After the Debates, Do the Voters Know More?

After three debates between John F. Kerry and George W. Bush, I know no more about the two candidates than their previous stump speeches indicated. I found myself finishing the sentences of both candidates, as they refused to say anything new. I am sad to see them waste an opportunity to reveal anything new about their vision for the future. Kerry listed Bush’s record of wrongs while the president accused him of being liberal.

I heard much about the middle class and the top 2%, but what about the 12% who are the nation’s poor? How about our neglected environment and the need to correct the course we are traveling? With so little time afforded to direct conversation between the candidates, it is a shame to see another 1 1/2 hours wasted.

Michael R. Nielsen

Fountain Valley

*

Many people say that the election boils down to “choosing the lesser of two evils.” After listening to both candidates for months, watching their conventions and hearing them debate, I have to disagree with that opinion. The choice is between taking the good with the bad (Kerry) and taking the bad with the worse (Bush).

Michael Figueroa

Glendale

*

It’s settled! I’m voting for Kerry to be a member of our national debating team. However, as skilled as the liberal senator from Massachusetts is at arguing for and against both sides of an issue, he should not be named captain of the team.

His woeful record during 20 years in the Senate, not sponsoring a single significant piece of legislation and not bothering to show up for three-fourths of Intelligence Committee meetings, proves that he lacks the leadership ability to be a team captain, much less president of the United States.

John F. Tintle

Nipomo, Calif.

*

As a teacher, I have to give Bush an F on the last debate. His No Child Left Behind Act raised high standards for children but denied them the money needed to make it work. “Fair play” is the first rule Bush should have learned on the playground.

Christopher Peters

Second-grade teacher

Newport Beach

*

The third debate was marred by the puerile questions of the moderator, Bob Schieffer. Questions dealing with religious faith, first ladies and homosexual marriage have little to do with the real issues: jobs, war, wages, healthcare, Social Security and the environment. Perhaps Schieffer was playing to the folksy side of the president, but it didn’t seem to help. Grinning like Bozo the Clown, the president had little to say.

Jim Antonich

Mount Baldy

*

After watching three debates, my wife and I concluded that Kerry is a wonderful speaker, debater and repository of factual information. But there was something missing, something Bush possessed that Kerry lacked.

As fumbling and imperfect as Bush was at times, we were touched by his genuine humanity. When we cast our vote Nov. 2, it will not be for an empty suit filled with talking points; it will not be for a “deliberator in chief.” We will cast our vote for a man who touches people with something deeper than the fluency of his words.

Scott Abramson

Pamela Abramson

San Mateo, Calif.

*

Bush passionately claimed to be devoting every asset to seek and destroy Osama bin Laden. Hard to see how that is so when there are 10 times as many troops in Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction that do not exist while the leader of Al Qaeda remains at large in Afghanistan. Devotion should be made of sterner stuff.

John De Simio

Los Angeles