Was watching the Newshour with Jim Lehrer show earlier this evening and they have this cool thing now where they show an extended piece of unedited stuff from speeches given on that day by both Bush and Kerry. There's no editorial comment or anything. It's great. It's so people can listen to what both candidates actually say and then can weigh them up for themselves. Kerry was great, by the way. It was interesting and relaxed. He was just talking to a group of tough-looking manufacturing workers about the state of the economy, and he sounded like he actually understood what was going on. He made logical criticisms of Bush's economic policies, and revealed their flaws and showed how you could do it way better if you were actually concerned about making life fair - or better, even - for average workers. What he said had the ring [and substance] of truth. It was thoughtful and cool. Bush was, well, weird and sucky. He seemed flimsy in direct comparison to Kerry. He has an odd speaking style. You get the sense that he's uncomfortable and kinda grasping at stuff, with energetic rushes of words that don't say much and then these pauses where he kinda keels to his right and raises his eyebrows while his mouth remains closed. It's very irritating. Anyway, he was all slogans about how the 'entrepeneurial spirit of America' would save the economy, or something. You didn't feel like you really NEEDED to listen to what he was saying, whereas with Kerry you really did. Like, what Kerry was saying was more necessary to your understanding. It was cool.