in our history. And then we had a recession and we got attacked, which cost us 1 million jobs.
But we acted. I led the Congress. We passed tax relief. And now this economy is growing. We added 1.9 million new jobs over the last 13 months.
Much to my surprise President Bush even bested Kerry on immigration. The president gave the best description of his proposal for a temporary worker program I have ever heard.
Kerry may bested the President on the minimum wage.
The discussion about the use of the National Guard and Reservists was a draw. President Bush managed to work in Kerry's global test from the first debate again putting Kerry on the defensive. Kerry tried to counter by saying:
I have never suggested a test where we turn over our security to any nation. In fact, I've said the opposite: I will never turn the security of the United States over to any nation. No nation will ever have a veto over us.
But I think it makes sense, I think most Americans in their guts know, that we ought to pass a sort of truth standard. That's how you gain legitimacy with your own country's people, and that's how you gain legitimacy in the world.
President Bush replied with Kerry's vote against the first Gulf War and said:
Apparently you can't pass any test under his vision of the world.
Kerry may have won on the assault weapon ban. That won't matter because the NRA endorsed President Bush today.
President Bush won the affirmative action discussion correcting several Kerry misrepresentations.
The Discussion about faith was a draw, but Kerry was defensive about his Catholicism.
The discussion on the divisiveness in the country was also a draw.
All and all a tremendous performance by President Bush. Kerry was on the defensive for most of the debate, used way too many numbers, and sometimes, such as the health care discussion, was simply incomprehensible. The President ensured his re-election by his performance in this debate. Very well done.
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