It's simple: KERRY WON

You know the Bush crowd are starting to flail when the day after the debate Bush trots out the argument that Kerry would let France control our military. That's so pathetic as an argument it's laughable. The Bush folks will try to spin the debate as more contradictions. But it's clear that they are panicked by how shaky Bush's performance was. He mumbled. He paused for long periods, not so much to gather his thoughts as to try to remember what he was doing there. He kept telling us how hard it was to be President, when it was clear what he was really referring to was the fact of how hard it was for him to stand up in front of a crowd for 90 minutes and actually have to use his noggin.

Kerry stomped him on "our enemies attacked us" to justify invading Iraq, pointing out Osama Bin Forgotten attacked us, not Saddam Hussein. He embarrassed him by recounting how during the Cuban missile crisis, De Gaulle told the American Secretary of State, who offered him photographs of the Russian missiles, "the word of the President of the United States is good enough for me." And he showed how out of touch Bush is on foreign affairs when, after Bush tried to argue that we already have sanctions on Iran, Kerry pointed out that he meant we needed to lead a global effort to develop broad international sanctions to isolate Iran.

All national polls show Kerry winning the debate by decisive margins. The smallest margin of victory is 10 points. In some polls, it rises to 22%. And these are polls with Republicans in them, who, if you told them Bush said fire was cold, would cheer loudly and happily. Among independents Kerry's margin of victory in the debate is a butt-stomping 20+ points. Kerry looked confident, calm, steady, thoughtful, informed, poised, and brave. Bush looked childish, petulant, ill-informed, irritable, tired, and every now and then gave us that glorious deer caught in the headlights look he must have mastered at age 4.