Scenes from Spin Alley

Notwithstanding efforts to put a Bush spin on Thursday's presidential debate, several opinion polls agree that John Kerry beat George Bush in Thursday's presidential debate. Even Republican pundit Jay Nordlinger says that Bush "did poorly," "seemed a little desperate," "reminded me of Dan Quayle," engaged in "robotic repetition" of memorized phrases, and "gave the appearance of being what his critics charge he is: callow, jejune, unserious." Conservatives did manage to come up with a few "undecided" voters who said they thought Bush won, but it turns out the undecideds were actually Republicans activists posing as independent.