The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
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been and now good evening i'm jim lehrer and washington and i welcome you to this special newshour pbs coverage of the second two thousand for presidential debate you're looking at the interior of the athletic complex at washington university in st louis missouri the sports venue has been transformed tonight into a town hall and just a few moments president george w bush and sen john kerry will take questions from voters that were selected by the gallup poll
organization the moderator will be charles gibson of abc news there are no restrictions on topics tonight although they should fall roughly half foreign policy act of nasty the war interact in the economy will certainly be among the issues to be raised the debate comes on a day when the government reported the september job growth was weaker than expected and this week the cia released a report concluding saddam hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction and had no active programs to produce them after the debate we'll talk to our regular analyst mark shields and david brooks and two historians michael beschloss richard norton smith and ellen fitzpatrick and now we go to st louis to the campus of washington university and to the moderator charles gibson from the field house at washington university in st louis and charles gibson of abc
news and good morning america i welcome you to the second of the two thousand for presidential debates between president george w bush the republican nominee and senator john kerry the democratic nominee the debates are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates tonight format is going to be a bit different we have assembled a town hall meeting we're in the show me state as everyone knows missouri to be so missouri residents will ask the questions he's one hundred and forty citizens were that if i buy the gallup organization has not yet committed in the selection of earlier today each audience member gave me two questions on cards like this one they'd like to ask the president the other they'd like to ask the senator i have selected the questions to be asked and the border no one has seen the final list of questions and what they certainly not the candidates oh audience member knows if he or she will be called upon audience microphones will be
turned off after a question is that audience members will address their questions to a specific candidate will have two minutes to answer the other candidate will have a minute or half or a bottle and i have the option of extending discussion for one minute to be divided equally between the two men all subjects are open for discussion and you probably know the light system by now green lighted thirty seconds yellowed fifteen read it five and flashing red means you're done those of the candidates rules i will hold the candidates to the time when it's forcefully but politely i hope and now please join me in welcoming with great respect president bush and senator kerry the pope gentlemen to this as a fan of the first question is for senator
kerry and it will come for sure from sheryl protests was read by fb fans back one person's family and friends i asked that once he said they were not voting for you why they said that you're to which he was a dealer apply for that yes i certainly do what will be dispersed are with you will only by charlie from operating on flight washington university for hosting this year the same thing with presidents could be with you can see this art show the president didn't find weapons of mass destruction in iraq so he's really turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception and the result is that you've been bombarded with advertisements suggesting that i've change the position on this or that of the other now the three things they try to segue into position on how the picture that i have and i support it i just don't like the way john ashcroft has applied and change a few
things the chairman republican party thinks will change a few things no child left behind act of voting for a sport to support the goals but the president is under funded by twenty eight billion dollars right here in st louis you played author and fifty teachers you're a hundred and fifty years or more than a hundred million dollars shy of what you want to be under the no child left behind act to help irrigation system here so i complain about but i'd argue that we should fully fund the president says i changed my mind i haven't changed my mind and i'm a fully funded so these of the differences about president has presided over the economy work was one point six nagin jobs first president in seventy two years to lose jobs i have a plan to put people back to work it's not wishy wash i'm going to close the loopholes that actually encourage companies to go overseas the president wants to get mobile that i think i'm right and i think he's well
i'm going to give you a church and the president do the top one percent of income earners in america got eighty nine billion dollars last year more than eighty percent of people who were not a thousand dollars or less all put together i think that's wrong that's not wishy washy and that's what i'm fighting for you as president of the senate i can anti abortion hughes well i can see why people at a workplace think he changes positions on that he does the city voted for the eighty seven billion dollars in voting yes or red before he voted for this is a confusing signal to people you say thoughts about was a it was a great for nsa was a mistake to remove saddam hussein from power no i see why people think that he changed the position quite often because it does you know for while he was a strong supporting saddam saying he saw the wisdom
until the democrat primary came along and howard dean the anti war candidate and again on they say physicians are so you can lead this country and a tie more airtime and certainly if you change a month is a politics is brought up the text that you were the league research are part about a thousand dollars reduce american only play a ten percent tax bracket for the lower income americans as dr the middle class he voted yes it in your new jersey for middle class tax cuts you gotta be consistent when you're the president there's a lot of pressures you get before inconsistent it was president i would follow up but we have a series of questions on iraq and so i will turn to the next question are the question for president bush and the questioner is robin
doll can you get a microphone the president yesterday in a stately you admit it that iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction that justified the invasion by stating i quote he retain the knowledge of the materials the means and the intent to reduce weapons of mass destruction and get it passed this knowledge for terrorist enemies you sincerely believe this to be a reasonable justification for invasion when this statement applies to so many other countries including north korea situation there robin and obviously we hope that diplomacy works before you ever use force a partisan says the president makes as ever to use force after nine eleven we had let the world differently after nine eleven we had to recognize that we saw threat we must take seriously before comes artist in the old days we see a threat we did deal with it we felt
like it or not the nine eleven changed all about your countrymen that i would do everything i could to protect american people that's why we're bringing up it just a seventy five percent of them have been brought to justice that's why i said afghanistan if you harbor a terrorist you're just as guilty as a terrorist the taliban is no longer in power and o'connor no longer has a place to plan and i saw a unique threat and saddam hussein as did my opponent because we thought he had weapons of mass destruction in the unique threat was at to get weapons of mass destruction to our ization like alcott and the horn inflected odds with airplanes we multiply greatly by weapons of mass destruction and that was a serious serious threat such raw diplomacy where the united nations but as we learn in the same record i quoted saddam hussein was naming the oil for food program to get rid of sanctions he was trying to get rid of sanctions for a reason you want to
restart its weapons programs we all thought there was weapons there robin my opponent thought there's weapons or that's why he called him a great threat and i won handily with an actor one weapons and we've got an intelligence service do together to figure why saddam hussein was unique threat and the world is better off without him in power and my opponent's plans lead me to conclude that saddam hussein was still be in power in the world would be more dangerous right secretary panetta have been robin an answer your question i'm also going to talk to respond with us cheryl same time the world is more dangerous today the world is more dangerous today because the president didn't make the right judgments about the president's wishes but i changed my mind he wants you to believe is he can't come here and tell you they've created new jobs for america is lost jobs he can't
come here and tell you that is great health care for americans was one point that what we have five million americans watched their healthcare ninety six thousand the right here in missouri he can't come here and tell you that he's left no child behind because he didn't fund no child left behind so what is he doing these drone attack me he wants you to believe that i can't be president and is trying to make you believe it because you want to think i change my mind will let me tell you straight up i've never changed my mind about a rack i do believe saddam hussein was a threat always believed it was a threat believe in nineteen ninety eight when clinton was president i wanted to give clinton the power to use force if necessary but i wouldn't use that force wisely i would use that authority wisely not rushed to war without a plan to win the peace i would have brought our allies to our side i would afford to make certain our troops and everybody possible album when the mission this president rushed to war pushed our allies aside and iran now is more dangerous and so was north korea with nuclear weapons he took his eye off the ball off of osama bin laden as
president i will follow up on this on this one because there were several questions from the audience along this line well when you go in there no estimate obama said that america must pass a global test before we use force to protect ourselves there's the gun a mindset that says sanctions are working as a guide a mindset that said let's keep it at the united nations and hope things go well saddam hussein was a threat because he get a given weapons of mass destruction to terrorist enemies sanctions were not working the united nations was not affected or removing saddam hussein their goal of the sanctions is not to remove saddam hussein it was to remove the weapons of mass destruction as the president just yesterday the adult report told you and the whole world they were he didn't have weapons of mass destruction was president that was the objective and we'd use smart diplomacy we couldn't
save two hundred billion dollars and an invasion a racket right now osama bin ladin might be in jail or dead that's the war against terror we're in about another question out on the subject of iraq and i've been adjourned anthony bowley with a question for senator kerry just bawling senator you as a return or our government our proceed to withdraw us troops which you proceed with the same plans as president bush anthony i would not i laid out a different plan because the president's plan is not working you see that every night on television was chaos in iraq king abdullah of jordan said just yesterday or the day before you can hold elections in a rack of the chaos going on today senator richard lugar the republican chairman of the foreign relations committee said that the handling of the reconstruction and interact with this administration has been incompetence those are the republican
chairman's words senator hagel of nebraska said that the handling of a rack is beyond pitiful beyond embarrassing it's in the zone of dangerous those other words of two republicans respected both on the foreign relations committee now i have to tell you i would do something different i would reach out to our ally as in a way that this president has pushed them way time again pushed them way the un force them away individually two weeks ago there was a meeting of the north atlantic council which is the political arm of nato they discussed the possibility of a small training un or having a total takeover of the training in iraq that our administration pushed the total train wreck know with a silent yes was there an effort to bring all the allies together around that no because they've always wanted this to be an american i have a you know they even have the defense department issue a memorandum saying don't bother applying for assistance
or for being part of the reconstruction if you were part of our regional coalition know that's not a good way to build support and reduce the risk for our troops to make america safer i'm gonna get the training them for our troops and they get the tray of iraqis done faster and i'mma get our allies back to the table today's gondola summit with the finance minister from rocky came to see me he talked about how optimistic he was in the country was heading toward elections think about their own security to elections he talked about the reconstruction efforts are beginning to take hold talked about the fact the iraqis look to be free he said he was optimistic when he came here they turn on the tv listen to the political rhetoric and also he's pessimistic there's a guy who along with others taking great risks of freedom leaves there with him upon says he has a plan sounds from mayor has gotten mostly we're trying to train troops we are well over twenty five thousand trained by the in
december which ran about seven billion dollars he talks about a grand idea let's have a summit we're going to solve the problem in iraq by holding a summit and what is the nsa to those people it showed the summit joined me in the wrong or at the wrong time at the wrong place rescuers risk your troops in a play or you promise that nobody has been to follow somebody who doesn't believe we can succeed in somebody who says the war where we are as a mistake and i have these people think i'm a with him all the time i talk to tony blair all the time a doctor silver goes they're not going to follow an american president that says follow me into a mistake our plan is working order to make the lessons and iraqis can be free and america will be better off for it the vulture mr please ladies and gentlemen the right war was osama bin ladin and afghanistan there
was the right place and the right time was tora bora when we had cornered in the nuns now everyone in the world knows that there were no weapons of mass destruction that was the reason congress gave them the authority to use force not after excuse to get rid the regime now we have to succeed i've always said that i have been consistent yes we have to succeed and i have a better plan to help us do first of all we didn't find it and have weapons to we get there and my opponent thought he had weapons and told everybody we thought he had weapons and secondly as a fundamental misunderstanding to say that the water's only osama bin ladin the war on terror is to make sure that these terrorist organizations do not end up with weapons of mass destruction the supporters about course we're gonna find osama bin laden we've already got seventy five percent as people on the hunt for him but this is a global conflict that requires firm resolve the next question is for president
bush and it comes from the cape washington thank you use resonant out my mother and sister traveled abroad this summer and when they got back they talked to us about how shock they work at the intensity of aggravation that other countries head with how to handle the right situation that diplomacy that is something that we have to really work on what is your plan to do to repair relations with other countries given the current situation not appreciate that ohio was a night that i would get a great country a lover values and i reckon as a mason decisions have caused people to not understand a great values of our country and there were already was a present he stood on principle some oddball that stubborn he still the person will stand up to the soviet union and one that awfully good at the same time he was very we were very unpopular in europe because of this
is lizzie mae i recognize that the pagans saddam hussein out was unpopular but i made the decision that i was in the right answers of our security you are amazing this is on israel as unpopular a wooden deal with arafat because i felt like he let the former president and i don't think he's the kind of person that can lead toward a palestinian state and people in your didn't like that decision and that was unpopular but it was the right thing to do really palestinians on i have a state but i know they need leadership is committed to the democracy and freedom leadership and be willing to reject terrorism i made a decision not to join the international criminal court in the hague which is where our troops to be brought to a broad in front of a judge in a county judge i will join at that was unpopular saw john years is that sometimes in this world you make
unpopular decisions because you think they're right we'll continue to reach our listeners thirty nations involved in an iraqi some forty nations involved in afghanistan people love america sometimes they don't like the decisions made by america but i don't think you want a president who tries to become popular and does the wrong thing you want to join the international criminal court just because it's popular uncertain capitals in europe there are caravans nicky that's a question that's been raised a lot of people around the country let me address it but also talk about the weapons the president has talked about because every part of the president's answer just now promises you more of the same over the next four years president stood right here in this hall four years ago and he was asked a question by some glitches like you under what circumstances would descend people wore and his answer was with a viable exit strategy and only with enough forces to get the job done linda that
broke that promise we didn't have enough forces general sense actually the army chief of staff told me as the needs of a hundred thousand and guess what they retire generation second are telling them that as president has less i went to meet with members of the security council in the week before we vote it went to new york i talk to all of them to find out how serious they were about really holding saddam hussein accountable i came away convinced that if we worked at it we were ready to work at letting hands legs do his job and thoroughly go through the inspections that if push came to shove they'd be there with us but the president just arbitrarily brought them are down said nope sorry time for diplomacy is over we're going he rushed to war without a plan to win these layers and don't give your speech and told you he'd planned carefully take every precaution take our allies with us he didn't broke his word i remember sitting in the white house to look at those generals
say you have what's unique in this war you have what it takes i remember going down the basement a white house today we commit more troops as last resort like if tommy franks and the generals on the ground and asked him do we have the right plan with the right troop level and that made me i said yes sir mr president for solicitor general says were present dozen presidents as a strategy it relies upon the military people that keep their strength for a while good military people that skip the military component of the strategy but winning the peace is larger than just the military component generation secular wisdom to save you need seven hundred thousand troops to win the peace motors jobs when the war presidents job is to win the peace president did not do what was necessary didn't bring enough nations didn't deliver the album close up of borders dineen guard the ammo dumps in our kids being killed with animals right out of the dump the next question is for senator kerry and it comes over
here where lynn jacobs welcome to the program he ran that sponsors terrorism against missiles capable of hitting israel in southern europe iran will have a nuclear weapons and to three years' time in the event the un sanctions don't stop this threat what will you do as president i don't think you can just rely on the un sanctions rarely bit that you're actually corrected as a threat it's a huge threat and what's interesting is it's a threat that has grown while the president has been preoccupied with iraq where there wasn't a threat if you like the inspectors do their job and go on we wouldn't have ten times the numbers of forces interact that we have in afghanistan chasing osama bin ladin meanwhile while iran is moving towards a nuclear weapons some thirty seven
tons of what they call yellow cake the stuff they use to make enriched uranium while they're doing that north korea has moved from one by maybe maybe to four seven bombs for two years the president didn't even engage with north korea did nothing at all while it was growing more dangerous despite the warnings of people like former secretary of defense william perry who negotiated getting television cameras and inspectors into that reactor we were safer before president bush and office now they have the bombs are less safe so what we do we got to join with the british and the french with the germans have been involved in their initiative we got the lead the world now to crack down on proliferation as a whole but the president's been slow to do that even in russia at his base its been a day thirteen years to reduce and get a hold of all the loose nuclear material in the former soviet union i proposed a plan that can capture it and contain it planted within four
years and the president is moving to the creation of our own bunker busting nuclear weapon it's very hard to get other countries to give up their weapons when you're busy developing a new one i'm going to leave the world and the greatest counter proliferation effort and if we have to get tough with iran but we think we will get tough as president than half the answer was maybe one stat he's talking about let the inspectors do their job is naive and dangerous to say that this with adults report showed he was the cd the inspectors secondly of course we've been involved in rent a fully understand the threat and that's why we're doing what he suggested we do it the brits the germans and the french you know make it very clear to the iranians that if they expect to be a party to the world give up to make your ambitions we've been doing that and talk about north korea it is naive and
dangerous to take a policy that he suggested the other day which is that bilateral relations with north korea never he's the person is accusing him you're not acting mall tae laterally he now wants to take the six party talks we have china north korea south korea russia japan and the united states and undermined by having bilateral process for president clinton did he had bilateral talks with the north korean against what happened he didn't even on the brain that he was enriching uranium that is a bad policy of course we're paying attention to these as a great question about iran a slight in my speech the cameras i said there's an axis of evil iraq iran and north korea and we're paying attention to that you're making progress when london was present with a question for you and it comes from daniel farley from this president since we continue to police the world how do you intend to maintain a military presence without reinstituting a direct question that i
hear there's rumors on the internet there were and have a rapport not going to have a draft period the all volunteer army works it worse critically when we purchase well it worse we make sure they got housing like we had done in the last military budgets and all volunteer army is best suited to fight the new ward's of the twenty first century which is to be specialized to find these people is a ride around the world on the mass army's anymore when the things we've done is we've taken the a word began to transform our military and by that i mean we're moving troops out of korea and replacing them with more effective weapons we don't need as much manpower on the korean peninsula to keep a deterrent in europe we had massed troops as if the soviet union existed and was then invaded iraq but those days are over with and so were moving troops out of europe and replacing it with more
effective appointment so to answer your question is were withdrawing not from the world were drawing manpower so they can be stationed here in america so there's less rotation so life is easier on their families and therefore more likely to be a birth will be more likely to be of the key people in the all volunteer army when the most important things were going in this administration his transformation some really interesting technologies for example were flying out unmanned vehicles i can send real time messages back their stations in the united states at save manpower to seize equipment and also amazing weekend for target things easier move more quickly which means we need to be lighter and quicker or facile and highly trained forget all this talk about a draft we're not going to have a draft so long as i'm the president karen daniel i don't to support a draft the military were the president's
policies put us the president and this is one of the reasons why i'm very proud in this race to have the support of general john shalikashvili former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral william crowe former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general tony mcpeake who ran the air war for the president's father did a brilliant job supporting the general wes clark who won the war and possible supporting it because they all in general baucus who is the head of the national guard supporting me why because they understand that our military is overextended and was present our guard and reserves have been turned and almost active duty you get people doing two and three rotations you got stopped last policies of people can't get out when they were supposed to you got a backdoor draft right now and a lot of our military are underpaid they these are families and get heard it hurts the middle class and hurts communities because these are our first responders and they're called up in the rover they're not over here nominate at forty thousand
active duty forces to the military commented on that and make people feel good about being safe in our military and not over extended because i'm gonna run a foreign policy that actually does what president reagan did president eisenhower than others or to build alliances were not going to go unilaterally we're not gonna go alone like this president specialist extend from the fact that with reservists they held on duty is later said about what one and only a shootout on where we're going oh got tony blair will tell surreal berlusconi will tell alexander was this people were going the thirty countries there and denigrate alliances say we're going to discount their sacrifices you cannot lee an alliance if you say no you go and people listen they're sacrificing with this
summer as president countries are leaving the coalition not joining eight countries have left if missouri just given the number of people from missouri or in the military over there today were a country it would be the third largest country in the coalition behind great britain and the united states thats not a grand coalition ninety percent of the casualties are america ninety percent of cost to coming out your pockets i could do a better job my plan does a better job and that's while the better commander in chief next question senator kerry is for you and it comes from and bronson who i believe is over this or senator kerry we have been fortunate that there has been no further terrorist attacks on american soil since nine eleven why do you think this is and if elected what will you do to ensure our safety thank you very much on our last day in my security briefings why that is
likely to have all the answers and so everyone has said this team this president and his administration have told you and all of us it's not a question of when it's a question of books has been the question it's a question of when we've been told well i can tell you between the world trade center bombing and what was it nineteen ninety three or so and the next time was five years seven years these people wait though plant they plot i agree with the president that we have to go after them and get them wherever they are i just think i do that far more effectively because the most important weapon in doing that is intelligence you get the best intelligence in the world and in order to have the best intelligence in the world to know the terrorists are where they're what they're planning you gotta have the best cooperation you've ever have the world now to go back to your question again when again the best cooperation in the world today we got a whole bunch of countries that that pay a price for dealing with the united states of america now i'm going to change that and i'm going
put places that our homeland security efforts will get ninety five percent of our containers coming into this country are not inspected today when you get on an airplane you're carter bag is is his x ray of the cargo holds and that's right you feel safer this president the last debate said well that would be a big tax gap if we get the latest intel and it's his spats he chose the tax cut for the wealthiest americans over getting their equipment out in the homeland as fast as possible we have bridges and tunnels that are being secured chemical plants nuclear plants about security hospitals are overcrowded with their emergency rooms with a disaster today they have a what this president chose a tax cut over homeland security wrong choice was present that's not going to say since we've doubled tripled the homeland security budget from ten to thirty billion dollars as will do everything we can to protect the homeland you up on a
frighteningly good intelligence so secure synchronization so right after nineteen eighty three voted to cut intelligence budget by seven point five billion dollars the best way to defend america in this war in this war would live in is to stay on the us it's your deepest pride a hundred percent the time your home they get the right ones and as the us a reality and a lot of people working hard were doing the best we possibly can to share information as were the patriot act was important they could act as vital by the way to lift up law enforcement now use the real talk to each other my bona says he's and change positions on nobody's for weakening it i don't i'm not on it is not the right right view about the world to make a safer really gone for so i don't think he's it's interactive for awkward fail and be a haven for terrorists there be money in the world be much more dangerous and a city can win in raggedy don't believe we should be there in the first place and secondly troops
if you say it's a wrong or the wrong place at the wrong time i don't see how the iraqis didn't have confidence in the american president if all they hear is that it was a mistake to be there in the first place this war is a long long war and require steadfast determination and it requires a complete understanding that we now it's a snapshot of what we disrupt terrorist safe havens as well as people that provide the terrace was support i want to send from the center and i wonder is there something you said is that it's not wen but if you think it's inevitable because the sense of security is a very basic thing with everybody in this country worried about their kids well the president and his experts have told america that it's not a question of if it's a question of when and i accept what the presidents at these terrorists are serious or deadly and they know nothing except trying to understand that that's why i will never stop at anything to hunt down and kill the terrorists but you're the president to say to you that that that we've added money folks the
test is not if you added money the test is and you've done everything possible to make america secure he chose the tax cut wealthy americans over the things that i listed three thousand well we'll talk about the task of the middle class are men but the jamboree and more and more about our country and dave holland day is every day i know that there's people working overtime in the very best they can in the reason edwards because as a vicious enemy that has an ideology of hate and the way to defeat along from other way is to spread freedom liberty to change habits and that's what's happening in afghanistan right it was rather return to questions know and nest was in order to start with health issues and the first question is from president bush and from john horsley why did you block the re importation of safer and inexpensive drugs from canada which would have cut forty to sixty percent off the cost to make
sure they're safe when a drug comes in from canada our make sure it hears you and i'm curious and that that's why the fda enough for the surgeon general are looking very carefully to make sure it can be done in a safe way i've got an obligation to make sure government does everything we can to protect you and you are my worry is and is that you know it looks like it's from canada might be from a third world which i make sure before somebody thinks about a product that term that it works unless it's that's why we're going we're going now it may very well be here in december hear me say i think there's a safe way to do it other ways to measure drugs are cheaper one is to speed up the generic drugs to the marketplace quicker pharmaceuticals were using loophole city brand brand drugs in place of generics are much less expensive than brand drugs and were doing just that another is iraq that is to get our seniors sign up the drug discount cards and her work in
one of blackmore i met here from missouri the first man she bought the odds with her drug discount cards she begged our forte i think it was for about ten dollars worth drugs is cars make it make this make make sense any onto thousand six years ago to get prescription drug coverage for the first time a medicare because i went to washington to fix problems medicare the issue medicare he's become an astaire they want it for free or get her politically wanted some that i think are saying is deserve a modern medical system and in two thousand sets our seniors will get prescription drug coverage by contrasting certainly that john you're the president just say that you daunted by drug before four years ago right here in this forum he was asked the same question camp people deal with the importance of caviar he said i think that makes sense i think
that ability or four years ago now the president said on the block and that there isn't telling the president just an level with me right now again he didn't lock it because we passed it in the united states senate we sent over the house that you can import drugs we took care of the safety issues we're not talking about third world drugs were talking about drugs made right here in the united states of america that an american brand names on an american bottles ever ask and maybe allow you to get a present walk that the president also took medicare which belongs to you it could have lowered the cost of medicare and lowered your taxes lower the cost to seniors you know what he did he made it illegal illegal for medicare to do with the va does which is a bulk purchase drugs so the gigolo the price again about you lower he put a hundred and thirty nine billion dollars of windfall profit into the pockets of the drug company's right out your pockets that's the difference between us the president sides with the power companies
the oil companies the drug companies and i'm fighting to let you get those drugs from canada and on fight to let medicare survive i'm fighting for the middle class that's the difference if they're say they're coming i want to remind you that one just my administration made the decision said president landed the same thing who have an obligation to protect you now he talked about medicare and then he announced a senate for years shelby one accomplishment or medicare and he accomplished a bit washington dc three and a half years and led the congress to reform medicare sourcing is about american modern health care system that's what leadership is all about actually mr president nineteen ninety seven we fix medicare and i was when the people involved in it we not only fix medicare intuitive way out into the future we did something that you don't know how to do we balance the budget and we pay down the debt of our nation for
two years in a row we created twenty three million new jobs at the same time and it's the president's fiscal policies that have driven up the biggest deficits american history's added more depth of the debt of the united states in four years then all the way from george washington to ronald reagan put together go figure but sources for senator kerry and this comes from norman jahn low rent senator kerry you stated a concern for the rising cost of healthcare yet he chose a vice presidential candidate who has made millions of dollars successfully suing medical professionals have you reconciled this with the voters are usually john edwards is the author of the patients bill of rights he wanted to give people writes john edwards and i support tort reform we both believe that as lawyers on the law or two and i believe that we will be able to get a fix that has eluded everybody else because we know how to do it in my
health care proposal go to john kerry dot com you can pull off the internet and you'll find a a tort reform plan now ladies and gentleman important to understand the president his friends trying to make a big deal out of it isnt a problem yes it's a problem do we need to fix it's particularly for obama did the winds and for for brain surgeons and others yes but it's less than one percent of the total cost of healthcare your premiums are going up you've got you've got up tables are about three thousand five hundred dollars you've got a sixty four percent you've you know you've seen as co pays go up doctor bills go up and everything's got five million people of lost their health insurance under this president has done nothing about it i have a plan i have a plan to lower the cost of health care for you either plan to cover all children either plan to let you buy into the same healthcare senators and congressmen give themselves i have a plan that can allow people fifty five to sixty four to buy into
medicare early and i have a plan that would take a catastrophic cases out of the system off your backs pay for it out of a federal fund which lowers the premiums for everybody in america makes american business more competitive and makes healthcare more affordable now all that can happen but i've tested to do one thing join me in rolling back the president's own affordable tax cut for people earning more than two hundred thousand dollars a year that's all ninety eight percent of america on giving you a tax cut and i'm giving health care as president than a viewer start here first the national journal names entertaining most liberal senator of all nsa itself in that much my set of a lot of hard work to raise not bring that up is because he's proposed two point two trillion dollars in new spending there's a lot that's a race to close the test at the candy that that everybody here to fund programs this is reality and what arsenal program's
first he says he's for medical liability reform the day we drove the g y ns there's a bill on the floor of the united states senate that he could have showed up and voted for the so much for suddenly says that the medical i believe was only got one percent increase as so they lack of understanding doctors practice defensive medicine because of all the frivolous lawsuits that cost our government twenty eight billion dollars a year and finally he says to have a novel healthcare plan your ears the federal government that iran is the largest increase in federal government healthcare never interferes with his philosophy that's why i told you about the award he won from the national journal that's what liberals do they create government sponsored health care maybe you think that makes sense i don't government sponsored health care would lead to rationing it would ruin the quality of health
care in america senator we get several questions along those lines and then i'm just curious if you'd go further on what he talked about with tort reform would you be favoring capping awards on pain and suffering with the military says yes the fallen that's right and i think we should look at that the punitive or we should assume that there's a but what what's really were just the president's just trying to scare everybody here with rolling labels around and the compassionate conservative was actually cutting five hundred thousand kids from after school programs cutting career and sixty five thousand kids from healthcare running up the biggest episodes in american history was present your batting over till i mean seriously labels don't mean anything what means something is to have a plan and i want to talk about my plan tomorrow we can remember what that there is a plan he said he is for that in africa and punitive damages as it should have shown up on the floor the senate voted for it then medical liability issues are a problem is significant problem between the united states senate for twenty years and
in a drastic we pass another house of representatives their shortstop is stuck in the senate for the trial warriors won't act on any put on trial are on the ticket so this question is for president bush and it comes from matthew o'brien mr president you've enjoyed a republican majority in the house and senate for most the presidency in that time we've not vetoed a single spending bill excluding a hundred and twenty billion spent in iran an afghan i'm sorry a rack in afghanistan there's been seven hundred billion dollars spent and not paid for by taxes please explain how the spending you have approved are not paid for is better for the american people than the spending proposed by your opponent right there we have a deficit we're the deficit because this country went into recession might remember the stock markets are declined dramatically six months before i came to office and in the bubble of the nineteen nineties pop
now costas revenue the cost of revenue certainly were war and understand what it takes to win the war more than just a hundred twenty billion for iraq and afghanistan will appear more we have we've increased the money for ammunition and weapons and pay and homeland security says those later where we spent with them ten billion to thirty billion dollars to protect the homeland i think we have an obligation to spend that kind of money plus we cut taxes for everybody everybody gets has to leave so they get out a recession when i give you the race as a very recession yet depression i come from the school of thought this is what people are more money in their pocket very tough economic times it increases demand our investment small businesses begin to grow and jobs were added we found out today that over the past thirteen months when there are one point nine million new jobs in the last thirteen months i propose the plant detail
but this shows is cut the deficit by five years the right to have his veto any spending bills because we work together non homeland non defense discretionary spending was it runs at fifty percent year when i got in office and today it's less than one percent because were working together to try to bring this deficit under control like you are concerned about the deficit but i am not going to shortchange our troops in harm's way and i'm not gonna run up taxes which will cost this economy jobs thank you we let me begin by saying that my health care plan is not what the president described it is not a government takeover you have choice choose your doctor choose your plan the government has nothing to do with the fact that it did it doesn't ask you though you did you want to make it you know that you like your high premiums to people that's where we are now with respect to the deficit the president was handed a five point six trillion dollars surplus
ladies and gentlemen that's where he was when he came into office we now have a two point six trillion dollar deficit this is the biggest turnaround in the history of the country he's the first president in seventy two years to lose jobs he talked about war this is the first time the united states of america has ever had attacks when we're at war franklin roosevelt harry truman others do not only when you ask the american people for the right things one percent of america the highest one percent of income earners in america got eighty nine billion dollars of tax cuts last year one percent of america got more than eighty percent of america that earn from a hundred thousand dollars down the president thinks it's more important to fight for that top one percent and the fight for fiscally responsible lee and to fight for you i want to put money in your pocket i am
i have a proposal for tax cuts for all people earning less than the two hundred thousand dollars the only people affected my plan are the top income earners of american idol i heard both say i have heard your most innovative and i just heard you say that you're going to cut the deficit by half in four years but i didn't hear one thing in the last three and a half minutes it would indicate how either one of you do look at the budget one of mike measure cars don't overspend but let me talk back about where we'd been the stock market was declining six months prior my arrival it was the largest stock market correction one of the largest in history was for told a recession because we cut taxes on everybody member we wrap chopped red by thousand we reduce the marriage that we create the ten percent bracket everybody pays taxes cover leave the recession was one of the shortest in our nation's history so the character is that after nine
eleven after the recession ended the president asked for another tax cut and promised five point six million jobs would be created he lost one point six million ladies and gentleman and most of that tax cuts went to the wealthiest people in the country he came and ask for a tax cut we want a tax cut to get the economy into gear you know they present us with a twenty five billion dollar give away the biggest corporations in america including a two hundred and fifty four million dollar refund check to enron wrong priorities you're my priority senator this question will be for you it comes from james garner who i believe is in the section where you might be thinking sen kerry would you be willing to look directly into the camera and using simple an unequivocal language give the american people your solemn pledge not to sign any legislation that will increase the tax burden on families earning less than two hundred thousand dollars a year during her first term absolutely yes right into the camera yes
i am not going to raise taxes i have a tax cut and here's my taxes i raised the child care credit by one thousand dollars for families to help them be able to take care of their kids it have a four thousand dollar tuition tax credit that goes to parents and kids if they're running for themselves to be a will pay for college and i lower the cost of health care in the way that i described it every part of my program i've shown on to pay for and i've got good people like former secretary of the treasury bob rubin for instance who showed how to balance budgets and give you a good economy to help me crunch these numbers and make more it than scale back some of my favorite programs already like the child care program i wanted to find a national service program because the president's deficit keeps growing and i've served as a pledge on the cut the deficit in half in four years now i'm going to restore what we
did in the nineteen nineties pay as you go or to do it like you know the president brought the pay as you go rules only arrested question about why having to be done something it's a good question if you care about why dont you be no i think john mccain called the energy bill the no lobbyist left behind bill i mean you got to stand up and fight somewhere folks i'm pledging i will not raise taxes on giving a tax cut two that people earning less than two hundred thousand dollars a year now for the people earning more than two hundred thousand dollars a year you're gonna see a roll back to the level we were out with bill clinton when people made a lot of money and were going around europe this group year i suspect there are only three people here that be affected president me and charley i'm sorry you two as a resident as a credible we toss about being fiscally conservative as not credible
if you look at his record in the senate he voted to break the spending debate the caps spending caps over two hundred times erie says is going to be a fiscal conservative all of a sudden it's not credible you can't break that enforces better raise your taxes he say he's proposed two point two trillion dollars in new spending and says it was how you got paid for you say what is going to raise the taxes on the rich story set top two brackets that raises he says a dollar billion we say serve somebody we're battling green eye shades somewhere somewhere in between those numbers and so there is a difference what is promised and what he can raise nate is you write all these wonderful promises he's told you that would raise taxes and i suspect given his record is to raise taxes you know you get people in early look at eleven o'clock i think that the
way to grow this economy is to keep taxes low seven energy plan is a litigation reform supposedly just about a report that said over the past thirteen must retrain one point nine million new jobs were going so the fundamental question his campaign to keep the economy grown so people can work as the fundamental question and to come back one more time to how these numbers add up and how you can cut that deficit in half in four years given what you're goals well first of all the presidents figures of two point two challenges director those of the fuzzy math figures put together by some group that works with a campaign that's not the number number two john mccain and i have a proposal jointly for a commission it closes corporate give away locals with a forty billion dollars loan ever knew that we got all kinds of giveaways will be shot knows now and thirty trouble weighs in goma in nineteen eighty five as well first democrats to move to balance the budget i voted for the house budget ninety three ninety seven we did it we did it
addresses their concerns there is a bombing is director center for twenty years you can run but you can't hide he voted ninety eight cavs raise taxes and these are my cup figures and so people don't have to look at the record look at the record of the man running for the president no name in most liberal in the united states senate then shown up to many meetings they mainly because of his votes and it's reality it's just not credible to say he's going to keep taxes down and balance budgets as present the next question is for you and it comes from james holman over here the president hugged or yourself as an environmentalist what specifically injured ministration done to improve the condition of our nation's air and water supply afro diesel engines we have to reach an agreement to reduce pollution from off road diesel is by
ninety percent i've got a plan to increase the wetlands by three million we got an aggressive brownfield program to refurbish inner city the sore spots that useful piece of the property i propose the united states congress a clear skies initiative to reduce sulfur dioxide nitrogen oxide mercury by seventy percent it was thought for a very strong title in the farm bill for the customers river reserve program has set aside millions of acres of land for to help improve our wildlife and habitat a wooden boats and pass the healthy forest bill which is essential to working with between western states to arm make sure that our forests were protected what happens in those forests because of lousy federal policy is that they grow to be david a day or not now harvested they're not taking care of that as a result they're like tinder boxes over the last summer's i've flown over there still is
a reasonable policy and tackle stands of trees and at the same time make sure for a start normal to the forest fires have destroyed eight years after acres in the west we got a good common sense policy now day what i really think is going to happen over time as technology is going to change the way we live for the good for the environment so i propose a hydrogen automobile it generated automobiles than a billion dollars to come up with the technologies to do that that's why i'm a big proponent of clean coal technology to make sure we can use coal but in a clean way i guess you'd say i'm a good steward of the land they had volunteers play versus urban the present you are complex is evident present your land being restored to seven the president by three course senator and a half or the listener that said that the president's i don't think his living in the world of reality with respect the environment now if you're a red sox fan that's ok but if you're a president it's not religious at number
one don't throw the label's around labels don't mean anything i supported welfare reform i led the fight to put a hundred thousand cops on the streets of america i've been for faith based initiatives helping to intervene in the lives of young children for years i was broke with my party in nineteen eighty five when the first three democrats to fight for a balanced budget where was heresy labels don't fit latest don't know when it comes to the issue of the environment is one the worst of the illustrations in modern history the clear skies villages talked about it was orwellian name simple out of the sky slap it on a something like no child left behind which you lead millions of drove a bind here they're leaving the skies the environment behind if they just left the clean air act all along the way it is today no change there would be cleaner than it is of the best guys we're going backwards in fact his environmental enforcement chief air quality person at the epa resigned in protest of what they're doing to what are called the news source performance standards for air
quality they're going backwards on the definition for wetlands are going backwards on the water quality they pulled out of the global warming declared it dead didn't even accept the science on monday president believes in science was present wellhead we join the kyoto treaty which i guess is referring to will cost american a lot of jobs it's one of these deals were your be popular in the halls of europe he signed a treaty but i thought was lucky i think there's a better way to do it that has taught you the facts are while there's places out in the brazilian and states will continue to spend money on research in the bottom of a truly believe that's the way to get from where how we live today be a live a standard of living that were custom to remain ever protect our garmin better piece of technologies so the characters are the fact is that the kyoto treaty was flawed i was in kyoto and i was part i know what happened but this president and fatah faction has
declared a deadly element and we walked away from the work of a hundred and sixty nations over ten years you wonder nikki why it is that people don't like this and some parts that world you to say and we don't agree with you by the president's done nothing to try to fix it i will sarah churchwell says the wooden balls jobs which is a topic in the news today and for the grocery attorney general that senator kerry how can the us be competitive in a manufacturing given in manufacturing excuse me given the wage necessary and that comfortably accept it for american workers to maintain the standard of living that they expect jane there are a lot of ways to be competitive that unfortunately again i regret this administration has not seized them embrace the money an example there's a tax loophole right out your company and soulless work in trying to make jobs here there's actually an incentive for you to go away
you know you get more money to keep more your taxes by going abroad and then i shot that loophole and i'm going to give the tax benefit to the companies that stay here in america to help make a more competitive cycling we're going to create manufacturing jobs credit and a new jobs credit for people the bill would help hire be more competitive year america third what's really hurting american business morning else is the cost of health care the unitary plan from the president that he doesn't have a plan to lower the cost of healthcare five million americans have lost their healthcare six hundred twenty thousand missourians have no healthcare at all ninety six thousand syrians have lost their health care and president bush i have a plan to cover those folks and it's a plan that lowers costs for everybody covers all children and the way i paid for i'm not fiscally responsible is i rolled back the tax cut that this president so fiercely wants to defend the one
for him than me and charlie i think you ought to give the bride alanna lower your cost to health care i want a fully fund education no child left behind specialties education and that's our be more competitive by making sure our kids are graduating from school and college china and india graduating more graduates in technology and science that we are we got a great products in the future that's why i have a plan for energy independence within ten years and we're going to but our laboratories in our colleges and universities to work and we're gonna get the great entrepreneurial spirit of this country and we're gonna free ourselves from this dependency on mideast oil that's a great job to become competitive was present and a half the star with the how to control the cause of healthcare medical liability reform for starters but he's imposed certainly allow small businesses to pull together so they can share arrest and buy insurance at the same disk as big businesses get a bitterly split with call health savings accounts secure for small businesses good for
owners your own accounting save tax free get a catastrophic plan to help the opponents is different from saying okay to me and said you go on the government he thought about his plan to keep jobs here you know because i'm an outsourcing to stop outsourcing nevertheless it is a plan and so are the bed sway to keep jobs in america is one have an energy plan i propose one of the congress two years ago for his conservation purges technology to explore for environmentally friendly way for paul and use coal and gas it encourages the use of renewables like ethanol and biodiesel it's stuck in the senate he in his mind they didn't show up to vote when they could've gotten the one in the senate less regulations and we want jobs here legal reform of we want jobs here and we've got to keep taxes low and he says he's only attacks or if you realize nine hundred thousand small businesses will be taxed under his plan because
most small businesses are subchapter s porous or limited partnerships and they pay tax at the individual income tax level so you run out the testers like tag attacks and job creators and that's not it job to thorough and center in the way you talk about tax cuts to stop outsourcing but when you have ibm documents as a reason or you can hire a programmer for twelve dollars and china fifty six dollars an hour here tax credits can stop or outsourcing jobs every promise that i'm not going to because that would be banned or at cannes which does create a fair playing field and that's what i'm talking about but let me just address with presenter settlers jealous is that true it's a wall street journal said ninety six percent of small businesses are not affected at all by my plan and you know why he gives the account the president got at four dollars from timber company that he owns and he's touted as a small business dick cheney's counted as a small business that's how they do things that just not right palette timber company as there is there may
be some would the mob is so generous court they just are i am a grant no iron man so while these big jobs most of most small businesses seventy percent of new jobs are margaret grey by small business's taxes are going up year one of the top two brackets it's a fact president bush the next question is rio and it comes from rob fowler who i believe is over this area is but it was forty five days at forty five days after nine eleven congress passed a project which takes away checks off or spent weeks american citizens rights and freedoms especially for human rights with expensive maybe that they connect to my questions hughes wore my right the water down my citizens brownlee with a signature just occasions really informs i appreciate that i really don't think he writes are being
watered down the effect it would support of i thought that every action being taken against terrorists it requires a court order requires scrutiny the matter fact the tools now given to the first riders are the same tools that we've been using against drug dealers and white collar criminals so i really don't think so i don't think that i mean i did i think whoever is the brain must guard your liberties must narrowed your rights in america the patriot act is necessary for example because that parts of the fbi couldn't talk to each other colleges gathering in law enforcement arms of the fbi just couldn't share intelligence under the old law and that didn't make any sense our law enforcement must have every tulip necessary to find and disrupt terrorists at home and abroad before they were this again as the test of the twenty
first century so i don't think that jared the breakthrough that the bridge's your rights of all and animal was necessary it aramaic upstate new york brought an anti isis in the bus the lackawanna sell up there and i told me they could not perform their duty the duty we all expect them if they did not have the ability to communicate leaves you're under the patriot act so garrett and a half former governor roscoe as chairman of the republican party said he thought that the patriot act has to be changed and fixed congressman jim sensenbrenner is the the chairman of the house judiciary committee said over his dead body before it gets renewed without being thoroughly reject a whole bunch of folks in america concerned about the way the patriots have been applied in fact the inspector general of the justice department found the john ashcroft it twice lot of ways that were inappropriate people's rights of the abused another man spent eight months
in prison was in a lab calls were was allowed to finally senator dick durbin of illinois intervened and was able to get him out this is in our country votes united states of america they got sneak and peek searches they're allowed they got people allowed to go into churches now and political meetings without any showing of potential criminal activity or otherwise nah i voted for the patriot ninety nine united states senators voted for and the president's been very busy running around the country using what i just described you as a reason to say and wishy washy but on the flip flop or that's not a flip flop i believe in the picture that we need the things in it that chord make the fbi and the cia we need to be stronger on terrorism but you know what we also need to do as americans is never let the terrorist change the constitution the united states away the disadvantages our rights third church questions for you and it comes from
elizabeth long senator kerry thousands of people have already been cured or treated by the use of adult stem cells or umbilical cord stem cells however no one has been cured by using embryonic stem cells wouldn't it be wise to use stem cells obtained without the distraction of an embryo you know was with i really respect your the feeling that in your question understand nearby i know the morality that's prompting the question and i respected enormous like nancy reagan and so many other people you know i was at a forum with michael j fox the other day in new hampshire who's suffering from parkinson's in and he wants us to do stem cell
embryonic stem cell and this fellow stood up and he was clever and his whole body was was was shaking for him the nerve disease the muscular disease that he had an and he said to me and to the whole hall he said you know don't don't take away my hope because my hope is what keeps me going chris reeves from the mine her story of exercises every single day to keep those muscles alive for the day when he believes he can walk again i want him to walk again i think we could save lives no i think we can do ethically guided embryonic stem cell research we have a hundred thousand two hundred thousand embryos that are frozen nitrogen today from fertility clinics these are taken from all or sugar something like that from a fertility clinic and they're either going to be destroyed or were frozen and i believe that we have the option would scientists tell us we do of curing parkinson's curing diabetes
during a gay you know some kind of a you knew paraplegic a quadriplegic for your spinal cord injury anything that's the nature of the human spirit i think it is respecting life to reach for that you're i think it is respecting life to do it in an ethical way and the president's chose the policy that makes it impossible for scientists to do that i want the future and i think with the rabbit is present them to have embryonic stem cell research reports of destruction of life that to create a stem cell and the first president ever to allow funding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research i did so because i got to hope that we'll discover a cure from from the stem cells from the research the right
but i like you i think we got to be very careful and balancing the ethics and the science and so i made the decision we would spend anymore money beyond the seventy lives twenty two of which are now in action because science is important but so is ethics so the balancing life to destroy life to save life is for the real ethical dilemmas that we face they're going to be our hundreds of experiments off the twenty two lines analysis interactive hopefully we find a cure but as well we need to continue to pursue adult stem cell research and the health doubled an ice bucket to twenty eight billion dollars a year to find cures and the project is one that i think is a balance necessary approach about science in and then in the concert for life sen kerrey settles as we talk about walking a waffle line he
says he's allowed at which means he's going to allow the destruction of life up to a certain amount and then he isn't allowed and i draw that line let me tell you point blank alliance of stem cells that he's made available every scientist the country will tell you not adequate as they're contaminated by mouse cells and because there aren't sixty or seventy they're only about eleven to twenty now and there aren't enough to be allowed to do the research has their contaminated we've got to open up the possibilities of this research and when i'm president i'm gonna do it because we have to especially make sure you understand my decision or stem cell lines already insisted the embryo had already been destroyed part of my decision had to make the decision to restrict destroy more life we continue to destroy like i made the decision to balance science and ethics was present the next question it is for you and it comes from
jonathan michelson for president if you're a vacancy in the supreme court and you have the opportunity to fill that position today who would you choose and why the heck i'm not telling you every big a body it was a more and more important for me i would think somebody who would not allow their personal opinion to give away a lot somebody who would strictly interpret the constitution of the united states oddly giddy a couple of examples i guess of the campers and when they would pick a judge who said that the pledge allegiance to be said in the school that had the words under god in i think that's an example of a judge allowing partial opinion to enter into the decision making process as opposed to a strict interpretation
of the constitution another example would be the dred scott case which is where judges years ago said that the constitution allowed slavery because a portion of property rights as personal opinion is now with the constitution says the station the isis as were all know that didn't say that that speech the appalling american is still out there people that would be strict constructionist we got plenty of lawmakers in washington dc legislate tours make the law judges interpret the constitution and i suspect one of us will have a bit at the end of the next year next four years and us advantage of someone put on the no litmus test except for who how they
interpret the constitution center thank you chose palm they're years ago and gained office the president said these are his words what we need are some good conservative judges on the courts and he said also that his two favorite justices and justice scalia and justice thomas so you get a pretty good sense of where is heading if you order points and now here's what i believe i'll believe we need a good conservative judge and i'll believe we need a good liberal judge i don't believe we need a good judge of that kind of definition on either side i subscribe to the justice potter stewart standard us' justice on the supreme court the united states and he said the market the good judgment justice is that when you're reading their decision their opinion you can't tell if it's written by a man or woman liberal or conservative muslim and you're christian you just know you're reading a good judicial decisions
when i wanna find if i'm privileged to have got to do it and the supreme court of united states is at stake in this race ladies and gentlemen the future of things that matter to you in terms of civil rights work and adjust as the party or the weather will enforce the law when we have equal opportunity will women's rights to be protected will we have equal pay for women which is going backwards will a woman's right to choose be protected these are constitutional rights and i wanna make sure we have the judges who interpret the constitution united states according to the law and you're the final two questions now only first one will be for senator kerry and this comes from sarah degen hard things but senator kerry suppose you were speaking with a voter who believed abortion is murder and the voter asked for
reassurance that his or her tax dollars would not go to support abortion what would you say to that person i would say to that person exactly what i'll say the right now first of all i can't tell you how deeply i respect the beliefs about life work begins on a catholic raised a catholic i was an altar boy religion has been a huge part of my life not leave before meeting today but i can't take what is an article of faith for me and legislate for someone who doesn't share that article of faith whether they'd be agnostic atheist jew ooh protestant whatever i can do that but i can counsel people i can talk reasonably about life about responsibility i can talk to people as my wife to residents about
making other choices about abstinence that always of the things it will do is responsible society but as alleges as as a as a president i have to represent all people in the nation and i have to make that judgment now i believe that that that that you could take that position and not be pro abortion but you have to afford people their constitutional rights and that means being smart about allowing people to be fully educated to know what their options are life and making certain that you don't deny a poor person the right tibia will have whatever the constitution affords them if they can afford it otherwise that's why i think it's a word that's why i think it's important for the united states for instance not to have this rigid ideological restriction on helping families around the world to be a will make a smart decision about family planning your help prevent aids your help prevent unwanted children unwanted pregnancies you actually do a better job i think of passing on the more responsibility that is
expressed in your question and i truly respected as president tried to decipher that my answers were not gonna spend the taxpayers' money on abortion and i was a is an issue that divides america but certainly reasonable people can agree on how to reduce abortions in america i signed the partial birth of the ban on partial birth abortion it's a brutal practice one way to help reduce abortions my opponent voted yesterday and i think part of the parental notification laws he's against them i signed a bill called mia and mourn victims of violence a lourdes if you're a mom and you try to get your mortgage fraud cases and as one against that these are reasonable ways to help promote a culture of life in america i think it is a worthy goal in america
to have every child protective well and welcome to life i also think we ought to continue to have that adoption law as an alternative to abortion and we need for monitoring group homes with my administration has done gosar of life is really important for a country to have this can be a hospitable society that time of optimism well again the president just said categorically my opponent's against this weapons against that there's just not that simple no i'm not i'm against a partial birth abortion but you've got to have an exception for the life of the mother the health of the mother and the strictest test of bodily injury the mother suddenly with respect from notifications when i can require a sixteen or seventeen year old kid has been raped by her father and who's pregnant deaf to notify or father so you gotta have a judicial intervention and because they didn't have a judicial intervention where she could go
somewhere or get help i voted against it it's never quite as simple as a present what you believe and thirty seconds was written with very simple when they say are you for a ban on partial birth abortion yes or no and he was given a chance to vote and voted no and this is the way it is that's a vote came right up it's clear for every by the sea and as i said you can run but you can't hide from reality and the file question of the evening will be addressed to president bush and it will come from integrated the new rules over your right side i got regardless of president bush during the last four years you have made thousands of decisions that have affected millions of lives please give three instances in which you came to
realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to create to correct it i have i have a lot of decisions and i'm someone will point once more he'd never been someone being in all or there's a lot of a lot of tactical decisions that historians look back and say should've done that cinema that decision out that responsibility for a human but on the big questions about whether or not we should have gone in afghanistan the big question about whether we should've remove somebody in iraq i'll stand by those decisions i think the right which or with when asked about the mistake that sort of talk about the trends did you make a mix tape going
into iraq in the answers actually not so right decision about a report inform that decision today because what saddam hussein was doing was trying to get rid of sanctions so i can reconstitute weapons program and the biggest threat facing america is terrorists with weapons of mass destruction we knew at this we do had been invaded other countries when they tortured his own people on the tax cut is a big decision i did the right decision or recession was one the shallows in modern history the us were mistaken makes a mistake to appoint people but i'm not the name the law hurt their feelings on national tv but if you look back and i'm fully prepared to accept any mistakes of history judges to my administration because the president makes the decisions a president has to take the responsibility for jared and then the half i believe
the president made
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- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/507-057cr5nw05
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- Description
- Description
- Presidential Debate Coverage
- Description
- The recording of this episode is incomplete, and most likely the beginning and/or the end is missing.
- Date
- 2004-10-08
- Asset type
- Episode
- Rights
- Copyright NewsHour Productions, LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode)
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 01:33:57
- Credits
-
-
Producing Organization: NewsHour Productions
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
NewsHour Productions
Identifier: NH-8072-A (NH Show Code)
Format: Betacam: SP
Generation: Preservation
Duration: 01:00:00;00
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” 2004-10-08, NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed November 23, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-057cr5nw05.
- MLA: “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” 2004-10-08. NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. November 23, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-057cr5nw05>.
- APA: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Boston, MA: NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-057cr5nw05