Responding to the evening’s opening question, Sen. John Kerry charged that President George W. Bush “didn’t find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so he’s really turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception.”
Bush replied bluntly, “I can see why people think that (Kerry) changes position quite often, because he does.”
And so the tone was set for the second presidential debate, a 90-minute town-hall forum hosted by Washington University Oct. 8.
In answering 18 questions posed by uncommitted Missouri voters, the candidates butted heads on a broad range of issues, including foreign policy, national security, the economy and deficits, health care and stem-cell research.
Bush repeatedly attempted to paint Kerry as one of Washington’s most extreme liberals who, if elected, would create a huge government and raise taxes. Kerry asserted that Bush had rushed into war in Iraq and had squandered an enormous budget surplus on tax cuts for the wealthy.
With each candidate trying to get a word in edgewise and attain the upper hand in the frequently heated debate, each at times spoke over moderator Charles Gibson of ABC News.
Bush relentlessly defended the war, calling Saddam Hussein a unique threat who the administration thought could give al-Qaida weapons of mass destruction.
“The world is better off without him in power,” Bush said. “And my opponent’s plan leads me to conclude that Saddam Hussein would still be in power, and the world would be more dangerous.”
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Siteman Cancer Center’s Henson part of town hall By Neil Schoenherr While more than 200 students were able to see the debate live, Pam Henson may have had the best view of any University community member. Henson, executive director of development at the Siteman Cancer Center, was among the town-hall participants who sat on the main floor of the debate hall. Henson said she received a phone call from the Gallup Organization Oct. 4. After answering a few questions, she was invited to participate in the town-hall meeting. “The Gallup organizers asked us to prepare two questions — one for President Bush and the other for Senator Kerry,” Henson said. “(Debate moderator) Charlie Gibson reviewed the questions on Oct. 8 and selected just one question for each participant.” Henson was not picked to ask a question during the debate, but if she had been given the opportunity, she was going to ask Bush how he plans to revitalize the manufacturing sector of our nation’s economy. Her husband works in manufacturing and has been through two corporate buyouts. “It was clear to me that the town-hall members were thoughtful and serious in formulating their questions,” Henson said. “I particularly enjoyed some of the more challenging questions, even if I didn’t like or agree with the candidates’ answers. “One benefit of being there in person was to see the candidates’ reactions that were not caught on camera.” |
Kerry replied, “The world is more dangerous today because the president didn’t make the right judgments.” He later added: “The president rushed to war, pushed our allies aside. And Iran is more dangerous, and so is North Korea, with nuclear weapons.
“He took his eye off the ball, off of Osama bin Laden.”
Kerry alleged that Bush has been preoccupied with Iraq, “where there wasn’t a threat.”
“We were safer before President Bush came to office,” he said. “Now they have the bombs and we’re less safe.
“I’m going to lead the world in the greatest counterproliferation effort. And if we have to get tough with Iran, believe me, we will get tough.”
“That answer almost made me want to scowl,” Bush immediately quipped, referencing his well-documented facial expressions in the first debate Sept. 30 at the University of Miami.
He went on to say, “It’s a great question about Iran. That’s why in my speech to the Congress I said: There’s an ‘axis of evil’ — Iraq, Iran and North Korea — and we’re paying attention to it. And we’re making progress.”
When the forum turned to the U.S. economy, Kerry discussed his plan to cut taxes for all people earning less than $200,000. But after he pledged to not raise taxes, Bush took the offensive.
“He’s just not credible when he talks about being fiscally conservative,” Bush said. “He’s just not credible. If you look at his record in the Senate, he voted to break the caps — the spending caps — over 200 times.
“And here he says he’s going to be a fiscal conservative, all of a sudden. It’s just not credible. You cannot believe it. And of course he’s going to raise your taxes.”
Kerry similarly attacked when Bush, having been asked about his track record on the environment, said his administration had a “good, common-sense policy” and that he is “a good steward of the land.”
“They’re going backwards on the definition for wetlands,” the Massachusetts senator said. “They’re going backwards on the water quality. They pulled out of the global warming, declaredit dead, didn’t even accept the science.
“I’m going to be a president who believes in science.”
Kerry later said he felt ethically guided embryonic stem-cell research is possible and that finding cures for diseases is “the nature of the human spirit.”
“The president has chosen a policy that makes it impossible for our scientists to do that,” he said.
“We’ve got to open up the possibilities of this research. And when I am president, I’m going to do it because we have to.”
Bush countered, “I’m the first president ever to allow funding — federal funding — for embryonic stem-cell research. I did it because I, too, hope that we’ll discover cures from the stem cells and from the research derived.
“But I think we’ve got to be very careful in balancing the ethics and the science.”
The third and final presidential debate was Oct. 13 at Arizona State University.
Vice President Dick Cheney and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards squared off Oct. 5 at Case Western Reserve University.