The New Republic Online: Beyond Debate

The New Republic Online: Beyond Debate: "Bush had a few good rebuttals of Kerry's arguments--on how Kerry sometimes denigrates allies even though he says he will win them over as president, for example--but mostly he resorted to the flip-flop argument. A more skilled debater would have realized that character-based attacks weren't always enough. Kerry's factual attacks required factual rebuttals. Out on the stump where he can get away with it, Bush often campaigns against a caricatured version of John Kerry, a straw man who takes all sorts of radical positions. Bush's problem last night was that he continued to debate that straw man instead of the person who actually showed up on stage."