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I always get nervous when Bush suits up to go into battle and represent my positions on war and peace. I've found his public speaking in defense of pre-emption to be repetitive, simplistic and full of rhetoric, a style that gives the impression of evasion and cognitive dissonance. In particular, the failure to discover stockpiles of WMD tends to trip up Bush, and I sincerely hope that he has some new, perceptive responses to put into play against Kerry.

Kerry could be very interesting; he's bleeding heavily in the polls and certainly views the debates as his only real chance to mortally wound Bush. Keeping with the tone of his campaign, he could get too aggressive and drastically overreach.

Let's watch ...

UPDATE: Llamas are live-blogging the debate. (Scroll upwards)

Also Commissar, Spoons.

UPDATE: Body armor, Viet-ny-am, oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllll.

UPDATE: For my money, the Llamas have the best live coverage, with updates like this:

YES!

Zombie ghost of FDR rolls onto stage, punches Kerry in the nuts.

UPDATE: Then again, Spoons has ...

Kerry: "I will hunt down and kill the terrorists wherever they are."

Did John Kerry just say kill?!? He just got Andrew Sullivan's vote.

Ha!

UPDATE: Ok, I'm not live-blogging this debate, but I can't let this one slide - Kerry: "35 - 40 countries in the world had a greater capability to make weapons than Iraq ..."

How many of those countries were shooting at us, Senator?

November 18, 2002

STARR: Wolf, that is the essential question that is facing the Bush administration, because it's becoming increasingly clear day-by-day that the Iraqis have absolutely no intention, according to administration officials, of stopping this shooting war with the United States over the no-fly zones.

More ...

Iraqi gunners opened fire 60 times on U.S. and British warplanes patrolling the north this year. Warplanes struck back 10 times, bombing Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries or radar stations. The attacks have been more intense in the larger southern zone, with almost twice as many strikes.

The last time the Iraqis opened fire in the north was Wednesday. A mission was canceled Thursday, apparently due to stormy weather.

The shooting varies in intensity. Burgess said the Iraqis open up -- usually with anti-aircraft artillery or machine guns -- about once an hour during the flights, but sometimes shoot as much as three times an hour.

The shooting, he said, has been fairly constant during his year commanding air operations.

Although no pilots have been shot down during the history of the flights, there is always a risk.

"They shoot at us quite a bit," said "Bartdude," an F-16 pilot with the Ohio National Guard who has flown over the no-fly zone for the past month. For security reasons, pilots of "Bartdude's" 112th Fighter Squadron have been ordered to speak only on condition that they are identified by their Air Force call signs and not their real names. Pilots are rotated into the region on 90-day assignments.

Is the concept of containment realistic or acceptable when the country in question is actively shooting at US military personnel, in addition to failing to disclose the fate of its weapons systems and stockpiles? The Iraqi non-solution was unravelling; there was no possibility of leaving Saddam Hussein in power without at the very least sacrificing the populations of Northern and Southern Iraq to a terrible reckoning from Saddam Hussein. The no-fly zones were simply unsustainable, and we were already in a lukewarm military conflict.

UPDATE: Stephen Green is drunkblogging the debate ...

7:36pm. Time to mix another drink. I might miss the mext question.

Admirable dedication, Steve.

Posted by Bill at September 30, 2004 09:03 PM | TrackBack (4)

Comments

Posted by: Ghost of a flea at September 30, 2004 09:14 PM

Posted by: dorkafork at September 30, 2004 09:47 PM

Posted by: willow at September 30, 2004 09:49 PM

Posted by: Jim at September 30, 2004 10:10 PM

Posted by: Jim at September 30, 2004 10:22 PM

Posted by: pai gow at October 8, 2004 12:40 PM