Debate blues

It's time to say something about the debates now that they are over. I think Bush won them all, barely, but only because so much of what Kerry says is such nonsense.

A few missed opportunities for Bush, things he should have said:

Assault Weapons - A president or governor has to learn how to choose when to fight for legislation and when to avoid fights he can't win that only make it harder to win others. I did this as governor of Texas, and I have done it as president reaching across the aisle on NCLB, DHS, etc. Career legislators, especially those who are not part of the leadership in their party - like Sen. Kerry, learn to operate in a very different environment.

Rx Re-importation - There are problems with dropping the ban on re-importation. First, it interferes, after the fact, with the right of contract. Drug companies accepted extortionate low prices imposed on them by the Canadian, French or other foreign governments believing that those prices would only apply to sales in each of those countries and not in the US as well. It is contrary to American ideas of fairness to change the rules for one side after the bargain was made; although we might choose to make new rules for the future. Second, we are not saying that drugs from Canada are unsafe, but not all drugs ordered by American consumers from Canada actually come from Canada. Recently, our government seized a large quantity of prescription medicines which consumers believed they were ordering from Canada but were coming in from the Bahamas - some had been produced in countries with inadequate standards and inspections, and some had no English language labels.

Stem Cell Research - Many Americans believe that conceiving new human life in a dish for the purpose of destroying its ability to develop further is wrong and they prefer that their government not participate in funding that activity; I share that view. But, the good news is that nearly all of the really promising work in stem cell research is being done working with adult stem cells which can be harvested without harm to the donor. My administration is generously supporting research in this area as well as research using umbilical cord stem cells. I have also authorized federal funding research using foetal stem cells from lines that have been cultured for years. Developing new lines of fetal stem cells remains legal in the US and is being done with funding from other sources.

Three mistakes you have made - This question is fundamentally unfair given the structure of this debate and the fact Mr. Lehrer has chosen to have this asked at the end of the evening. I am not going to stand here and list three mistakes just so my opponent can say something like "those were pretty bad, Mr. President, but there are others that are worse" and then listen to him recite his laundry list of my decisions he disagrees with. And I'll tell you something else, when I make a mistake, and we all make some, I learn from it and move on. I don't carry around a list of past mistakes in my head. You deserve a president who is constantly thinking about the decisions that he will have to make in the future to keep this country safe. That is the kind of president I strive to be every day.

There were others, but I haven't been taking notes and these are just the ones that occur to me now.