OPINION: Gore Showed Class As Bush Attacked

Analysis Of The Bush-Gore Debate

Beth Pearlman, NewsNet5 Staff Writer
October 4, 2000, 5:54 p.m. EDT

Plenty of pundits will declare that Gov. George W. Bush won just because he held his own. That doesn't seem fair to Vice President Al Gore, who parried every Bush jab with ease, not missing a chance to expose the under-researched underside of Bush's proposals.

In fact, Gore bested his opponent because he finally mastered his own tendency to sound pedantic and preachy. His slower pace and frequent smiles made Gore seem more at ease facing Bush than he's seemed before, even more personable than his convention speeches before a convention hall full of cheering Democratic supporters.

And along with Gore's ease of manner came a graciousness toward his adversary, a quality Bush did not exhibit in this debate. When asked the oft-mentioned question of "character," Bush jumped in with two feet, however obliquely, reminding viewers again about Gore's fundraising snafu and, by association, his part in the Clinton scandals. He asked voters for a "fresh start after a season of cynicism." Bush was the only cynic on this stage, as Gore refused to take the bait, responding immediately "we ought to attack our country's problems, not each other. You may want to focus on scandals, I focus on results."

Bush also focused on insulting Gore a number of times. He accused Gore of quoting "phoney numbers" and practicing "fuzzy math" several times, and warned voters to beware of Gore's trying to "scare people into the voting booth." Gore never stooped to such insulting tactics.

Gore also threw down the gauntlet on safeguarding Medicare, Social Security and asking Bush to join him in vowing to support campaign finance reform. Bush refused to pick it up, instead pointing to his own reform plans for Medicare and Social Security, and putting off talk of campaign reform until after this election.

Even on the issue of military readiness, Bush was critical of the equipment and preparedness of U.S. troops while Gore touted the American military as the best in the history of the world, a comment Bush hastily agreed with a few moments later.

Gore was adept at sounding his major themes several times, first of which was his charge that Bush's economic plans would cut taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, while Gore's proposals aim the tax cut arrow toward the middle class.

In the end, who won the debate perhaps comes down to which side of the political fence you sit on. Neither candidate did damage to himself (something Bush supporters feared) and neither went overboard in bashing the other (a concern of Gore boosters). But Bush should not be declared the winner simply because he had the benefit of poor expectations.

--Beth Pearlman is senior managing editor of Internet Broadcasting Systems, which operates NewsNet5.

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