…Bush sounded less convincing when he had to make his case in the face of Mr. Kerry’s withering criticism, particularly his repeated insistence that the invasion had diverted attention from the true center of the war on terror in Afghanistan.
Mr. Kerry found the most effective line of argument when he told the audience that “Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror” and that the president had “rushed the war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace.” It is the strongest and most sensible critique of the administration’s actions. Of course, it left Mr. Kerry open to rejoinders by Mr. Bush that Mr. Kerry had sounded far more warlike about Iraq in his pre-campaign persona. That’s a fair comment, and one the senator simply has to live with in this campaign. “As the politics changed, his position changed,” Mr. Bush said.
But when Mr. Bush jabbed at the senator with a reminder about his infamous comment on voting for a war appropriation before he voted against it, Mr. Kerry had finally found an effective answer. While saying he had made a mistake in the way he had expressed himself, the senator added: “But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?” ‘ (New York Times editorial)
Kerry is clearly listening to the advice that he neither pussyfoot in rebutting Bush nor be diverted from the central issues. Looking forward to the next debate a week from tonight, whose ‘town hall’ format might be even more amenable to sowing seeds of concern about Bush’s smarmy simpleminded wrongheadedness.
Also: Kerry vs. the Format, Bush vs. his Temper:
