There’s plenty of good analysis about the debate (just not in my beloved Washington Post). Josh Marshall’s take is pretty good.

While most observers say Kerry achieved what he wanted, i.e., to look and sound like a credible commander-in-chief, the real test comes in the next few days to see if the GOP can spin it otherwise. I suspect the one quote you’ll hear the right talk about was when Kerry said a pre-emptive strike must “pass a global test.” He seemed to regret the words as soon as they came out. My guess is that is one of the phrases that will be in the president’s speeches, perhaps an ad and certainly in the right wing cable TV and radio echo chamber. Kerry better have a quick answer.

But Kerry still has work to do. He did not address the mangled “I voted for it, before I against it” syntax. He had the chance and could have said, “I always supported the $67 million for our soldiers but I thought the additional $20 billion for Iraq reconstruction should have come from rich taxpayers who’ve never been asked to sacrifice for this war. I voted for the bill when they were asked to join our soldiers in sacrifice, but when the president said he didn’t want them to sacrifice and backed a competing bill, I voted against it as a protest.”

Kerry also needs to look at the camera. Speak to the people, not to the moderator. TV commentators always respond to questions from the host by turning directly to the camera. Bush was better at this.

He also needs to ridicule the president more. He should make a point of trying to make light of his not including Poland in the alliance – as if they are critical. And when he talks about allies he should refer to them as “world power” allies, to make the distinction between them and Costa Rica et al. He could also use the quote Kevin Drum uncovered.

Here’s what President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland thinks of the coalition today: “They deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that’s true. We were taken for a ride.”

While the rules say he can’t address Bush directly, he should occasionally look directly at Bush when speaking. I’ll bet that will rattle Bush or cause him to give us one of his unforgettable faces, perhaps the “My Pet Goat” deer-in-the-headlights stare.

Kerry also need to make the point in the town hall debate that he says he’ll win the war in Iraq only because he is responsible enough to know that just because Bush made a monumental mistake we can’t walk away from it, but that we’ll be cleaning up after Bush for a long time to come and Bush must be held accountable.

A second university has rescinded its invitation to filmmaker Michael Moore to speak after protests from conservatives.

President Alan Merten of George Mason University in my community of Fairfax, Va. said of Moore, whose film “9/11 Fahrenheit” was critical of Bush, “It would have been well within our right to [invite Moore],” according to The Washington Post article — but that Merten decided it “was not the wisest use of state money.” California State University-San Marcos, near San Diego, also recently caved to pressure.

The snub came after two of the Virginia state legislature’s most conservative members, Republicans Dick Black of Loudoun County and Bob Marshall of Prince William County, complained.

Word spread quickly, and after complaints from the legislators and some members of the community reached the office of President Alan G. Merten this week, the school announced that the event, coming so close to the presidential election, would be “an inappropriate use of state resources.”

A few things are important here:

One, Moore is coming anyway but obviously won’t be paid a fee by GMU. Who will sponsor his appearance isn’t clear. But my guess is he’ll have a bigger audience because of the flap.

Two, the obvious capitulation of an academic institution that is supposed to be a place where all views are heard sends a chilling message to students and faculty. The state-funded GMU is fast becoming overcrowded and only this year got an infusion of cash after Democrats and moderate Republicans formed an alliance to pass new tax measure. Merten may have feared that having Moore could result in legislation in the next Assembly cutting his funds.

Three, The Post story, co-written by one of the newspapers laziest reporters, Lisa Rein, makes no attempt to find out if conservative speakers were paid to speak at the university. The story broke Wednesday. So reporters had time to do a little research and ask for a list of speakers GMU has paid in the past couple of years. But they either declined to do so or were unsuccessful, a point they should have made in the story. The reporters included a comment from a GMU student who agreed with the decision to cancel the speech to but did give voice to any faculty or student opposed to the cancellation.

But that’s typical of Rein’s conservative and lazy reporting.

I and I’m sure others will be trying to find out who has spoken at GMU.

Care to complain? Here’s GMU President Alan Merten’s email address: amerten@gmu.edu