"I am not going to lay down my arms during the middle of the campaign for someone who has no credibility on the issue," Bush said.
A formidable debater, a policy wonk able to continuously spout off issue-related facts and figures, Gore indeed came off as a career politician.
But while Bush presented himself as an untainted, no-frills operator straight from the heart of Texas, his efforts to present swing voters with an appealing, charismatic alternative to Gore were hampered.
Unlike Gore, he stuttered and stumbled at times. Elsewhere, Bush seemed somewhat passive--while Gore nearly always tried to get an extra word in, Bush gave numerous short, two-or-three sentence rebuttals. And he made several perplexing statements.
"The role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from taking place in the first place," Bush said at one point.
Earlier, Bush initially made a joke when asked what he would do in a crisis situation as president.
"I've stood up to big Hollywood, big trial lawyers," Bush said. "What was the question? It was about big emergencies, wasn't it?"
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