Essay, Research Paper: Debates 2000

The Third Debate
The third Presidential Debate was between Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush. The debate was in the format of a Town Hall debate. Both Vice President Al Gore and Gov. Bush performed well. An audience member asked the candidates a question and given two minutes to answer the question set forth. After the two minutes the other candidate was given the opportunity to rebuttal. In some instances the candidate that was asked the question was given the chance to refute the prior statement given. The people were very surprised by the actions and the reaction of the two candidates. Al Gore was very quick to make his point and just as quick to show the lies within Bush’s plans. Bush was quick to give a sound byte response.
Gov. Bush and Vice Pres. Al Gore were very quick to show their distaste for the other candidate. It was obvious that the nation was in for a spectacular performance. It seemed that every time Bush was asked a question he managed to avoid answering it directly by means of saying a sound byte from his campaign. Gore seemed to be performing his absolute best. He managed to show people that even though he seems rigid he is very intersested in learning what it was that the people of the nation wanted. When Gore was asked about a certain topic he would come out of his chair and try to comfort the people about what it was he thought they should hear. In my opinion, he did not seem to be telling people exactly what they wanted to hear. Many people seemed taken back due to the constant references to the way Bush has handled Texas. Bush was also noted by the Wall Street Journal for lying about his plans for social security.
The constant references regarding Texas seemed to really make people listen. Gore told people that Texas was last in insurance. For a fact it was last. The topic of affirmative action arose only to disturb people. Bush was asked his views on affirmative action and he rambled on about how he supports it in Texas. He also tried squirming out of Gore’s remake about quotas (regarding affirmative action). As the debate proceeded Bush trashed the journalists. I was most taken make when he made a comment about Al Gore having donated 25 years of his life to civil services.
I must comment on a statement that was said prior to the second debate. The comment was stated by one of the reporters on CSPAN “ I am surprised with how much Bush has learned in the three months before the debate. I believe he would not have been capable of responding to the questions.” When the questions about military arose I had trouble believing the substance of Bush’s, less than comforting, plan. It seemed to me that a man who has never seen a war or served our wonderful nation could truely understand how a soldier would feel. Or how he could relate his decisions to personal experiences.
The closing statements were very shocking. I was in disbelief when Bush verbally attacked Al Gore by saying, V. P. Gore had been practicing high school debate skills. I felt that if Bush had been able to relate to the people that feed him and his family than he would have been able to handle the questions asked of him. Al Gore completed answering a question before finishing up his closing debate. I felt as though he reached out and asked people to vote for him.


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