"George M. Middius" wrote in message
...


Socky said:

And who won?

You missed my point. It was that the superior debater won.

You missed my point, the 'winner' of the debate didn't win the election.

Some people think Reagan won with his facile one-liners like "There
you go again!"

But you're right as far as the serious side of the debate. Reagan
looked like a clown. Carter's superior rhetorical skills couldn't
overcome his dismal performance in office.

Actually, as I recall it, there was only *one* reason Reagan beat Carter:
the Iran Hostage Crisis mess Carter didn't seem to know how to handle
without humiliating himself with that desert debacle. The Ayatollah viewed
Reagan as a madman who wouldn't hesitate to drop the big one, and sure
enough, released the hostages as soon as Reagan was sworn in.

The election that year had nothing to do with debate performances. Reagan
won because the media kept talking for months leading up to the election
about how the Ayatollah had no respect for Carter but was scared ****less
Reagan would go berserk with the nuclear button at his fingertips. Never
mind that he said trees were the worst cause of air pollution. Never mind
that he said ketchup was a vegetable. It was all about the BOMB.

This year it's going to be a *lot* different. As I said, all Kerry has to
do is toss Bush a pretzel and challenge him to a Sedway race. Perhaps he
could also challenge Bush to repeat 10 times, as fast as he can: "she sells
sea shells by the sea shore". :0)~