Nasty, brutish, and short

October 2, 2004 12:30 PM

How Bush Did.Later for the polls, pundits, and analysis. The five minute .wmv found here sums up the President's performance. Partisan, sliced, edited, and damned scary funny.
posted by adampsyche (55 comments total)

This is infantile. Anyone can be made to look bad with judicious editing. It's far more damning to watch the whole debate and see things in context.
posted by 327.ca at 12:59 PM on October 2, 2004

This is infantile.

I, for one, am shocked, shocked to find infantile attacks against presidential candidates.

I don't think anyone who wanted to know what really happened during the debates is going to look at these edited clips or things like The Faces of Frustration to keep themselves informed. Rather, those of us who have already seen the debates want to be able to chuckle at the highlights.
posted by deanc at 1:03 PM on October 2, 2004

Actually, its kind of odd, how just by using clips from the President, and no words from Kerry, that they are able to paint a picture so negative. But it seems to go along with the theme that Kerry's best salesman is Bush. People don't love Kerry and much as they dislike Bush. When Bush campaigns for Bush, he campaigns for Kerry at the same time. Damn odd.
posted by jmccorm at 1:05 PM on October 2, 2004

Yeah, its easy to make him look awful but its alot more powerful to watch him throughout the debate.

It would be just as easy to make Kerry look bad with editing.

It doesn't help and it won't help convince any fencesitters unless we want to help them vote Bush for seeing a stupid, childish trick like this.
posted by fenriq at 1:08 PM on October 2, 2004

This is infantile.

You don't say! I hope I didn't advertise it differently.

It would be just as easy to make Kerry look bad with editing.

Without a doubt.

Rather, those of us who have already seen the debates want to be able to chuckle at the highlights.

Precisely. Lighten up, people. It's not meant to be taken seriously.
posted by adampsyche at 1:10 PM on October 2, 2004

I didn't mind the file and took it for what it was. However, I think it would be interesting to edit all of each candidates statements together (complete), back to back so there'd be 40 mins of straight bush and 40 of kerry with no interuptions. I don't know why I think that would be interesting but I do.
posted by dobbs at 1:20 PM on October 2, 2004

sums up the President's performance

Well, actually, this clip FORGOT POLAND!
posted by Zurishaddai at 3:55 PM on October 2, 2004

It doesn't help and it won't help convince any fencesitters unless we want to help them vote Bush for seeing a stupid, childish trick like this.

um, get a sense of humor fuckwit!
posted by quonsar at 4:03 PM on October 2, 2004

Splicing this together would qualify as torture to me.
I liked this better than the video on the DNC website, though. Bush haters, rejoice!
posted by Busithoth at 4:08 PM on October 2, 2004

this is pretty good too (quicktime, blasphemous) : >
posted by amberglow at 4:42 PM on October 2, 2004

It would be just as easy to make Kerry look bad with editing.

No. No you couldn't. You could not find as many umm, errr, aahh, Saddam, I mean Bin Laden, emmms. I think this video actually captures the big reason behind Bush's loss, his own inarticulateness, pettiness, and whining.

This was overly edited, but it was eye-opening for me anyway. This guy does not have the power to think clearly. He should not be our president.

He should not be doing the hard, incredibly hard, work, that hard work requires from this hard job of work, especially if he is going to run the White House on a nine to five schedule and spend almost as much time on vacation as working.
posted by xammerboy at 4:48 PM on October 2, 2004

Kerry Pulls Ahead of Bush in Newsweek Poll

In a two-way contest, the Kerry/Edwards ticket in the Nov. 2 presidential election led by 49 percent against 46 percent for Bush/Cheney, according to 1,013 registered voters polled by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

According to the poll, 61 percent of Americans who watched the first presidential debate on Sept. 30 said Kerry won, 19 percent said Bush won and 16 percent said they tied. The number of debate viewers surveyed was 770.

Bush's job approval rating dropped two points from the Sept. 9-10 Newsweek poll to 46 percent -- a 6-point drop since the Republican national convention a month ago. Fifty-seven percent of all poll respondents -- a total of 1,144 adults -- said they were dissatisfied with the way things were going in the United States now.

Sixty percent of registered voters said Bush administration policies and diplomatic efforts had led to more anti-Americanism around the world and 51 percent said the administration had not done enough to involve major allies and international organizations in trying to achieve its foreign policy goals, the poll showed.
posted by y2karl at 4:52 PM on October 2, 2004

yup, xammerboy, I still can't get over all those "it's hard work" whines from Bush, given that he has been on vacation more than any other modern president.
posted by amberglow at 4:52 PM on October 2, 2004

I've not seen the whole debate, but the bits I have seen, and the impression I get from all over the place, is that it would be almost impossible to do this with Kerry. He didn't misspeak anywhere near as often, nor hesitate.

Of course you chould find other meaningless things to edit together for him.

As for the idea of editing all the candidates comments together, to get 40 mins of each -- I wonder if you took all bushes ums and ahhhs out, if they'd still be speaking evenly - I get the impression that Kerry probably said more.
posted by sycophant at 4:53 PM on October 2, 2004

[this is hard good]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:54 PM on October 2, 2004

Hilarious. William Burroughs lives.
posted by digaman at 5:33 PM on October 2, 2004

Anybody responsible for getting people this young killed is a national menace.

Dumb people always are.

And don't tell me he's not dumb. Yes, he was matched against an absolutely first-rate mind last night. But he could have done a little bit better at covering his helplessness than flusters of college boy anger.
--Breslin on the debate
posted by amberglow at 5:48 PM on October 2, 2004

It would be just as easy to make Kerry look bad with editing.

You could make him look bad, yes. But there's no way he'd look this bad. As noted above, this footage may be completely unfair, yet it does cut to the heart of Bush's inability to articulate.
posted by jragon at 5:52 PM on October 2, 2004

People misunderestimate
His ability to inarticulate.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 5:55 PM on October 2, 2004

Time to change his debate strategery, I say. Use something subliminable next time.
posted by clevershark at 6:20 PM on October 2, 2004

Amberglow, that Satan video is too funny. That one is scary because it is so true. Bush the born again (who apparently does not go to church - go figure) helps Satan more than he helps the Lord.
posted by caddis at 6:32 PM on October 2, 2004

Bush 2004. Because it's hard work.
posted by alumshubby at 6:33 PM on October 2, 2004

There were so many moments I wish they had used instead of clips of him just standing like a deer in front of a Mack truck. While those "uh... uh... wel, uh..." clips are great fun, there were other points in the debate where I found myself saying, "I just hope no other countries are watching this."

For example, several times after Kerry rebutted, Bush would change the rules they already agreed on and say, "can I just add something..."

Kerry never did this. Not once.

But most hilarious was that just about every time Bush did this, he ended up making himself look worse than if he'd just kept his mouth shut. One time he asked for an additional rebuttal, (which Lehrer granted), and then proceeded to... uh... think... uh... holdonasec... for half his extra time! Of course, when Bush asked for these 30 second extra-time deals, Kerry would get one as well (for fairness). So the President would take 15 of his 30 seconds stammering and figuring out just what he wanted to say, then murmer somethig about "hard work," and give Kerry another 30 seconds to decimate him. Moron!

My favorite moment in the debate, by far, was the second time Bush asked for additional time, then said to Kerry, "do you mind?" to which Kerry responded something like, "Sure, that's fine... if you want to just throw out all the restrictions we can do that, too." (I'm getting the wording wrong, but that was the gist). It made it clear that, for however much Kerry obliterated any semblence of intelligence in Bush, he so very much wanted a real debate to truly eviscerate him. Looks like the "rules" were mostly written by the Bush team to protect him from his own stupidity. Lotta good they did him.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:56 PM on October 2, 2004

Ambergow: I second caddis. Excellent.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:03 PM on October 2, 2004

Amberglow
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:04 PM on October 2, 2004

hey, check it out! ... someone found a copy of the notes bush took during the debate!
posted by pyramid termite at 8:05 PM on October 2, 2004

Kerry wouldn't be as bad no matter how you edited, because had no "ums" that I can remember, maybe 5 or 10 self-corrections, etc. It gives the appearance that he's reciting whereas Bush is thinking, but the almost total absence of gaffes lended him a sense of clarity in contrast with Bush that he badly needed for obvious reasons.
posted by abcde at 8:07 PM on October 2, 2004

Speaking of editing

Some clips from the RNC...[.mov file via]
posted by jaronson at 8:26 PM on October 2, 2004

One thing the video hammered home, which I didn't really noticed during the full debate, is the whining. He sounds like the kid in the back seat, whining about how his sister won't stop touching him.
posted by jpoulos at 8:36 PM on October 2, 2004

Here's what I don't get. Did they focus group this "it's hard work" meme and think anyone was going to be convinced? I'm just really surprised that the Bush team hasn't come up with anything more competent sounding for him to say. Or is it his own invention?

Is everyone supposed to nod and go, "He's right. It's really tough?" What's tough?
posted by inksyndicate at 9:36 PM on October 2, 2004

You could make Kerry look bad, yes -- he repeated the Tora Bora/outsourcing gag, for instance, instead of throwing in another zinger. Most of his missteps in this debate were ones of omission, however (how I would have loved him to quote Poland's President, after Bush told him he'd, you know, forgotten Poland). You could find those few moments when Kerry's hand strayed to his face (the bane of debate trainers), the moment a drop of sweat seemed to briefly disturb him, and you'd be able to make him look bad -- but not in the same way. Certainly there are those who'll be making Kerry look bad through his words, such as repeatedly invoking the UN (there goes the Idaho electoral vote!).

As for Bush, this is really remarkable. I think it's going to provide fodder for years to come for students of conversational disfluency and other conversational indicators, including paralanguage -- the study of utterances such as "um" and pauses themselves, which tell us a lot in a conversation even if they don't actually communicate information directly. In fact, I was most reminded of an exercise heard on NPR and blogged moderately widely where some linguists removed all the words from people's conversation and came up with a voice fingerprint, as it were. Even fluent speakers have utterances and pauses, but there certainly is wide variation in how much of one's speech contains them.

inksyndicate: It's tough, you know, watching the casualty reports on TV. (Was this W's price-scanner moment?)
posted by dhartung at 9:40 PM on October 2, 2004

dhartung-- if you would, please revise the conversational indicators link (I'd like to read it). The obvious correction does not work, either.
posted by Kwantsar at 10:04 PM on October 2, 2004

This link looks correct.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 10:34 PM on October 2, 2004

Thanks, and, duh on me.
posted by Kwantsar at 10:50 PM on October 2, 2004

i watched the debates too, had the same sour feeling in my stomach as i did watching this collage
posted by Satapher at 11:11 PM on October 2, 2004

that link by jaranson is pretty incredible, if not a bit expected by now.
posted by Espoo2 at 12:51 AM on October 3, 2004

jaronson - Amazing. Didn't look like there were any repeats there, either.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:53 AM on October 3, 2004

Here's what I don't get. Did they focus group this "it's hard work" meme and think anyone was going to be convinced? I'm just really surprised that the Bush team hasn't come up with anything more competent sounding for him to say. Or is it his own invention?

Is everyone supposed to nod and go, "He's right. It's really tough?" What's tough?

The only thing I wished Kerry had said after the 12th "It's hard work!" was something like, "Ever hear of the dictum, 'work smarter, not harder'?"

Bush would've rushed him.
posted by Busithoth at 6:40 AM on October 3, 2004

At least one of my friends in Germany thought the line about Poland being one of the military stalwarts of the Coalition was funny. I'm not sure why ...
posted by moonbiter at 8:55 AM on October 3, 2004

Here's what I don't get. Did they focus group this "it's hard work" meme and think anyone was going to be convinced? I'm just really surprised that the Bush team hasn't come up with anything more competent sounding for him to say.

I think the idea is to imply that Kerry has no idea what it's like to actually be president and all he's doing is listing off ideals instead of practicalities.
posted by abcde at 9:47 AM on October 3, 2004

I betcha Karen Hughes has Bush joke about the "hard work" thing in the next debate, saying something like "debates are really hard work"

I taped SNL last night, just watched, and thought they did a pretty good job with it (but not as good as they could have)--the weekend update was hysterical tho.
posted by amberglow at 9:51 AM on October 3, 2004

In a similar vein.
posted by dobbs at 12:50 PM on October 3, 2004

oh, darn. see someone else has already linked it. my bad.
posted by dobbs at 12:51 PM on October 3, 2004

GOP convention audio mashed up a bit [self link].
posted by adampsyche at 1:15 PM on October 3, 2004

Y'all seen this yet?
posted by dobbs at 1:18 PM on October 3, 2004

adam: truly excellent, and one of the things i dislike most about them. hey, maybe Stern would play it?
posted by amberglow at 1:24 PM on October 3, 2004

dobbs, that should really be a fpp--excellent use of constructivism--beautifully done.
posted by amberglow at 1:25 PM on October 3, 2004

dobbs, that was slick as hell. thank you thank you thank you.
posted by Busithoth at 1:36 PM on October 3, 2004

I didn't want to take the "why do you hate america?" flack. go ahead and post if if you wish. :)
posted by dobbs at 1:46 PM on October 3, 2004

A little more info here and mirrored here.
posted by dobbs at 1:53 PM on October 3, 2004

Why do you hate our freedom? ;)
posted by adampsyche at 2:00 PM on October 3, 2004

Wow. That was beautiful, dobbs.

It was like a BBC World News cutscreen, except with a point.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:13 PM on October 3, 2004

God, that was really well done.
posted by goneill at 7:56 PM on October 3, 2004

awesome, dobbs. thank you very much!
posted by mr.marx at 8:06 PM on October 3, 2004

Wow to all the links in this thread.
posted by swift at 3:08 PM on October 4, 2004