VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE... REVIEWS

KWOW! BAMM!! WHOOP!!! I felt like I was watching the old Batman and Robin series with Adam West and Burt Ward, and Dick Cheney was giving John "Robin" Edwards a little sparring lesson in politics. The senior crime-fighter that Cheney is just had to teach the young boy in tights some lessons and a reminder that Edwards has a long way to go towards political maturity.

In terms of overall public perception, I'm guessing Cheney only gets a small nod after this debate because of his lack of charisma. He can look like a grumpy old man or the old high school gym teacher everyone is afraid of, so he loses a lot during his delivery. Edwards is like the beauty queen compared to Cheney, but sounds like one too... the stereotypical ones.

Anyway, here are some more reviews from Hugh Hewitt and Power Line...

But the most devastating blow was struck when Edwards still wouldn't give up, and came back with the 90% casualty figure. That was when Cheney, addressing Edwards as an adult admonishing a foolish child, pointed out that our most important ally in Iraq is the Iraqis, and that by refusing to include the Iraqis' many casualties in his numbers--so as to be able to claim that almost all the casualties are American--Edwards denigrates the sacrifice of our Iraqi friends.

Edwards knew that Cheney was right, and it took him a while to regain his composure.

The second knockdown was when Cheney criticized Edwards' lackluster record as a Senator, noting that he had missed 70% of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee, of which he was a member, and that his home-town paper had labeled him "Senator Gone." That was good. But the devastating conclusion was Cheney's observation that despite the fact that as Vice-President he regularly presides over the Senate, he had never met Edwards until he walked onto the stage tonight. This fact blew me away; I wouldn't have thought it possible. It blew Edwards away, too. (full post)

More here from Power Line and Andrew Sullivan here and here...

"Here's a fuller explanation of why I thought Edwards triumphed over Cheney - especially among undecideds, with quotes and chapters and verses."