Gut reactions

Here, excerpted from an e-mail I wrote to a coworker this morning, are some first impressions of last night's debate:

I didn't like this debate. Cheney is just so incredibly unpleasant and seemed to me to just want to get the damn thing over with. And I wish Edwards had simmahed down nah with the smirking and head-shaking and arm-flailing. But, it's his first national debate, so he can be forgiven. But also, I found the questions irritating, and I thought "Gwen" could've worded them better and more clearly. That very first question, for instance, about Paul Bremer's statement, went on and on and didn't invite a focused response.

I wish Edwards had fought back a bit whenever Cheney attacked him for not being present at Senate votes lately. I mean, duh! He's OUT CAMPAIGNING, obviously, and probably hasn't been back to DC in months to occupy his Senate chair. Why didn't Edwards point that out?

I was disappointed that Edwards, like Cheney, didn't address the question about black women with AIDS in this country. Like Cheney, he talked about AIDS overseas.

I think overall I feel stronger about Kerry than I do about Edwards, but I don't dislike or distrust Edwards or anything.

I'm looking forward to Friday's Kerry-Bush debate! I hope Kerry can kick as much ass Friday as he did last week. My hero!

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This same coworker, J, to whom I sent that e-mail, has turned me on to Paul Begala's and Jessi Klein's post-debate CNN blogs, which are quite effing funny and entertaining.(I do wish Jessi would spell her name with an "e" at the end, though. It's my observation that "i" names tend to signify platform heels and g-strings and lap dances. As in, "And now, taking the stage, the lovely miss Brandi!")