My Debate Notebook: Part 1

I've skimmed a few sites including some liveblogging and the scorecard, but these points are based almost exclusively on the notes I took:

Q: Is the war in Iraq a mistake?

Kerry says:
It's not a mistake, providing we have the leadership.
Well that's great but I don't get it. Does that mean that it's a mistake now because President Bush is the leader but somehow if Kerry gets elected the "mistakeness" goes away??

Kerry made a similar point on Good Morning America the other day and I think Diane Sawyer was just as confused. Either it's a mistake or it's not. It shouldn't be dependent on the leadership since he question is concerning a single event, that is, the liberation of Iraq.

A favorite moment of the President's:
He wonders what Kerry would say to these other countries after saying such bad things about Iraq:
"Please join us in Iraq for a Grand Diversion."
Exactly. I've said it before, why in the world would these countries want to work with Senator Kerry if he thinks that this is a bad idea? It's like saying to your friends every morning "My wife/husband/mom/dad is a lousy cook, I can barely stand to eat those meals." and then one day saying "Hey, want to come over for dinner?"

Kofi Annan
Kerry mentioned that Kofi and the UN wanted to be involved in Iraq. Maybe, but didn't Kofi just say that going into Iraq was "illegal?" If that's true, why would he want to be involved at all? That's like saying "Please let us be involved in your illegal activities."
I think in this case Kerry overstates Kofi's interest in involvement. If not, then it seems that he's implying that we simply didn't kow-tow to the UN enough. We didn't coddle them enough to get them involved. What's up with that? Kofi had a chance to be involved and he and the UN refused. Think they were scared about what's coming out now concerning Oil for Food? I do.

Shaking my head in disbelief
Did Kerry actually say "I've had one consistent position"? Yup. I think he did. Powerline confirms it. Unbelievable.

Al Qaeda, 9/11, Iraq
Kerry got it right the first time when he said that there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11, but he got it wrong after that by saying there's no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq. The 9/11 Commission report says otherwise.

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More to come...