I definately don’t think being over-prepared was the problem. It seemed to me that he had been given too few responses to the obvious questions and was utterly unprepared to deal with Kerrys’ lunancy. Why he didn’t take the opportunity to launch into Kerry’s senate record on defense issues when asked whether Kerry’s election would make America less safe is beyond me. I hated his “thats a loaded question” response and then watching him launch into “I don’t want to insult my opponent” mode- in my opinion, the American public does not react well to the BS- if you think we’d be less safe with Kerry in office, tell us that and why you think so – we need to know that.

Clearly, his responses about Iraq left alot to be desired- there’s just so many clear reasons to be in Iraq (even if people disagree with those reasons) and it almost seemed like Bush was spending too much time searching for those reasons rather than defending them. And he should have had the reasons for war down and been ready to reel them off when the question was asked.

Again, his staff did a ridiculously bad job of prepping him. They should have made him get a good night sleep. Somebody should have said “don’t grimace whatever you do” after Gore’s sighing. They should have had him ready to go after Kerry on the defense question. Most importantly, they should have told him to shut the hell up after he made his point- the rambling after a good line is what made Bush look less tha presidential.

Bush may not be much of a debater but good prep *should* get him over some hurtles. If his people let Bush go out there again with such little good prep, they should be shown the door.