It’s as if all the Bush campaign complaints and delays over the debate schedule were a smoke screen all along. Oh wait; they were.
Just hours before the written-in-stone deadline, it now appears that Bush has agreed to the three debate locations, formats, and dates that have been on the table all along.
The campaigns of President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry have tentatively settled on a package of three face-to-face debates that both sides view as a potentially decisive chance to sway huge audiences ahead of the Nov. 2 election, Democrats and Republicans said yesterday.
Bush’s campaign opened the negotiations by urging just two sessions involving Bush and Kerry, but yielded to the full slate of debates that had been proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, according to people in both parties who were briefed on the negotiations.
So, all of that talk about having only two debates, and skipping Arizona, and perhaps blowing off Missouri, can now clearly be seen for what it was — a ploy. Bush aides, who’ve never been fond of compromise, magically gave up on all of their so-called demands at the last minute and agreed to everything Kerry and the independent debate commission requested. What a remarkable coincidence.
And if you think that’s bad, consider how the Bush campaign is once again going to absurd lengths to try and manage expectations.
Bear in mind, part of the plan all along is to portray Kerry as an expert debater. In July, Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told CNN that Kerry and Edwards were “two of the probably best debaters on one ticket maybe in the history of the country.”
But if you thought the hyperbole was silly before, consider the Bush campaign’s spin yesterday.
Matthew Dowd, the Bush-Cheney campaign’s chief strategist, said in an interview earlier this month that Kerry “is very formidable, and probably the best debater ever to run for president.” “I’m not joking,” Dowd added. “I think he’s better than Cicero,” the ancient Roman orator.
Can we just give Dowd the award for most ridiculous quote of the campaign now and get it over with? I can appreciate the need to manage expectations, but John Kerry, whose oratory is rarely praised, better than Cicero? The Bush campaign has already demonstrated a predilection for exaggeration, but this is ridiculous.
For what’s it’s worth, the schedule that was unveiled in August is the same that we’ll see over the next month. The first debate will be next week, Thursday, Sept. 30, in Miami and will be moderated by Jim Lehrer. On Oct. 8, there will be a town-hall style event in St. Louis, moderated by Charlie Gibson. A week later, on Oct. 13, Bush and Kerry will face off in Tempe, Arizona, with Bob Schieffer. On Oct. 5, Edwards and Cheney will debate in Cleveland in a debate moderated by Gwen Ifill.
Get your popcorn ready now.