By far the best commentary on tonight's debate was by Boondocks cartoonist, Aaron McGruder. He was interviewed live on CNN at around 1:00am by Aaron Brown and .. um .. something tells me Mr. McGruder should just go ahead and grab all the snacks from the green room he can because I don't think he's getting asked back. Here's part of the interview:

Aaron McGruder: ... You know, what bothers me about, um, shows like this and all the news shows, after Bush talks, I see all these smart people completely ignoring the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room, which nobody wants to say, is that Bush is not a smart man. He cannot articulate well. He cannot speak in complete sentences.

Aaron Brown: Well, but--

Aaron McGruder: And everyone just ignores it. Like that's okay.

Aaron Brown: So--

Aaron McGruder: He's really dumb.

Aaron Brown: Okay. I, that's a different thing. Let's say he is not articulate. And I think they would concede he is not the most articulate guy on the planet, it doesn't mean he doesn't have convictions, it doesn't mean he believes in something,it doesn't necessarily mean he's wrong, it just means he can't express himself.

Aaron McGruder: But beliefs don't mean anything if you're stupid. And not only that but he, it's almost as if he's talking to the dumbest segment of society, whereas Kerry--

Aaron Brown: Aaron, don't you think that's an incredibly arrogant way to look at the world?

Aaron McGruder: It's, it's real, you know, it's just that nobody is saying the obvious, which is the man is not smart, and he is the president. And everybody knows it but nobody is saying it.

Aaron Brown: What does that say then about the 52 or 3 or 1 or 49 and a half tonight percent of the country that not only believe that he is smart enough to run the country now but that he should be the guy to for the next four years?

Aaron McGruder: Uh, I think they have been woefully misled. I think Americans have a natural inclination like all people around the world to believe that their government is not corrupt, that people are fair and smart and aren't lying to them. And history doesn't prove that out, and, uh, current events doesn't prove that out. The American people have been lied to, and it's at the point now where I think that percentage of people, uh, simply are not interested in the truth. They don't want to go down the road [? with the thought ?] where 1. the President is not intelligent and 2. the people behind the President who are intelligent, uh, are deliberately lying and misleading the American people. Constantly.

Aaron Brown: Let me see how cynical you are.

Aaron McGruder: Okay.

Aaron Brown: Do you believe that a Kerry presidency would be more honest, or is this a corruption in your view of the entire establishment?

Aaron McGruder: I , I, I don't blame it, I think to say it's the establishment is oversimplified, I think that the institution of journalism has failed in its responsibility to hold the government accountable. The government is doing what it's supposed to do when left unchecked. I do think Kerry would be better than Bush. I think he would be more honest. I think he would be more intelligent. But that, everybody knows that already. That's not really in anyone's debate. It's just, people have picked a side. It's, you know, it's like, you know, it's the kind of weird God people in the middle of America that people that live on the coast fly over and we don't talk to those people, we don't understand those people, and they don't understand us. Uh, but, nobody just says the obvious that the President can't articulate himself and is dumb and it drives me nuts.

(transcript by Eschaton commenter, Miranda)