10/11/00 1:15 p.m.
Lies and Sighs
A debate preview.

By NR's John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

y now it's clear that George W. Bush won the first presidential debate in some meaningful way, if only because several polls show him bouncing ahead of Al Gore in the aftermath. It's possible that even though many viewers felt Gore won on points — he was plainly more substantive — the low expectations they had for Bush allowed the governor to beat the spread. It's also possible that Dick Cheney's strong performance on Thursday has something to do with it. But most likely, it's because the race's dominant theme since last week has been a question: Can Gore tell the truth?

In a way, this now lowers expectations for Gore. Can he get through an hour and a half tonight without fibbing? His every comment will receive scrutiny like never before. If he doesn't tell a single tall tale, he may be able to claim a kind of victory, however absurd that seems. His statements from the first debate will be "old news."

Republicans, too, will have to make sure they don't overreach by interpreting Gore's words as lies even when they're not. In the first debate, for instance, Gore seemed to say that his uncle fought in the Balkans during the First World War. What he really meant, however, was that his uncle fought in the war, which happened to start in the Balkans. The meaning was fairly clear, and there was surely no deception. This was an example of the sloppiness of spoken language, which can't be edited after it leaves the mouth. Yet some conservatives offered an ungenerous spin on the remark. If they do that this time, in the absence of an obvious lie, they'll bring discredit to the whole notion that Gore invents facts.

The challenge for Bush is not to let the issue die, even if Gore fails to tell a single tall tale tonight. Bush can accomplish this through subtlety. He can say, "I'm a man of my word" or "I'm a straight talker" — an implicit comparison than doesn't require him to wag a finger in Gore's face. He can also comment on empty promises Gore made in 1992 on middle-class tax relief, reforming Medicare, prescription drugs — or any number of things.

If the top item on Gore's list of goals tonight is not to lie, a close second is not to sigh. According the New York Post, Billy Crystal wondered if Gore was trying to sound "like a gay waiter" last week. It's hard not to believe a big chunk of Gore's preparation for the second debate has involved breathing lessons. And if the vice president banishes the lying, sighing, and condescending character who showed up last week, we may see a familiar, retro sight this evening: The stiff.

Please Don't Hurt Me!
From Joe Klein's article on President Clinton, in current issue of The New Yorker: "At the end of our conversation in which the President and I discussed health care, Mrs. Clinton suddenly appeared and asked me, with a smile, how she had fared. 'He ripped you up,' I told her, also with a smile. The President fairly leaped from his chair, crossed the room, put his arms around Mrs. Clinton, and kissed her several times on the forehead. 'I told him,' he said, 'that health care was all my fault.'"