The attack dogs were worked up to a lather last night as Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) went at each other like chained Rottweilers.
Characterized by WFAN radio personality Don Imus as a duel between "Dr. Death and the Breck Girl," the debate was punctuated with heated exchanges, counter-rebuttals and claims of distortion by both parties.
Unlike the gentlemanly presidential debate that clearly laid out what each candidate stood for and believed in, the vice presidential debate was an exercise in redundancy as the debaters circled around the same topics again and again much like attack dogs on a chain.
Was there a winner?
Well, to give the vice president his due, he was far more clear and concise than his opponent. Of course, it is easy to be clear when you are repeating the same assertions over and over no matter what the question. But that doesn't mean that Cheney didn't have his moments.
Particularly memorable was his line about Edward not showing up for Senate votes. Cheney said something to the affect of "I am the president of the Senate and have been there almost every Tuesday. Senator, the first time I met you was when you walked on stage this evening."
Unfortunately for the vice president, that's not true, since there is video showing them shaking hands at a National Prayer Breakfast, and later being thanked by name by the vice president. However, it doesn't negate the fact that the senator has been pretty busy running for office.
In spite of his youthful demeanor and his high-speed zooming from one topic to the next, Edwards proved himself a tough opponent. He never let a single assertion go unchallenged or unexplained and was well versed on facts.
He also had his moment when in true litagational style he backed Cheney into a corner on the question of an amendment to abolish gay marriage. By framing it totally in the context of a compliment to Cheney's family about his gay daughter, he left the vice president with only one reply: "Thank you."
Besides the often sharp rebuttals and character slams, we found the hand gestures of both candidates distracting. Edwards combined the Clintonesque pointing with a closed hand with other restless movements. Cheney continually wrang his hands in a way that makes us think of, well, the elderly. Didn't their handlers warn them about this? We never thought that Kerry's chopping and Bush's palm slapping would look restful by comparison.
Both candidates had their share of distortions -- never call them lies in politics!
For instance, Edwards claimed that the cost of war is over $200 billion when it hasn't yet reached that amount, and Cheney inflated the number of small businesses that will be affected if the tax cuts are rolled back.
In 2000, Cheney and then vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman gave such an intelligent, gentlemanly and mature debate that the entire country asked why they weren't at the top of their respective tickets. We at The Thinking Woman have no concerns that those sentiments will be repeated after this year's debate.
A source for analyzing the factual errors in last night's debate can be found in the American Progress Action Fund's Progress Report:
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/
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