We wrote and deleted a post a while ago about Cheney's 'Senator Gone' comment. While Lexis.com has no mention of anyone other than a local Republican party chairwoman making the comment, we later found it via Google in an editorial in a local North Carolina newspaper. Since the deleted post may show up in cached versions, just letting you know.

Cheney's comment: "You're hometown newspaper has taken to calling you "Senator Gone."

Editor and Publisher.com reports that it's debatable whether the paper,a small one in Moore County, North Carolina, published three times a week, is really Edwards hometown paper. As a child, Edwards lived in a town in Moore county. Since adulthood, for decades, he has lived in Raleigh. Further, E & P notes,

The June 25, 2003, editorial also included the following: "Members of the senator's staff point out that Edwards' attendance record this year has been better than the other three Demcoratic senators who are campaigning for president--Joe Lieberman, Richad Gephardt and Bob Graham. And the aides also say none of the votes Edswards missed was close, so his presence on the floor would not have changed the outcome."

The paper explains its comment here.

Atrios notes on a related exaggeration:

Then he bragged about being the presiding officer of the Senate, and being there most Tuesdays, even though he's only acted as the presiding officer on two Tuesdays.

Avedon Carol of Sideshow says the Washington Post article on fact-checking the debate spins towards Cheney:

And, George Soros realized that Factcheck.com, touted by Cheney last night during the debate, was not a political site. He meant to say Factcheck.Org. Soros is right on top of it and has grabbed FactCheck.com. Go there, and you will be directed to Soros' website bearing his message on why we should not re-elect George Bush.

Update: It may not have been Soros that got the site. Domains don't change hands that fast. It may have been the true owner of the site redirecting Soros' page to its home page. Campaign Extra has more.

Up for Victory is charging that Ralph Nader has taken money for his campaign from several of the funders of the Swift Boat Vets ads.

According to Federal Election Committee records, five major donors who have given $13,500 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to air its attack ads on John Kerry’s military service have also given Nader $7,500.Specifically, Travis Anderson (NJ), Brian Pilcher (CA) and Donald Burns (FL), are three of Nader’s largest donors and each has given him $2,000 (the maximum allowable contribution), while also contributing to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Charles Eckert (CA) and Oliver Grace (NY) have also given to both Nader’s PAC and the swift boat PAC.

Nader has condemned the ads run by this PAC, saying, “It's pretty deplorable that Bush through his proxies is doing this smear,” Nader said. (8/27/2004, A.P., in speech at Tulane University).

So is Bush, through his proxies, supporting Nader? Up for Victory says so.

If Nader wishes to have any credibility left with progressives, he must give back all right wing money and finally acknowledge that his campaign is being used by the Bush/Cheney re-election team.”

John at AMERICAblog has posted a picture of Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter, on stage last night after the debate with her partner Heather (one on each side of the family, they are not standing together.) Should Cheney be praised for his newfound inclusiveness? Yes, and no, according to John.

You can read the transcript of the debate here. The New York Times fact checks here.

Update: Houston Chronicle (Bush country):
10:40 pm, 6025 votes
Vice President Dick Cheney: 11%
Sen. John Edwards: 88%
It was a draw: 1%
Total Votes: 6025

Update: 9:15 pm, MSNBC poll:

Who won the debate? 323145 responses

Sen. John Edwards 71%
VP Dick Cheney 29%

CBS:CBS News tracked the reactions to tonight's vice-presidential debate of a nationwide panel of 169 uncommitted voters - voters who could change their minds before Election Day. Here are the initial results. This scientific poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percentage points:

• By 41% to 29%, uncommitted debate watchers say Edwards won the debate tonight.

************
Original Post

Here's why I can't watch the early spin. They are on another planet. C-SpanII went to MSNBC and Chris Matthews who immediately proclaimed Cheney the winner. What? Cheney was dour, insulting, arrogant and rigid in his misguided positions. He can't admit the Administration's mistakes. Or his own flip-flops.

There can be a fine line between experience and "set in your ways". Like I said last night, if Dick Gephardt was your father's Oldsmobile, Dick Cheney is your grandfather's model T.

I don't think voters will buy Cheney's shtick. Particularly younger ones.

More reaction:

More Cheney dissembling...tonight he said he never connected Iraq and 9/11. Here's what he said on Meet the Press (NBC) just a year ago (9/14/03):

Cheney: "If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11."

Update:

Cheney never met Edwards in the Senate? Or before tonight? Maybe he has the beginnings of dementia.:

January 08, 2003
WASHINGTON -- Republican Elizabeth Dole, sworn in as North Carolina's newest senator Tuesday, pledged to work with lawmakers of both parties to strengthen national defense, boost the economy, reform health care and address farming issues crucial to North Carolinians. Dole had her grandmother's Bible as she was sworn in on the Senate floor. She raised her right hand and took the oath administered by Vice President Dick Cheney, the Senate president.

Per Senate tradition, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., escorted her. Her husband, former Senate majority leader and GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, also was by her side.

Here'sanother time they met-- same picture as above but larger of the two together:

Cheney Thanked Edwards At the National Prayer Breakfast. Addressing the National Prayer Breakast, Cheney said: “Thank you. Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I honored to be with you all this morning.” [FDCH Political Transcripts, Cheney Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, 2/1/01]

Cheney's debate statement:

Scowls and growls vs. hope and optimism.

The past is filled with mistakes that Cheney and Bush still refuse to acknowledge--on both Iraq and the economy. Kerry and Edwards see what's wrong and have a plan to fix it.

Do you want more of the same or a fresh start? Go Kerry-Edwards.

Update: New York Times reports on Bush's attempt to spin the spin.

***************
Check out this missive Bush Campaign director Ken Mehlman sent out to Republican supporters today, urging them to check into the Bush-Cheney website for talking points and vote in all the online polls.

Two can play that game. Here's the polls, go vote for Edwards when the debate is over.

MSNBC.com
FoxNews.com
ABCNews.com
CNN.com

The spin won't stop there. The message continues:

Call Talk Radio shows in your area. Write letters to the editors of your local papers. Visit Chat rooms on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!
Send this message to 5 friends using the form at the bottom of this page. Beyond tonight, you should return to these forums in the coming days and make your voice heard and your support for the PresidentJohn Kerry known.

If someone asks you a question about the President John Kerry, direct them to the campaign's website. It has lots of information on Kerry's plans for America.

If you need to get up to speed on Halliburton, which likely will be a focus of John Edwards' debate responses, here's a guide.

Here's an open thread for your thoughts on tonight's Cheney-Edwards debate. Mine are here and here.

Eric Mueller of IsThatLegal weighs in here, commenting on this op-ed in the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer.

If Edwards speaks these difficult truths about our past mistakes and future challenges with courage and skill, then he will win the debate, even if he can't explain exactly how the new administration will go forward. As long as Kerry and Edwards are resolute about the ends, they can appear flexible about the means of finishing the war. The president's mistakes need not remain the country's mistakes, and the public will conclude that Kerry and Edwards will do a better job of fixing mistakes than a president who cannot even bring himself to admit them. John Edwards is the best trial lawyer since Lincoln to participate in a presidential campaign. Tonight the country needs him to give the argument of a lifetime.

The Wall St. Journal (subscription only) presents this news article, calling Cheney, "an intense and understated government veteran" and Edwards a "a smooth-talking former trial lawyer." Sounds more like an op-ed to me. A non-partisan article would have referred to each candidate by their current government position, or both by their former jobs. Edwards should have been described as a United States Senator first, and trial lawyer second. Instead of "smooth talking", more neutral words such as articulate, successful, convincing or passionate should have been used. Alternatively, Cheney should have been called the former head of Halliburton rather than a "government veteran."

American Progress Report on What Cheney Will Say.

One more: The Rude Pundit on what Edwards should say. [link via Atrios.]