To this peevish pretty-boy slickster with the anchorman hair, Cheney was stalwart, unflappable, and locked-on. And he kept largely to the point that the election is principally about Messrs. Kerry and Bush: Bush, fixed and consistent, vs. the mixed-message Kerry trying to sell liberalism to a fundamentally conservative electorate.
Cheney cited Kerry's (and Edwards') votes against tax cuts, crucial weapons systems, and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit. He spoke sensitively and sensibly about homosexuality and AIDS. On terrorism, he noted Kerry-Edwards' disparaging of success and demeaning of our allies - including Iraqis with "their necks on the line" in their fight for freedom and stability.
On domestic policy, Cheney summarized the Bush administration record: "We've got 111 million American taxpayers who have benefited from our income tax cuts. We've got 33 million students who've benefited from No Child Left Behind. We've got 40 million seniors who benefited from the reform of the Medicare system. The Democrats promised prescription drug benefits. For years they've run on that platform. They never got it done. The president got it done."
On foreign policy, Cheney told Edwards: "You're not credible on Iraq because of the enormous inconsistencies that John Kerry and you have cited time after time after time during the course of the campaign. Whatever the political pressures of the moment require, that's where you're at. But you've not been consistent, and there's no indication at all that John Kerry has the conviction to successfully carry through on the war on terror."
As with Bush and Kerry in their first debate, so with Cheney and Edwards: Labrador steadiness vs. yappy running around. Anyone declaring the Democrat the "victor" in either debate should be required to respond to this question: In the realm of Important Things, how and when did substance lose out to style?