October 12, 2000—In a performance slightly less gooey than last week's,
                Li'l Al eked out a narrow win last night over Shrub Bush, mostly by making
                the Texas governor look as though he doesn't get what's going on in his
                own state. Like the first debate, in Boston, this matchup was an awful
                bore, guaranteed to turn off voters and send them either to Nader or
                Buchanan or, more likely, the corner bar.

                The one wide-awake moment in the deadly one and a half hours came
                when Bush, sounding like some power-drunk dictator of a banana
                republic, offhandedly talked about putting people to death, as if revenge
                killing were the best punishment for awful crimes and the stiffest
                deterrent against future wrongdoing. Bush has been accused of running
                mad with the criminal justice system in Texas, turning it into an
                out-of-control death machine that sends poor and minority prisoners to
                the grave with stunning regularity.

                Asked why he opposed tougher state hate crimes legislation, Bush replied,
                "We have a law in Texas. The three men who murdered James Byrd,
                guess what's going to happen to them? They're gonna be put to death."

                But only two of the three men convicted of murdering Byrd—who was
                chained to the back of a truck and dragged to death behind—got the
                death penalty. The third was sentenced to life in prison. Bush's
                spokeswoman Karen Hughes later explained that what Bush really meant
                to say was the prosecutor had sought the death penalty for all three
                men. But Bush never corrected himself, and despite wearing a look of
                slight apprehension at having broached a touchy subject with
                voters—particularly the people of color whom he was then trying to
                please—he continued to expound gleefully on the benefits of execution.

                "In this case, we can't enhance the penalty any more than putting those
                three thugs to death," he said, "and that's what's going to happen in Texas."

                Gore rarely showed his muscle, but he pushed Bush on hate crimes,
                forcing him to flail around in a forest of bills that had passed and others
                that had died in committee. Shrub said Texas had a hate crimes bill, yet
                proponents of a new hate crimes law say the current statute is so vague
                as to be meaningless.

                It's true, as universally reported by the big-time mainstream press, that
                Bush was able to talk about foreign policy as if he knew where the
                countries are located on the map, but the impression he gave was of a
                man who has just learned to drive. Gore appeared more knowledgeable by
                far—despite his teacher's pet act, which makes you want to slap him.

                On foreign policy, the two have real differences. Gore said he wants to
                intervene abroad for nation building, while Bush insisted "we can't be all
                things to all people." Especially, it appears, if those people are black, as
                were the victims of genocide in Rwanda. Bush also said he was against
                intervention in Haiti, where his father's administration actively supported
                the repressive military government, ostensibly for reasons of national
                security. Gore naturally endorsed Clinton's decision to go in. But Haiti has
                turned out to be a bad example of nation building. The IMF has blocked
                loans to the country, and the Haitians have hunkered down, waiting for
                the return of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2001. Meanwhile
                the place remains dirt-poor, and is a growing base for the drug trade.

                Gore argued that the U.S. military is strong enough to allow us to project
                power abroad. But Bush countered that the military is weak, and needs
                to be beefed up so as to be able to win wars. He spoke against using
                troops for peacekeeping.

                Otherwise, it was the same old, same old with Bush and Gore agreeing
                not to register guns, not to recognize gay marriage. Bush said he wouldn't
                extend civil rights protection to gays, while Gore moved toward more-inclusive
                civil rights coverage. The pair also agreed not to leave any child behind,
                not to leave any old people dying in the street, and to stand by Israel.
                And they were united in saying Americans should project power abroad
                by being "humble"—as when bombing Serbia into a parking lot.
 

                This story is part of the Village Voice's ongoing 2000 presidential election coverage.