One of the first things that was brought up with the nomination of Edwards was the strength he would bring to the VP debate against Cheney. Who the hell decided that the best thing to do would be for Edwards to come out and simply parrot what Kerry said only five days earlier? It would be one thing for this ticket to "stay on message", it is another for Edwards to come out and repeat verbatim the phrases that Kerry used, "more casualties in August than July, more in July than...". For one thing, it makes Edwards look simply like Kerry's adoring yes-man. More importantly, he had to know that the Republicans have had armies of true believers go over the lines that worked for Kerry looking for the snappiest responses to them.
The reason I was looking forward to this debate is that it was the last time that the American people will EVER see Cheney have to respond to questions from anyone less friendly to him than Rush Limbaugh. How is it possible that the Kerry/Edwards campaign could allow Cheney to walk off the stage without having to explain (or in this case refuse to address, since they weren't allowed to ask questions to each other) loyalty oaths, free speech zones and a level of secrecy never before seen in the American presidency. Whenever Cheney puked out high-minded phrases about "freedom" or "democracy", loyalty oaths should have been mentioned. When he bloviated about "accountability", his hiding behind Rush to respond to criticism should have been brought up. His amazing work with every brutal dictator and enemy of the US in order to line his pockets at Halliburton could have been mentioned every time he started to pretend that he ever gave a shit about democracy.
Edwards did, at least, bring up some of his most unforgivable votes in congress, but he did so in laundry list fashion that will be quickly forgotton. Why not tie it in to the questions at hand? "I don't think a man that voted against the Civil Rights Act is going to be the one that brings this nation back together". "I don't think the man that voted against the release of Nelson Mandela because he considered him a terrorist is someone that can effectively lead our war against real terrorists." Why no mention of Cheneys terrorist task force that never met? What about his Energy task force whose members were secret? Protecting Kennyboy?
I realize that the point of the debate was not to please me, but harsh criticism of a man that so richly deserves the scrutiny that he will now never receive in any important format would have been a service to the people. I can't imagine that he did this ticket that much good with the approach taken tonight.
Update:
It looks that I was at least somewhat wrong regarding last night (thankfully). I've heard some of the rebroadcast of the debate and reading articles since then and it seems that I missed all of Edwards strongest portions of the debate (putting kids to bed, etc.). Still not as good as what I expected, but much better than what I thought. Admittedly, I would have never been completely satisfied with anything short than Edwards ripping Cheney's Grinch-like heart out of his chest and stuffing it through his scowling mouth.
