Liveblogging

9:01:30: Blinky McSmirksmirk is back.

9:03: Kerry is on valium, Bush is on amphetamines.

9:19: Bush is foaming at the mouth, and it's getting worse. He's trying to lick it away.

9:21: Kerry: "Bush lecturing about fiscal discipline is like Tony Soprano lecturing about law and order."

9:24: Bush is bombing. Deer in the headlights. Not filling his time.

9:26: Bush: "We have to be tolerant of everyone [i.e. homosexuals]." That's probably best accomplished by stripping gays of their civil rights.

9:28: Kerry: "Dick Cheney's daughter is a faggot." These guys are both toxic.

9:36: Bush: "You can't trust national news organizations." I wonder what he's talking about. Maybe Schieffer will grow the balls to ask Bush about the deficit.

9:46: Kerry: "Bush is proposing a $5T deficit." Yup.

9:52: Bush's answer on immigration is pretty good. Except for the line about employers and workers "mating up."

9:53: I'll be fair, Kerry's spitting a bit too.

9:56: Bush: "Kerry doesn't know what he's talking about." Ouch. Bush has been pretty merciless in his attacks.

FACTCHECK UPDATE: Bush lied about not having said he was unconcerned with Osama bin Laden:

13 march 2003 press conference:

Q: Mr. President, in your speeches now, you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? [...]

BUSH: ... I don't know where he is. Nor -- you know, I just don't spend that much time on him really, to be honest with you [...]

Q: Do you believe the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead of alive?

BUSH: As I say, we hadn't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, you know, again, I don't know where he is.

I'll repeat what I said: I truly am not that concerned about him.

10:01: WHY ISN'T KERRY POINTING OUT THAT THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM EXPLICITLY ENDORSES A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN ABORTION? Goddamnit.

10:04: Schieffer: "Some would call [the use of Nat'l Guardsmen in Iraq] a back-door draft." Um, the "some" are John Kerry and John Edwards.

10:09: Bush finally brought up Kerry's opposition to Gulf War I. What took so long?

10:16: Bush's answer on religion is absolutely stomach-turning.

10:17: Kerry's answer on religion is absolutely stomach-turning. Maybe it's me. At least Kerry got the golden rule right.

FACTCHECK: Bush did meet with the Congressional Black Caucus. Once. January 2001. Any bets on how the networks cover this?

10:23: First wife questions suck.

10:26: Why does Kerry get the first opening statement and first closing statement in every single debate?

10:27: Kerry needs to learn how to say "idea" or stop using the word.

10:28: Kerry wins.