You look tired, Uncle Dick -- why don't you go lie down for a few years?

Tonight's vice-presidential face-off was less of a slam dunk than Thursday's first presidential debate, but that's no surprise. Dick Cheney may be a lying slimeball (okay, okay, I'll jump off the fence -- he is a lying slimeball), but he can handle himself better than Incurious George.

The thing is, Cheney entered this debate with one arm tied behind his back. Cheney's at his "best" when he's in attack dog mode, but polls show he's already a drain on the ticket. The public simply doesn't like or trust Uncle Dick (and they really don't like his connections to Halliburton).

So Cheney was forced to stifle the sneers and forego the F-bombs that are his stock in trade.

I'm sure Cheney and the rest of Bush, Inc,, were counting on a combination of gravitas and (faux) avuncularity serving to make John Edwards appear callow and unsophisticated -- adolescent, even.

He did nothing of the kind. He took the fight to Cheney from the jump, refusing to let Uncle Dick once again connect the nonexistent dots between Baghdad and Ground Zero. And on those occasions when Cheney did draw a little blood -- when he attacked Edwards' attendance record in the Senate, for example -- Edwards showed a willingness and ability to counterpunch (citing, for example, Uncle Dick's hard-right voting record during his years in the House -- a record only the true right-wing Kool-Aid drinkers could get behind).

Edwards came off as intelligent, informed, enlightened (who wouldn't when compared to Vice-President Halliburton?), energetic, positive, and forceful -- in short, he appeared presidential, which is exactly what one looks for in a man who will be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

We're still nearly a month away from November 2nd, and anything could happen between now and then, but right here, right now? I'm feeling very good about the people's chances of wresting America back from this bunch of lying, thieving skunks.

Posted by brett at 11:45 PM | TrackBack