The powerful advantage of ruling over a poorly informed proletariat with a partisan, conservative controlled media in place, is that it causes them to vote against their own interests and plays right into the hands of the Neo Cons currently in power. It is a sad reality that a number of Americans are so misinformed that they can sit back and listen to Vice-President Cheney lie and distort and accept it. The fact that he sounds firm and clear in that robotic, monotonous tone, complete with the occasional expressionless zombie-like scowl, seems to be enough for some folks.

Personally, I never got that warm feeling of reassurance knowing Cheney's-in-Charge that people often mention, but next to Bush he seems like a genius so I guess there's a lot to say for point of reference.

The fact that he believes what he says and says it with conviction is so intoxicating and hypnotic to some, that sometimes I fear if the vice-president starts talking about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Canada people would believe it.

Other folks know that when they do tune in they'll just get more of the same crap they've been getting since the Bush Administration decided to pre-emptively eradicate evil in the world.

Although last night's vice-presidential debate didn't yield anything new or surprising, John Edwards managed to effectively counter the sound bites of a veteran master of distortion.

Dick Bruce Cheney may have actually set a new record for lying as he immediately launched into the very familiar Iraq war mantra many of us have heard so much that we're able to recite in unison right along with him. But this time as the angry, irritated 63 year old man from Wyoming continued to drone on, John Edwards provided no wiggle room and elucidated the popular, happy lies of Mr. Halliburton.

Simply saying, "They're not being straight with you", is a very polite, political and effective way of conceptualizing this administration and Edwards successfully accented this point.

Although I do wish he would have gone a little deeper in countering the King of the Neo Cons.

For one, John Edwards could have silenced Cheney's jibes about his lack of experience early on by stealing a light-hearted tactic from Ronald Reagan. At the 1984 Mondale-Reagan debate when Reagan's age was once again a topic, Ronald Reagan quipped: "I won't exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience".

Borrowing and tweaking Reagan's line, Edwards should have said something like "We won't exploit for political purposes our opponents youth and inexperience before he became president", and point out that George W. Bush, like John Edwards, had only spent 6 years in elected office when he was running for president in 2000, but unlike Bush, Edwards' experience both as an attorney and in the senate is more relevant.

As far as voting records are concerned, Edwards effectively rattled off the lesser-known and rarely discussed highlights of Cheney's revealing record and pattern.

Cheney's support for apartheid and the continual incarceration of Nelson Mandela

Cheney's and Halliburton's business dealing with Libya and Iran

Cheney's cuts in defense while he was serving as Secretary of Defense.

This is an important point because between 1989 and 1993 as Secretary of Defense during the first Bush administration Cheney himself presided over the biggest cutback in defense programs in modern history. He cut many of the exact same programs that he now assails Kerry for voting against. Although Edwards made this point, I wish he had revisited a little more.

I was actually astounded when Cheney had the audacity to mention El Salvador as a model for Iraq.

EL SALVADOR!?

The place where US Ambassador to Honduras, John Negroponte earned a reputation for supporting widespread human rights abuses and campaigns of terror from 1981 to 1985.

The place where the death squads have reportedly killed over 200,000 people in Central America.

EL SALVADOR is to be the model for Iraq?

Last April when John Negroponte was appointed Ambassador to Baghdad, the very next day Honduran President Ricardo Maduro announced that the 370 troops from his country fighting in Iraq would be withdrawn as soon as possible. John Edwards should have then segued right into the fact that it was John Kerry who helped expose Iran-Contra, that nasty little mess during Reagan's second term that ironically relates directly to what is going on in Iraq today.

Unfortunately John Edwards didn't do any of that but nevertheless he challenged and corrected Cheney each time he lied--especially when he lied about Iraq--much to the dismay of the vice-president.

As we watch the Republicans stay the course and the Democrats play it safe in their bitter battle for those precious white male voters in the red states, it's important to keep in mind that the campaign tactics of a candidate with a solid lead (or trailing miserably) are completely different when the race is considered too close to call. So the Kerry-Edwards campaign's cautious nature is somewhat understandable. However, this has also been known to backfire in your face if it is overdone, underdone or unnecessarily done, as well.

Although, I wish John Edwards would have been just a little bit better informed on a few topics, he managed to stop Dick Cheney in his misleading tracks. Each time Cheney misled, Edwards would counter, re-direct and re-lead the conversation out of Cheneyville and back to reality. His trial lawyer skills evident at times, John Edwards clearly prevailed in a very dense debate and scored the much needed points necessary for a Kerry-Edwards victory.

Cheney, Dick :: Edwards, John :: Election 2004 | Link