Kerry sweeps debates

Commanding on the issues, sharp with the facts, and with a credible plan, Kerry wins all three debates

The verdict is in: George W. Bush is just not good at debating.

In all three debates, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry had the right stuff that he needed to win. His performance was masterful, and he clearly demonstrated how he was going to pay for his programs:

Every plan that I have laid out -- my health-care plan, my plan for education, my plan for kids to be able to get better college loans -- I've shown exactly how I'm going to pay for those.

And we start -- we don't do it exclusively -- but we start by rolling back George Bush's unaffordable tax cut for the wealthiest people, people earning more than $200,000 a year, and we pass, hopefully, the McCain-Kerry Commission which identified some $60 billion that we can get.

We shut the loophole which has American workers actually subsidizing the loss of their own job. They just passed an expansion of that loophole in the last few days: $43 billion of giveaways, including favors to the oil and gas industry and the people importing ceiling fans from China.

I'm going to stand up and fight for the American worker. And I am going to do it in a way that's fiscally sound. I show how I pay for the health care, how we pay for the education.

I have a manufacturing jobs credit. We pay for it by shutting that loophole overseas. We raise the student loans. I pay for it by changing the relationship with the banks. This president has never once vetoed one bill; the first president in a hundred years not to do that.

More Coverage:

Last Debate Offers a Crucial Test but Not the Final Word (NY Times)
Transcript of Debate (Commission on Presidential Debates)
Debate III: Edge still with Kerry (Seattle Times editorial)
Two roads diverge (Seattle P-I Editorial)