The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

eight the pope yes good evening i'm ray suarez in washington welcome to this newshour special presentation of the two thousand vice presidential debate you're now seeing a live picture from center college in danville kentucky senator joe lieberman and former defense secretary dick cheney will in a few moments begin the first and only vice presidential debate of the two thousand election season it will be ninety minutes the candidates will remain seated around the table or the length of the program bernard shaw cnn will moderate the exchange this confrontation comes just two days after the man at the head of the democratic and republican tickets vice

president gore and governor bush laid out their differences in a debate in boston and once again we'll have analysis as well as partisan reaction right after tonight's ninety minute encounter whatever syndicated columnist mark shields and wall street journal columnist for hugo republican john mclaughlin and democrat ray strother and our panel of historians doris kearns goodwin michael beschloss haynes johnson and richard norton smith we now go to danville kentucky and to bernard shaw to pay from a startup danville kentucky good evening and welcome to this year's only vice presidential debate sponsored by the commission on presidential debates on bernard shaw the cnn moderator tonight we come to you from milan hole in the northern center for the arts on the campus of center college to president john roche the faculty here students and community leaders

late wife we thank you for hosting this today the candidates are the republican nominee former defense secretary dick cheney of wyoming and the democratic nominee senator joseph lieberman and at the commission these candidates and their campaign staffs ever agree to the following rules a candidate shall have two minutes to respond to the moderators question the other candidate shall have two minutes to comment on the question or the first candidates answered when i exercise the moderators discretion of extending discussion of a question no candidate they speak for more than two minutes at one time this audience has been told no disruptions will be tolerated a prior coin toss has determined that the first question will go to the democratic candidate senator few hard working

americans would raise their well being and bonuses they hope to get five or ten years from now why do you a new secretary cheney critics are pluses you cannot possibly guarantee to pay for her proposed programs forty before i answer that the very important question and the first to thank you for moderating the debate when he thanked the a wonderful people here at center college and thrive kentucky for being such a gracious hosts and the living in a special thank you to the people of connecticut without your support over these last thirty years i would never have had the opportunity al gore has given me this year and finally saved my family that is here with me away for basso or children or siblings and my mom and my eighty five year old mom in his voice about the debate earlier today she's a sweetheart as she's wrong to call me

remember be a positive and know that i will love you no matter what your opponent says about them all along as always it was both reassuring and wise i am gonna be positive tonight i'm not there one builds a negative personal attacks i'm going to talk about the issues that i know matter to the people of this country education health care retirement security and moral values the planet out warren i have for keeping america's prosperity going and making sure that the benefits more of america's families particularly the hard working middle class families who have not yet fully benefit from the good times we've had and the brain and i'll explain tonight how we're going to do a listener named fiscally responsible than when he briefly get your question and how right were not spending any more than his projected by the experts in fact the like their opponents were setting

aside three hundred billion dollars in a reserve fund just in case those projections the nonpartisan experts made are not quite right we understand the balancing the budget debate in america that is a way to keep interest rates down and the economy growing temperature well i am i too wanted join him thanking the folks here in the center college in danville kentucky for sponsoring this making all this possible in and iran delighted to be a huge oak and i to allow to avoid any personal attacks promises not to bring a percentage so i was saying i think it's extraordinarily important decision to make on november seventh rally to choose between what i consider to be an old way of the governing ourselves i levels of spending high taxes ever more intrusive bureaucracy or a new course in iraq if you will an endo governor bush now on offer the course of action

with respect to surplus bernie we've got to make some kind of forecast we can make twelve months decisions in this business were talking about the kinds of fundamental changes in programs in and governments that are going to affect people's lives for the next twenty five or thirty years and a while it may be a little risky in some respects from an economic standpoint to drive the forecasts are pluses and i think certainly we have to make some planning assumption which say we care a great deal about the issues that are at stake here and one of the difficulties we have frankly is that for the last eight years we've ignored a lot of these problems we haven't moved aggressively on social security we haven't moved for example on medicare there are important issues out there that need to be resolved and it's important for certain to get on that business and that would govern abortion i wanted you know to problems there's no magic bullet secretary today and this question do you know magic bullet to solve the problems of public

education but what's the next best solution well i think public education is the solution our desire is to find ways to reform our education system to return it to its former glory i'm a product of public schools my family my wife and daughters all went public schools we believe very much in the public school system but if you look at that where we are from the standpoint the nation's recent exams for example a nation says of education progress independent nonpartisan testing survey shows that there's been no progress on reading scores the last eight years almost no progress on half the achievement gap between minority in non minority students is as big as it's ever been we've had a significant increase in spending for education nationwide but it's produced almost no positive results that's really an acceptable from our standpoint because if you look at it and think about it well we now have on our most disadvantaged communities nearly seventy percent of fourth graders can read basic level we've graduated fifteen million kids from high school last

fifteen years you can read a basic level they are permanently sentenced to a lifetime of failure and what we were doing on abortion i wanna do is change that we think we know how to do a governor bush is done in texas would emphasize local control sort of people near danville kentucky decide what's best for their kids and one insist on high standards were the worst things we can do is flail to us strategize standards in effect to say to a youngster because of their ethnic background or their income level we don't have the same kind of expectations for me that we everybody else and we want accountability we have to test every child every year to know whether we're making progress with respect to achieving those goals objectives we think it's extraordinarily important this is probably witnessing the most important issue in this campaign in a bush has made it clear that so when he's elected this would be his number one priority is a legislative major major to a summit of commerce center bober al gore and i are committed to making america's public

schools the best in the world and i disagree with what my opponent is set a lot of progress has been made in recent years the average attesting scores are up in a lot of extraordinary work is being done by tens of thousands of parents and teachers and administrators all around america but there's more to be done and if you'll allow me wanna go back to your last question because it leads to this question and i think both of us agree that leaving aside the social security and medicare services there's one point eight trillion dollars in surplus available to spend over the next ten years as i said before we're being fiscally responsible we were taking three hundred billion off the top federal reserve fund the rest of it we're going to use for middle class tax cuts and investments in programs like education that is a big difference here between these detectives are opponents are gonna spend one point six trillion of the one point eight trillion surplus projected on a big tax cut that al gore talk about the other night so effectively we're saving money to invest in education

cannot reform education and improve in this country without spending some money al gore in i can enter a hundred and seventy billion dollars for that purpose to recruit a hundred thousand new teachers to reduce the size of classrooms to help local school districts build new buildings are children are not learning and crumbling classrooms and were not just going to stop at a high school were to go on and then give the middle class the ability to deduct up to ten thousand dollars a year and the cost of college tuition now that's a tremendous life saving change which will help people carry on their education and allow them to adult the kinds of skills that will help them succeed in the high tech economy a very important issue pretty maybe we extend an education from what you're asking me do involve the moderators discretion moderated discussion a sensation when it is over and it is that

you're arguing over chance to respond so of course you're in the secretary will have two minutes and then you want to let us talk about this question the surface because they really drive a lot of what we're talking about here joan in them if you look at that are proposing though we take half of the projected surplus and set aside for social security two point four trillion dollars would take roughly a force of it for other urgent priorities such as medicare reform and education several of these other key programs won't support and retake roughly one fourth of an end of the term in the form of attacks that american taxpayer we think it is extraordinarily important to do that but it is a fundamental difference between our two apart two approaches if you looked frankly held by our numbers in and the numbers the senate budget committee which is total up all the promises that vice president gore's major the course campaign there some nine hundred billion dollars in spending over an above the

projected surplus already and we still have a month to go in the campaign the fact is that the program that we put together we think is very responsible a suggestion that somehow all of it is going for a tax cuts is untrue another way to look at it is that over the course the next ten years we'll collect roughly twenty five trillion dollars of revenue would take about five percent of that and return them to the american taxpayer in the form of tax relief we're at the highest level of taxation now advances forward to the average american family spain about forty percent in federal state and local taxes we think it is appropriate to return to the american people so that they can the choices themselves and how that money unspent money once spent on education and retirement or on the plane their bills it's their choice and says their prerogative we would give them the opportunity to make those kinds of choices for themselves and we think this is a totally reasonable approach robert let me let me start with the numbers a little respect that

the senate budget committee estimates that addiction is just referred to or the estimates of the partisan republican staff of the senate budget committee were using the numbers are presented by the nonpartisan the congressional budget office and the week we start with an agreement which is that the surplus in the social security fund should be locked up in use for social security that's where the agreement ends we also agree and spin believe employers that the surplus in the medicare trust fund should also be locked up with a sign on it that says politicians keep your hands off our opponents do not do that in fact they raid the medicare trust fund to pay for their tax cut and other programs that they can afford because they spend so much on the tax code we come back to the remaining one point eight trillion that we both talked about the numbers show that one point six trillion goes to that big tax cut which is al gore said the overnight sense forty three percent to the top one percent but really worse than that when you add on the other

spending programs are opponents of committed to plus there are the cost of their plan to private those social security by our calculation they are one point one trillion in debt and that means we go back down the road the higher interest rates are higher unemployment to a kind of stealth tax increase on every american family because when interest rates go up so total cost of mortgage payments car payments to loans credit card transaction so if we've learned anything over the last eight years it is that one of the most important things the government can do the federal government probably the most important is to be fiscally responsible and that's why al gore and i are committed to balancing the budget every year in fact a paying off the debt by the year twenty twelve one by our calculation our opponents economic plan still leaves america two point eight trillion dollars in that time the next question goes to you gentlemen this

is the twenty first century yet on average an american working woman and our great nation turns seventy five cents for each dollar earned by a work email what emails propose to do about the whole thing it's it's a good and an important question obviously early in our time fortunately the great advances have been made by women achieving know the kind of a quality that there were two long denied but bernier question is absolutely right women actually the number i have has received seventy two cents for every dollar a man receives another comparable job warren i have issued an economic plan in which we we've stated specific goals for the future and one of those goals is to eliminate the pay gap between men and women it's unfair and it's unacceptable and the first way we will do that is by supporting the equal pay act which has been proposed in congress which

it was one in the right to file legal actions against employers or not treating and surly i'm not playing an equally secondly you were literally we can using governmental were supported business agencies such as the small business administration to help women business owners have an opportunity to invest in and begin businesses and to make larger incomes themselves and their their other of civil rights and human rights laws that i think can come to plague or so bottom line on this is an unfair an acceptable situation and though even though as the economy has risen and in the last eight years america's women have risen women and received more income until women are receiving the same amount of vote for the same job they're doing is a mannerist says we've not achieved genuine equality in this country about war and i are committed to closing that gap in

achieving that quality and on so many families women are a significant greater are the only writer or so the serpent is this this cause effect finally the women but families and the children as well as are burning i am certainly share the view that we ought to have that equal pay for equal work regardless of someone's gender and we've made major progress in recent years i think most of the ways to go but i also think it's it's not just about the differential with respect to women if you look for example at our opponents tax proposal they discriminate between stay at home moms with children at the day care of themselves and those who go to work or who in fact their kids taken care about subtle power you in effect is still mum get no tax advantage of the cortex as contrasted with that the bush proposal which in fact provides tax relief are absolutely everybody pays taxes

and it's important to understand the things that we're trying to change in the things that we're trying to address of course the campaign what are agendas for the future plans are in the future philip very much upon getting as much control as we can to individual americans to be a man or women be a single or married as much control as possible their own lives and especially in the area of taxation will make certain that the american people have the ability to keep more of what they earned and they get to decide how to spend the health proposal we have from mom from out or basically doesn't do that in effect lays out some twenty nine separate tax credits and if you live your life the way other one should live your life if you do in fact there'd be a vote a certain way then you qualify for a tax credit that point to get somali bottom line those fifteen million american taxpayers after he had no advantage is that all of the cortex proposal whereas under the bush plan everybody who pays taxes when in

fact it actually an opportunity to respond to the you can respond senator but i caution you gentlemen that that it you do this consistently we cover a lot of topics and after the senator response you don't have to feel compelled to respond to the senate and then someone he says and so this is an important difference between us and unapologetically referred briefly if i can the first thing is that in fact the attacks a relief program about warren i'm proposals many tax credits for the middle class that they're just referred to includes a five hundred dollars tax credit for stay at home moms just isn't as a way of saying we understand that you're performing a service for a society want to have the texture that second the number of fifty million americans not coming from our own tax cut program is absolutely wrong it's an estimate done in an earlier form of work or a tax cut program and as just plain wrong and secondly although mr bush says at thirteen his

tax cut program or jesus gives a tax cut to everybody is the newspaper's indicated earlier this week ah the joint committee on taxation again a nonpartisan group in congress has said the twenty seven million americans don't get what the governor said that would have their tax cut program again al warren i wanna live within our means or not you always one big tax code and certainly not to the top one percent of the public that doesn't need it now so we're focusing our tax cuts on the middle class in the areas where they tell us they need it tax credits for a better and more expensive child care tax credit for middle class families that don't have health insurance from their employers the tax deduction i talked about earlier very exciting deduction for up to ten thousand dollars a year and the cost of a college tuition a three thousand dollar tax credit for the cost well actually for a family member who stays home with a parent or grandparent who was

still in a very exciting tax credit program the chance to talk about later bring that encourages those savings by people early in life and any time like by having the federal government match savings for the seventy five million americans who make a hundred thousand dollars or less up to two thousand dollars here's a very brief very briefly if every young couple making fifty thousand dollars a year saves a thousand dollars the government or put another thousand dollars in an account by the time they retire guaranteed social security but more than two hundred thousand dollars in a retirement fund that's really envious epa to understand what you said earlier the fact of the matter is that the plan is so complex than ordinary americans never to be able to figure out what they can qualify for and it is a classic example of wanting to have a program in this case a tax program that will in fact are direct people to live their

lives in certain ways rather than empowering them to make decisions for themselves and is a big difference between as they like tax credits unlike tax reform and tax cuts this year's ever tour again this question is for you would you support the effort of house republicans who want legislation to restrict the distribution of the abortion drug ru forty six bernie the abortion issue is a very tough one without question a very important band get an abortion i have emphasized that while we're clearly are both pro life as we believe that we will look for ways to try to reduce the incidence of abortion in our society and many on the pro choice side said exactly the same thing even though clinton has been a supporter of abortion rights is advocated reducing abortion to make him as rare as possible with respect to the question of are you for eighty six so we believe that of course that it's recently been approved by the fda that really was a question of whether or not it was safe to be

used by women that address that sort of question whether publishers should not be abortion the society's images evaluate that particular drug but we'd like to be able to do is to look for ways to reach across the divide between the two points of view and find things that we can do together to reduce its is abortion where they have such things as promoting adoption as an alternative encouraging them parental notification and we also think of any major refit practice of partial birth abortions is an area where there could be agreement congress has twice passed by overwhelming margins a significant number of votes from both parties the ban on partial birth abortions and twice it's been vetoed by iran by bill clinton al gore and we would hope that eventually they'll they would recognize that that's not a good position to them to be a respected the ru forty six proposal at this stage and i haven't looked in particular at that particular piece of legislation go to bush made it clear the other

night that they did not anticipate that he would be a violent and direct the fda to reverse course on that particular issue primarily because of say the decision i made was an ever see the drug not a question of whether or not to support abortion racism is a very important question and it is one in which show is two tickets have dramatically a different points to my answer is no i would not support legislation is being introduced in congress to override the food and drug administration decision on ru forty six that they are the station if they were twelve years on the serious problem we made a judgment based on what was good for women's health a doctor has to prescribe and care for a woman using it i think it's a decision that will let stand because it was made why experts but let me say now more generally that that the significant difference here in this issue is al gore and i respect and will protect a woman's right to choose and our opponents will not we know that this

is a bit a difficult personal moral medical issue but that is exactly why it ought to be left under a lot to a woman her doctor and her god now loved one ariane which we agree our war and eyes that what we believe that the government ought to do everything it can to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and therefore the number of abortions and incidentally here there is good news to report the number of abortions is actually down in america over the last eight years in fact over the last eight years the number of teenage pregnancies has dropped twenty percent and the reason it has is that there are good programs out there that al gore and i will continue to support such as family planning and programs that encourage abstinence but when the health of a woman isn't well i think the government has to be respectful i supported in fact

the bill is in the senate that would have prohibited late term abortions except in cases where the health or life of the mother was involved i did not support the so called partial birth abortion bill because it would prohibit abortion that form of abortion at any stage of the pregnancy regardless of the effect on the health and life of the woman and that's unacceptable as questions for you senator if it was so obvious slobodan milosevic prevails notwithstanding the election results would you support his overthrow well there is good news from belgrade today brings you know but that's unconfirmed encouraging news is that the state news agency is reporting that mr costello show is the president elect and the other summer press reports that are unconfirmed that milosevic is actually left a belgrade number that it is a very

happy ending to a terrible story and it's the demand of a reign of terror if that doesn't work if that is not confirmed them and does not happen then i think the united states with its european allies will do everything we can to encourage the people of serbia to do exactly what they've been doing over the last few days to rise up and end this reign of terror anne and bring them sell but milosevic and bring themselves back into the family of nations where they will be welcomed by the united states and others you know i'm very proud of that on this night as it appears that milosevic is about to or has for one of the leadership role the united states played and now in the effort to stop his aggression in genocide in bosnia and coastline our opponents have said that they thought that was an overreaching it wasn't it was a matter of principal and america's national interests and values

and though the fact is that will that we stop the aggression we stop the genocide and therefore strengthened our relationship with our european allies in nato and in fact made the united states more respected and trusted by our allies and were feared by our enemies i think that vice president gore played a critical role passionate purpose of role in leading the administration along with republican supporters like bob dylan john mccain did do the right thing in the balkans and then hopefully tonight we're seeing the final results of that to oldenburg wrote for your readers are on a grenade at tom they liked like joe certainly am pleased to see what's happened in yugoslavia today i hope it marks an end and milosevic i think probably more than emails it's a victory for the serbian people they've taken to the streets to support their democracy support their vote in some respects this is a continuation of a process that began ten years ago all across eastern

europe is only now arrived in serbia which saw in germany we saw in rumania we saw in czechoslovakia as the people of eastern europe grows up on end and neither plan for freedom and i think we all admire that i think with respect to that how this process has been managed most recently home we would've normally we can to support vista milosevic's departure certainly though that would not involve us troops i do think it's noteworthy that there appears to be an effort underway to get the russians involved another the other night for example tuesday night in the debate in boston governor bush suggested exactly that we're trying to get the russians involved exercise some leverage over the serbians in an hour or pooh poohed but now it's clear from the press that in fact that's exactly what they were doing and it but it's there and bush was correct in his his assessment his recommendation it has supported the administration and kosovo he lobbied actively against passage of the burton warner

provision which would've said at a specific deadline that one the falcons too soon for forcing no us troops out so he's been supportive of the policy the term that we've seen with respect yugoslavia and i think he deserves credit for that i go beyond that i think i think this is an opportunity for for the united states to test of president putin of russia that in fact now is the time and will find out whether or not he has indeed are committed to democracy when ideas will and support the forces of freedom democracy and diplomatically in the area there in eastern europe and to test for him in effect or whether he represents the old guard in the soviet union what were most important challenges we face as a nation is how we manage the process of integrating those one hundred and fifty million eastern europeans into the security and economic framework of europe your question sir return you and governor bush charge that the cotton

cord ministrations had presided over the deterioration and over extension of america's armed forces should us military personnel being deployed as warriors or peacekeepers my preference is to deploy them as warriors there may be occasions when it's appropriate to use them in a peacekeeping role but i think that role will be limited and that there'll be a time limit on it and the reason we have military bases to be able to fight when wars and to maintain it with sufficient strength so that there would be adversaries are deterred from ever launching a war in the first place i think that tone the administration has in fact in this area failed in a major responsibility we've seen a reduction in our forces far beyond anything that justified but in the cold war the same time we've seen a rapid expansion of our commitments around the world us troops have been sent hither and yawn

testimony just last week by the joint chiefs of staff before the house armed services committee have pointed out a lot of these problems that term the year for example general mike ryan the air force that was forty percent fewer aircraft is now undertaking three times as many deployments on a regular basis as he had previously so where were over committed and were under resourced this has had some some other unfortunate effects and saw a letter for example the other day from young captain station on fort bragg graduate of west point ninety five getting ready to get out of the service but as the area's only allowed to train with his troops so when she was available for the vehicles on and on only allowed to fire their weapons twice a year and he's concerned that if we ever have to send in combat when the lives lost that is a legitimate concern and this is a very important area in fact the us military is worse off today it was eight years ago major responsibility for us in the future and high priority for myself and governor bush will be to

rebuild the us military to give them the resources they need to do the job we had somebody force him to give them good leadership senator you're shaking your head into sugar or amber an animal must inform our surely americans people that are the american military is the best trained best equipped most powerful force in the world and that al gore and i will do whatever it takes to avoid it's not right to and it's not good for our military to to run them down essentially in the midst of a partisan political the bay the fact is certain that a judge the military about what the military leaders saying secretary bill kong republican general sheldon chairman joint chiefs of staff both will tell you that the american military is ready to meet any threat we may face in the world today and the fact is judging by its results from desert storm took to do balkans bosnia and kosovo to the

operations are still being conducted a keep saddam hussein in the box interact or the american military has performed brilliantly in fact this administration has turned around the drop in spending on the military that began in the mid eighties and went right through the bush cheney administration in the early years of economists tradition but now that's the in fact we passed the largest pay increase in a generation for our military and the interesting facts here in spite of the the rhetoric that my opponent has justice spoken is that they're the reality is that if you look at our projected budgets for the next ten years out war and i actually commit more than twice as much a hundred billion dollars in additional funding for our military then governor bush does end their budget allows nothing additional for acquisition of new weapons systems and that's something that

the same general mike ryan and therefore somalia virtuous of the services will not be happy about because they need the new equipment those systems about war and i are committed to giving them for me this is a special interest of mine i'd like a chance to elaborate further if i might be on of the facts are dramatically different and not attacking the military joe i have enormous regard for the men and women of the us military had the great privilege of working with a man for the four years of the secretary defense and no one as tyler durden i do for them but it's irresponsible suggest that we should not have this debate in the presidential campaign that we should somehow ignore what is a major major concern and if you have the friends or relatives of serving in the us military you know there's a problem if you look at the data that's available forty percent of army helicopters combat readiness level on the air force dropped from eighty five percent to sixty five percent are significant problems of retention mean the important thing for start members of our

democracy and we're offended by volunteers everybody out there and i were in uniform standing on guard to protect the united states is there because they volunteered and we don't give them the spare parts they need to maintain their equipment what we don't have are pilots flying hours they need to maintain their proficiency when we don't give them the kind of leadership that spells out what your mission is and lets them know why they're there and what they do and want to put their lives at risk then we undermine that morale that as an extraordinarily valuable trust there is no more important responsibility for pres the united states that his role as commander in chief the obligation that he undertakes only have wallace decide when to send our young men and one of the war when we send them without the right kind of training when we send them poorly equipped with equipment it's old and broken down would put their lives at risk we will suffer more casualties the next conflict if we don't look to those basic fundamental problems now and with all due respect for this administration has a bad track record in this regard

and it's available for anybody who wants to look at the record what talk to our men and women in uniform was to spend time with the members of the joint chiefs was look at their readiness levels an end other and other indicators final point the issue picture and is very important because we're running now lawfully build up the vessel made back during the reagan years kept as a woman gets older it has to be replaced and we've taken on health care budget to support of adventures we have not been investing in the future the us military where i think it's very important to respond to those years of course absurd so it's an important debate to have as part of this campaign but i don't want to in the military feel uneasy the american people to feel insecure and why i'm saying are basing on service on the senate armed services committee talking to it exactly the people that cheney has mentioned those are there in the defense that the chiefs of staff a visitor there are fighting forces around the world and i'm telling you that we are ready to

meet any contingency that that might arise that the good news here an interesting news is that we have met our recruitment targets in each of the services this year in fact and in the areas where are our opponents have said we are over extended such as the balkans and the soldiers there have a higher rate of re enlistment them not anywhere else in the service because they feel a sense of purpose a sense of a mission in fact this administration has begun to transform the american military to take it away from being the cold war a forest to prepare to meet the threats of the new generation of tomorrow weapons of mass destruction of ballistic missiles of of terrorism even cyber warfare and the fact is that the governor bush recommended in his major policy statement on the military earlier this year that we skip the next generation of military equipment helicopters submarines a

tactical error fires all arrests that would really cripple our readiness exactly the readiness of the aged fiction is talking about al gore are committed to continuing this acquisition program transforming the military there there's fewer people in uniform today but her son to a person personally i personally unit by unit this is the most powerful and affect the military well in the world today but in the history of the world and at an al gore and i will do what ever is necessary to keep it that way sen lieberman this question to you once again in the middle east peace talks on the one hand the deadly confrontations on the other and the flashpoint jerusalem and then there's syria is united states policy what it should be well yes it is it is truly pained me high in the last

week bernie to watch the unrest and the deaths occurring in the middle east between israelis and the palestinians so much work has been done by the people there with a supportive of this administration so much much progress has been made and the original oslo agreement between israelis and the palestinians adopted in nineteen ninety three and the piece of that israel and jordan thereafter and the market has a national strategic interest in a principal interesting piece in the middle east and the al gore has played a critical role in advancing their prices all over the last eight years with cancer is a watch the unrest in recent days between the israelis and the palestinians is that these two people's have to come or in some senses generations for centuries florida in the last seven years they are so close to a final peace agreement i hope and pray that the

un and the un unrest in the last week will not create the kinds of scores that make it hard for them to go back to the peace table with american assistance and to achieve what i'm convinced the great majority of israel imposed in and people want to do people throughout the middle east which is peace he's been in paris i hope and pray that her mission is successful if there is a ceasefire in the party's returned to the peace table away we'd been on a very constructive course and willis played an unusual unique role and i try and convince the warren i can bet that al gore i will continue to do that all by my to my friendships and israel and throughout the arab world plays a unique role in bringing peace to this this sacred region of the world it has ten am very difficult area to work and for a

long time the numerous administrations going back certainly to war were to have to wrestle with a problem of what should have been released we made as significant breakthroughs i think at the end of the bush administration because it all for in effect we have to join together with arab allies and done enormous damage to the iraqi armed forces interact time was the biggest military threat to israel home by over chile in the cold war the soviet so we're no longer a factor they're used to fish and troubled waters forever they have that opportunity the middle east but in the end the soviet union the implosion of fuel the empire that created a vacuum if you will and made it easier for us to operate there so we were able to i think reassure both arabs and israelis if united states will play a major role or that we had the ability and the will to deploy forces to the region if we had to have to engage him in a military operation to support our friends oppose or foes of course were able to convene the madrid conference that in effect though the first

time aron is really set out face to face again this process of trying to move the peace process forward i think also a lot of credit goes great men like yitzhak rabin now his tragic passing was a major consequence a great tragedy for him for everybody who cares about these middle east he was a man who had the military stature to be able to confidently persuade the israelis arriving to take some risk for peace i think mr brock astride the same time i hope that we can get this resolved as soon as possible my guess is that to the next administration is going to be the ones that come to grips with the current state of affairs there i think it's very important that we have an administration where we have a presence from leadership who has a kind of a track record the mainstream with people of keeping his word so that friends and allies both respect us nervous or spirits is question is for you just a quitter if iraq's president saddam hussein were found to be

developing weapons of mass destruction or governor bush has said he would quote take him out would you agree with such a deadly policy though we might have no other choice we'll have to see if that happens the young the thing about a rat of course was at the end of the war we had portable decimated their military we had to put them back in the box so to speak with a strong international coalition arrayed against them effect of economic sanctions in a very robust inspection regime that was in place so that the inspection regime under un auspices was able to do a good job stripping out with a capacity to build weapons of mass destruction of the work that he'd been doing and had not been destroyed in the war and biological chemical agents as well as the nuclear program unfortunately now we find ourselves in a situation where that started before a house where the coalition now no longer is tied tightly together i recently

the united arab emirates and bahrain to gulf states have reopened diplomatic relations of baghdad the russians and the french now are flying commercial airliners back into baghdad and the us are thumbing their nose if you will look at the international sanctions regime and of course the human inspectors been kicked out of the national response so we're in a situation today where i think her posture in these of iraqis weaker than it was at the end of the war i think that's unfortunate it out also think it's unfortunate we find ourselves in the position world we don't know for sure what might be transpired inside iraq i certainly hope he's not regenerating that can a capability but if you were given facts saddam hussein were out taking steps to try to rebuild nuclear capability or for weapons its destruction you have to get very serious consideration of military action to her to stop that

that activity i don't think you can afford to have a man like saddam hussein with armed with nuclear weapons so in the middle east bernie and there will of course be a very serious situation if we had the evidence credible evidence that saddam hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction but what i must say i don't think of political campaign urges the occasion to declare exactly what we would do in that case and i think that's a matter of such critical national security importance that it ought to be left to those commander in chief leaders in the military are the sectors think to make that kind of decision without the heat of a political campaign but the fact is that we we will not enjoy a real stability in the middle east until saddam hussein is gone the gulf war was a great victory and incidentally on al gore and i were two of the ten democrats in the senate who crossed party lines to support president bush in secretary cheney in that war and were

both very proud to know that we did that but that the war did not end with a with a total victory and saddam hussein and remained there and as a result we have had to almost ten years now low of instability we have continued to operate almost all this time military action to enforce the no fly zone we we have been struggling with saddam about the inspectors we have we ought to do and we are doing everything we can to get those inspectors to back in there but in the end there's not going to be peace until he goes and that's why i was proud to co sponsor the iraqi liberation act as senator trent lott why have kept in talks with the indigenous iraqi opposition broad base for saddam hussein was president were met with them earlier this year we're supporting them in their efforts and we will continue to support them until the iraqi people rise up and do the

people surveyed about in the last few days get rid of the best that we will welcome you back into the family of nations where you belong sen lieberman this question is do it experts are forecasting continuing to oil prices on the world market wholesale natural gas prices here in our country are leaping then their call an electricity has previous republican and democratic congresses and administrations including this one done their job to protect the american people not enough but this administration and was president laurent i have had both a long term strategy to develop energy independence and a short term strategy in fact if he says that this administration had been given the amount of funding that added requested that a reform republican congress i would be further along in implementation of a long

term strategy which is aimed at developing alternative cleaner sources of energy and that giving tax credits individuals and businesses to conserve and use energy more efficiently and that a partnership for a new generation of vehicles with the american automobile industry which is making great progress and to produce a vehicle it can get at mpg we also have a short term strategy and i had to deal with exactly the kind of ups and downs of energy prices and always controversial but there were and i believed that it was important in the short term to reach into the strategic petroleum reserve takes some of oil that we have put in the market show the big oil companies and the opec oil producing countries that we've got some resources with which we can fight back we're not just going to lay back and let them roll over our economy and we did also because gasoline prices were

rising home heating oil inventories were real low and the art both or tickets agree on like a low income housing assistance program what are opponents really offer no assistance to middle class families were hit by rising gas prices and a shortage of home heating oil the factory is that since the reserve was opened the price of oil on world markets has dropped six dollars a barrel now that so that's a good result and i'm proud of it mr bernie iowa this is an area world and i think of john i have a fairly significant disagreements my assessment is that there is no comprehensive energy policy today then as a nation now we are in trouble because the administration has not address these issues now we have the prospects of brownout in california we have a potential speeding home heating oil crisis in the northeast we have gasoline price rises various other places for years now the administration's talked about reducing our dependence on foreign sources

of oil but i am not in fact it was not exactly in the opposite direction got the lowest rate of domestic production of oil now in forty six years at back to nineteen fifty four find time and reproduced as loyal as we do today our imports for all time record high in the month of june we import almost twelve million barrels a day that means were more subject the wild fluctuations in swings in price we have other prom we don't have the refining capacity we had and build a new refinery in this country for over ten years and the refiners and awkward in ninety six or ninety seven percent capacity which means even with more crude available ah they're probably not going to be able to do very much by way of producing additional home heating oil for this one we have a long term serious long term problem of our growing dependence on foreign sources of energy that will always be the case but we ought to be able to shift the trend and begin to move it in the right direction we need to do a lot more about generating capacity for power your home we need to get on with the business and we think we can do it very safely and environmentally sound manner and we don't think that they're

that will bind this false choices about we cannot develop and without being cautiously environment we can we've got the technology to do it again and we are and we do support a low income energy assistance program with its very importance of that senior citizens for example don't suffer this one are but we need to get on the business of having a plan to develop our domestic energy resources in producing more supplies and this administration has introduced senator and learn through words continue do they deserve your congressional record is sponsored a bill that said no oil and gas exploration in wyoming wilderness areas your own state however you co sponsored a bill that said yes to drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge your explanation bernie do shows i've got a balanced approach to her to how we deal with environmental issues not a case of not in my backyard no i think we have to make choices an end of the wyoming wilderness bill frankly was when

my proudest achievements as a member of congress i worked on that with good friend al simpson for example for another four years we set aside a part of wyoming know nearly a million acres of wilderness that audibly in a separate not be developed within that was important or libraries around the country where every bush and i for example supporter of restraints we support the moratorium on drilling off the coast of california but there are places where we think we are to move forward and develop those resources the arctic national wildlife reserves one of them did so on the north slope it's right next approval day the infrastructure is there too to be able to live or that product to market we think we can do it given today's technology in a way that it will not damage the environment but not to permanently marr idea the countryside at all and so that's what we were looking for i think with respect to environmental policy energy policy is balanced and we do have to make choices we recognize we have to make choices the way you phrased the

question frankly i welcome because i think it shows that in fact we are trying to pursue a balanced approach and the suggestion somehow all we care about is energy development isn't true but we do have to get on with developing those resources or we're going to find ourselves ever more dependent on foreign sources were going to find that are affected we don't have an energy policy as one of the major storm clouds on the horizon for our economy i think if you look for something that could develop some problem could arise that might in fact jeopardize are continuing prosperity and so the possibility that we might find ourselves without adequate supplies of energy in the future and then there'd be no quicker way to shut down our economy than that rubbery we have we agree on on the problem but we couldn't disagree more on the response to the problem of the problems actually stated no matter how strong we are economically if we remain depending on the source of energy that is outside our

control or not to be as strong as we should be and others around the world can effectively anchor chain and we cannot allow that to continue to happen i'm afraid that our opponents a response to this is his one sided in it and it is essentially that to develop of the resources within the united states almost regardless of where i am against drilling in the arctic refuge this is one of the most beautiful christine places that the good lord is created on earth and that happens fortunately to be within the united states of america it's just not worth it to do that out for you what that seems to be the possibility of six months' worth of oil seven to twelve years from now that that's not much a response to the immediate problem with gasoline consumers and home heating oil customers are facing this winter there are more resources within the united states that we can develop in fact and this is a mention much appreciated much but in the last eight years the

drilling for free gas on federal lands has gone up sixty percent and it's been done in an environmentally protective were in fact the administration has encouraged the drilling for the us an oil what's going on on the western gulf today but the answer here is is new technology that will create millions of new jobs artillery this is if we can get three miles more per gallon from our cars will get a million will save a million barrels of oil a day which is exactly what the other refugees it's best in an alaska were produced other choice to me is clear we've got to develop fuel cells alternative energy yvette encourage people to conserve and to be efficient this question is where you senator will now social security is the backdrop backbone of the retirement system and our nation can either of you pledge tonight categorically that no one will those benefits under your plans are yes indeed i can

pledge to the american people categorically that no one will lose benefits under our plan for social security as far forward as twenty fifty four and early come back in and say bring that out more and i use social security is probably the best thing the government did in the second half of the last century it has created a floor under which seniors i cannot form and so many and depend on it for their basic living for their livelihood it is critically important to protect that that's why and alan i have committed to putting that social security surplus in a locked box not touching it and that's what allows us to keep social security solvent in twenty fifty for our opponents have they are an idea for privatizing social security that will jeopardize social security payments to the recipients out and i looked at this

identify me as an oil industry analogy which is to say that sometimes you know the girl and i'd go drill bit have to discover whether there's oil on a well for a for a while i was drawing answers so i'd be a privatization of social security and the deeper i got the dryer while big fan and it seemed to me at the end that what it was gonna do is dry up social security it requires taking as much as a trillion dollars out of the social security fund the independent analysts have said that would to put the fun out of money in in twenty twenty three or if it's not a money benefits will have to be cut by over fifty percent less is not worth doing a war an iron to guarantee social security and add to it the retirement savings plan that i mentioned earlier which will help middle class families looking for to have not only social security but about a superb extra retirement account as well social security plus from us wars spurred social security minus from the bush cheney ticket a surprise bernie if i disagree with

joe's description of our program are the factory matter is a social security systems in trouble it's been a fantastic program it's been there for sixty five years of providing benefits for for a senior citizens over pre time for my parents it means a great deal to the millions of americans and an evolution i wanna make absolutely certain that the first thing we do is guarantee the continuation of those payments are those benefits and keep those promises were made really look down the road in europe say thirty years old today and i have two daughters about that age they seriously question what about the va system left for them and that's because they are the demographics that are working out there and its almost an iron wall we know how many people there are no women in reach retirement age we know when the baby boom generation's coming along and allow all people are likely to live after that that's going to drive the system into bankruptcy last week performance and deal with the reform we would like to offer is to allow our young people to begin to take a portion of payroll tax two percent of it and invested in a personal retirement accounts

that does several things first of all it gives them a stake in the social security system that becomes their property alun they can pass it on to the kids if they want they don't have that kind of equity and now in social security today secondly we can generate a higher return off that investment that you get then you get in the existing system today that about two percent return in your book but you pay into social security so we can generate with at least six percent of all the evidence shows at least three times now and long term by generating longer bigger return will put additional funds into the system that would help to survive that crunch that's otherwise get into future bottom line is there's a choice here with respect franklin al gore and joe's plan they dont reform social security or we have another huge obligation on top of that the future generations that they they don't touch the basic system itself they don't reform and they dont say that we have a plan to do that on a plan to get our young people rejoice and more control over their own lives than mr

secretary this question is for you washington is a cauldron of the political bickering and partisanship american people don't have had an off how would you of a political this course and purposes will be i think there is there are number of ways to do that first of all i agree with your assessment i think about washington for the last eight years premiums for the last five years running a company global concern and then act in the private sector than building a business hiring people creating jobs or get a different perspective on washington that i had when i was there in the past i'm proud of my service and washed him for twenty five years but also proud that i had the opportunity to go out and get a different experience and you're absolutely right people are fed up they had enough with the bickering and into the partisanship that seems to characterize the debate that goes on the nation's capital i've seen it done differently boston and under from in texas

not wash george bush and they are one of the reasons i was eager to sign on when he asked me to become his running mate is because i've been so tremendously impressive what is known as a governor texas he came and no one here to legislate completely controlled by the other party i he manage to reach across partisan lines and can unite republicans and democrats and independents put them to work to achieve good things for the state of texas partly because he didn't point the finger of blame looking for scapegoats was quick to share credit but we ended up as a result of that activity at the end of his first term the top democrat in the state the lieutenant governor bob bullock endorsed a republican fb can do it now with all respect to tell al gore was somebody who spent all the last twenty four years and that washed your environment and the

campaigns on the basis of over castigating others are pointing the finger of blame at others in terms of there are blaming business story burris and some groups were failures i think you have to be able to reach out and work together and build coalitions and george w bush have done that in texas you can do it at the national center robert you're absolutely right to there's too much partisanship in washington of puzzles me i think that people in public life and politics would we want to do what would make them popular and yet too often get one bowl parties seem to act in a way that brings down the institutions of government and each of us individually it's a shame i tried very hard in my career to call him as a salmon and work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get things done and i'm proud of my record in that regard and i certainly think there would be an asset that i could bring to the vice presidency should be fortunate enough to be elected or minimize senator oath or to borrow a bob dole for

instance and bosnian hour two john mccain and cultural boza worked with cutting back on foreign policy or work with don nickles on international religious freedom act went on much longer and what he heard the fact is that that's the way things get done and i'm proud of those partnerships among say a word about warren and his years in the house and the senate he forms similar bipartisan partnerships if you look back over the last eight years the most significant accomplishments of this administration in which al gore was centrally involved were the result most of them a bipartisan agreement soon after all the oh well for reform act which hurt our work promise to lead the effort to get people off of loafers set time limits to give people you enjoy the dignity of work that was a bipartisan the actor was adopted anti crime act which is a war crime or helpful or crime more than twenty percent in our country today also was bipartisan and on the balanced budget act of nineteen ninety seven which is critical

to getting our economy the point our government to the point unprecedented surplus we enjoy today also was bipartisan and al gore was involved so i'd say that's exactly the kind of bipartisan leadership and he and i can bring to washington to get things done with all due respect your mother there's just an awful lot of evidence that there has not been any bipartisan leadership of this administration or out of uncle the fact is the medicare problems have not been addressed we've had eight years of promises on prescription drugs or no action from social security problem has not been addressed that we've had eight years of talk and no action on the educational problem has not been addressed through eight years of talk and no action of them and then in a position of responsibility for the white house the partial interest if you will in washington dc and they've been able to work those medicare is a classic example of the broken mission good effort a bipartisan solution for medicare and what your daughter did by the media answer that was generated effect is the administration of set up in the

political not because i'd rather have the issue and there with a solution this administration has not led from a bi partisan standpoint i really do think about horse reckons rosenberger berea dick cheney must be one of the few people in america who those who thinks that nothing has been accomplished in the last eighty years and in effect is the promises were made and promises were kept in and has l gore vidal were made promises in nineteen ninety two absolutely really deliver big time and that sets the record though look at the toy harder than twenty two million new jobs but the four million new business is a lot at the lower interest rates lower rate of inflation high rate of growth i think if you ask most people in america today that famous question of ronald reagan asked are you better off today than you were eight years ago most people would say yes and i'm pleased to say see that from the newspapers that you're better off than you were eight years ago two months now and

i can tell you feel that the government had actually nothing to add these questions to and i can see my wife and i think she's thinking joe was she would go into the produce section the law at all and i think you've done so well dick cheney joe lieberman you're black for this question madam yourself an african american you become the target of racial profiling in a while walking and driving african american joseph lieberman what would you do about it i'd be outraged it is such an assault on the

basic promise that american makes that that the war we'll treat individuals as individuals regardless of their status and so their their race their nationality their gender sexual orientation cetera et cetera and then the sad fact is that racial profiling workers in this country a few african americans are and you know it makes me want to kind of have that the war because it is such an assault on their own humanity and the citizen sure we cant tolerate it anymore that's why we supported the legislation in the first instance in pakistan since the most needed it don to work do work hard studies have to make the case of the extent it was racial profiling is occurring in our country but it's also i am so proud that's al gore said two things first we were issuing for fortunate enough to be elected an executive order prohibiting racial profiling and secondly the

first civil rights act we would legislation we would send to congress would be a national ban on racial profiling is just wrong as it is an american and to think that in the twenty first century this kind of nonsense is still going on we're going to stop and the only way to stop it is to the law in the war after all was meant to express our values and our aspirations for our society and our values our part violently contradicted by the kind of race racial profiling that i know exists and it served from a while ago bernie who works in the government works of the late us african americans stopped surrounded by police true for no other cause that anyone can determine and the color of his skin but that can't be an american anymore percent bigger than bernie i am i like to answer your question the best among those that i i don't think i can understand fully what would be like try hard to put myself in that position and that he would've

been like that of course always been part of a majority of them part of a minority group that has to be a horrible experience it's that the sense of anger and frustration and rage that would go with knowing that the only reason you're stopped and only recently were arrested was because of the color of your skin would make me extraordinarily angry and i'm not sure how how i would respond i think that we have to recognize that that while we've made enormous progress in the us and in the racial relations and we have come a very long way was so along with you know that we still have not only the problems were talking about here tonight in times a bronze image of profiling but beyond that we still have when she did get an education income differentials differences in lifespan we still have i think a society that or we haven't done enough yet to live up to that standard that we don't like to live up to i think in terms of equality of opportunity and we

judge people as individuals and as martin luther king said well judge people on the content of the characters or the color of their skin i would hope that we continue to make progress in that regard in the years ahead senator sexual orientation should a male who loves a male and a female who loves of the you know have all all the constitutional rights enjoyed by every american citizen are very current and difficult question and i've been thinking about an irs plan what my thoughts of them matt bennett should begin the search answer but i'm back at the beginning of the country in the declaration of independence which says write their debts a little less are created equal and there were in bad not win a bunch of politicians are philosophers but by our creator with those in the daily double rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness at the beginning of our art history that promise the

ideal was not her realize her experience for all americans but over time since then we have extended the orbit of that promise on in our time at the frontier of that effort is expanding those kinds of roads to a gay and lesbian americans who are citizens of this country and then children of the same awesome god just as much as any of the rest of us are that that's why i have been an original co sponsor of the employment nondiscrimination act which which aims to prevent the gay and lesbian americans who are otherwise qualified from being discriminated against in the work clothes and i've sponsored the other pieces of legislation another active in other actions that to carry out that ideal the question it poses a difficult one for this reason did it it confronts are challenges the traditional notion of marriage as being limited to heterosexual couple which i support but i must say i'm thinking about this because i have friends who aren't gay and lesbian

partnerships are certainly isn't that unfair that we don't have similar legal rights to inheritance the visitation when one of the partners is ill to health care benefits and that's why i'm thinking about in my mind is open to taking some action that will address those elements of unfairness while respecting the traditional religious and civil institution of marriage is a tough primary fact the matter is we live in a free society and and freedom means freedom for everybody will get to choose and shouldn't be able to choose and say you the delivery but you know i think that means that people should be free to enter in any car relationship that one enter into its really no one else's business in terms of trying to regulate or or prohibit behavior in that regard and the next step then of course is the question you ask of whether or not there ought to be some kind of

official sanction if you will of a relationship or if these relationships should be treated the same way a conventional marriages that's a tougher problem that's not a slam dunk i think the fact that matter of course is the matter is regulated by the state's i think different states are likely to have come to different conclusions and that's appropriate i don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area i try to be open minded about the as much as i can and tolerant of those relationships and unlike joe and also wrestled with the extent to which there ought to be legal section of those relationships are i think we have to do everything we can to learn to tolerate and accommodate to whatever color relationships people enter into it occurs to me that day you're moderators committed a boo boo i asked the racial profiling question of you you responded and then i asked the sexual orientation question of you

i should not have done that in terms of rotation gentlemen i apologize for who you think yeah you're him and what we are during the vice president of the united states of america what would you bring to the job that your opponent what we clearly come from different political perspectives joseph as a democrat from new england and republican from the west from wyoming home and girl but i think that weighs into a dissonance and clearly were both in the positions we're in because of our first relationships with our principles i think the the areas that i would bring none of the things that governor bush emphasized twenty one a picnic and white house chief of staff and ran the white house under president ford denied spent ten years in the house at that in the leadership service secretary of

defense and then had a significant experience in there and i think that where there are differences between join myself in terms of background experience i clearly spent a lot of time in executive positions running large organizations both in private business as well as in government and of that so they set of qualifications that then governor bush found attractive when he selected senator murray i have every respect so for dick cheney and a bond to agree with a lot of things he said in this campaign but that avarice proposal it was a very distinguished the secretary defense and the anonymous sources with the humility that is required to respond to this statement that i think what would i would bring to the office of the vice presidency is a lifetime's experience

growing up in a working class family having the opportunity to go to a great public school system than to go on to college and then to be drawn really but president kennedy as well as the values of service my family gave me entered into public life wanting to make a difference and it had extraordinary opportunities thanks again for those folks back home in connecticut is a state senator as an attorney general fighting to enforce the law protect them an environment as consumers and to litigate on behalf of human rights and for the last twelve years is a member of the center to the united states are focusing on national security questions environmental protection economic growth in values were perhaps a what i'm most brain uses of friendship and shared values and unsure parties with al gore i have tremendous respect for alarm on for fifteen years he's an outstanding the person as a public official and as a private person this is his life

is built on as faith it's devoted to his family and he volunteered for service in vietnam from the beginning and congress is going to take on the big interest and fight for average people as was president is that i think the most effective vice president in the history of the united states and he's got the right program two years of prosperity all american people over and to help particularly hard working middle class families raise up their children to enjoy a better life i think that's so that's what this is all about one so proud his running mate and because of my boo boo i'm going to direct this question as the researcher a year training and you notice the contradiction or hypocritical shift by your opponent on positions and issues since he was nominated we've been trying very hard to keep it so i do a

couple of concerns were um i like the old joe lieberman better than i do the new joe lieberman on the ceiling put in those terms joe established i thought an outstanding record in his work on this whole question of violence in the media and there are the kinds of materials that were being killed were children and there are many of us on the republican side admired for that there is i must say to you now that have enjoyed outdoor on the i'm on the ticket on the other side that their depth of conviction that we had admired before isn't quite as strong as it was perhaps the past the home temptation on the one hand to criticize the activities of the industry is was pointed out recently the federal trade commission whether they're taking clearly material of medford olson and they're selling it to our children but at the same time they're participating in fundraising events were some of the people responsible for that activity has

been a source of concern for many of us we were especially disturbed joe at a recent fund raiser you attended where there was a comedian you've got up and criticize george bush's religious and you're not responsible for haven't heard any words of criticism of his religion but land to some extent my concern would be frankly that tell that you haven't been as as a consistently had been in the past that a lot of your friends like bill bennett and others of us who'd admired year firmness of purpose over the years overfield that you're not going to consider for that cause well bernie will not be surprised to hear that i disagree with the first one in line to talk about the show and about religion which i found very distasteful and believe me if we have if anybody's orders to respond the role of religion in american life and understands that americans

from the beginning of our history of turned to god for strength and purpose it's made and though that any offense was done i apologize for about half of that humor was unacceptable when it comes to the question of hollywood and unanswered general question now warren i have felt for a long time first as parents and the analyst second those public officials that we cannot let americans can stand alone and in this competition that they feel are and with hollywood to raise her own kids and give their kids the faith and the values that they want to give them and i've been a consistent crusader on their behalf john mccain and i actually request of the federal trade commission report that came out three or four weeks ago quote whips which proved conclusive way that that the entertainment industry was marketing adulterated products to our children and that is just not acceptable in one finding was that they were actually using ten to twelve year olds to test screening a bill rid of

products when that report came out about war and i said to and the entertainment industry stop it and if you don't stop and six months' were asked the federal trade commission to take action against there was no summer strong response from our once we repeated that message when we went to los angeles i repeated today we will not stop until early entertainment industry starts marketing its products to work to our children for samurai of time but let me just say that over i i'm out of income but no please continue have about ten seconds for the interruption for al gore and i agree on most everything we disagree on some things and he said to me from the beginning beer so that's why i chose you don't change a single position you have and i have not changed a single position since about were nominated me to be his whiskers helmand no closing statements a

pirate's coin toss determined that you began sen lieberman thanks for i haven't won very quickly thank you brian cowen thanks to jennifer very good debate i'm told that to tens of millions of people were have been watching this debate tonight i must say that i wish one more person were here though to watch it and thats my dad who died fifteen years ago if my dad were here i would have the opportunity to tell him that he was right when he taught me that in america if you have safe work hard and play by the rules there is nothing you cannot achieve and then here i am even the son of a man who started out working the night shift in a bakery truck and end up being a candidate for vice president of the united states that says a lot about the character of this nation and the goodness of you the american people i'll play the bass and i have traveled around this country in the last couple of months and that thousands and thousands of parents' just like their moms and that's hard working middle class people

up paying their taxes doing the job to keep the country running trying so hard to teach your kids read from wrong in believing in their hearts that their kids can make it and i agree with them but to make it they need a leader who will stand up and fight for them for good education the best education in the world for a sound retirement system for prescription drug benefits for their parents and for a government that is fiscally responsible balances the budget its interest rates down so they can afford to buy a home or to work to send their kids to college to me how war is that leader and will be that kind of president you know for two hundred twenty four years americans a dream bigger dreams and tribal her solutions are the other people on earth now is not the time to sell for less than we can be as good as things are today al gore and i believe that with your help and god's help we can make the future of this

good and was a country even better thank you god bless you and good night mr secretary bernie allen thank you and joe's well i've enjoyed the debate the scene and also want to thank the folks here at center college in danville kentucky they've really done a tremendous job of making this possible this is a very important decision we make on november seventh we really have a fundamental choice between whether not we continue with our old ways of big government high taxes and ever more intrusive bureaucracy or whether we take a new course for new era governor bush and i would've pursued and of course we want to reform the social security system to guarantee that the benefits will be there for retired folks as well as make it possible for young people to invest a portion of their payroll tax into a retirement account that they'll control give them greater control over their own lives we want reform the medicare system again to make certain the benefits are there for a senior citizens thus also to provide prescription drug coverage for them and to give them a range of choices in terms of the kind of

insurance they'll reform the education system when restore public schools to the greatness that they once represented so that every parent has the opportunity to choose what's best for their child and so that every child has an opportunity to share in the american dream we also would reform the tax code that it's very important that we have a surplus that a portion of that surplus go back to the people who earned it's not the government's money it's your money you're entitled to it and that we like to see to a doctor would provide tax relief for everybody who pays taxes finally winning it's very important to rebuild the us military the military is in trouble the trends are in the wrong direction the finest men and women in uniform to find anyplace in the world but they deserve our support they deserved the resources but we need to provide for them in the desert good leadership of george bush's the man to do this i've seen him do it in texas what we need is to be able to reach across the aisle but together coalitions of republicans and democrats and build the kinds of

coalitions and get something done finally in washington george bushes a good man an honorable man and then a great integrity to make a first rate president secretary kerry senator lieberman you're in a very large orange american political history we thank you does bill to pay fb law you hear the appreciation here and our thanks also the center college the community and then bill and of course

the bluegrass state kentucky what is a gentleman please join my colleague moderator jim lehrer for the next presidential debate next wednesday night at wake forest university in winston salem north carolina for the commission on presidential debates are bernard shaw that night from danville kentucky this is grace was in washington been watching the vice presidential debate between dick cheney and joe lieberman families have now joined the candidates on stage the two debaters shook hands warmly exchange some pleasantries when the time was called syndicated columnist mark shields and wall street journal columnist george ago with me here in washington we make it what you just so well a bernie if the first test of the character and judgment of a presidential nominee as the running mate that he chooses and both george bush and al gore

passed with flying colors abide based on the performance tonight but both these men that they're they're exceptionally incompetent i thought that dick cheney was said measured he was so it was so cold it it was to rebuild he was articulate there's an old german politics ray about the year i can go to get which is the ticket it's feared that pitch clicked the kangaroo the animal itself the back leg the lower half is stronger than the top half of the kangaroos front paws very weak and then you could have that not tonight that both these men minus the distractions was on the tuesday night debate the size that george bush's distraction sense of distraction i mean both those guys were totally engaged and i think they both did very well made their case well i still have questions about strategy oh they were both better than their principles and ruth marcus or that they were both more natural they were both

more fluent in more subjects less i mean not that they didn't practice some of that law i was but they didn't think they were willing to wander a little bit and come up with a thoughtful answers but secretary trinity particular on the question of imagine yourself being black and he said romney couldn't do that and they gave a very thoughtful answer there no question about the debate probably a tie in this case the tie goes to the status quo i thought if there was a weakness in the chinese presentation it was certainly not experience he held notion that way showing he's thoughtful but yeah just i kept thinking where is the argument for the swing voters to say let's throw out these people after eight years has been the most powerful it gave him that was eight years of talk and no action we never really drew that blood on a lot of different subjects and oil prices never tied to maybe are our prosperity its threat it it wasn't the strongest case for change and it won't agree with mark i wonder what the strategy is later on in this debate night broadcast will bring you reaction from

political partisans and perspectives from newshour regulars of for now will stay with shields and hugo market lunch time the question was was president the last eighteen years and they intend to listen to italy medalist al gore i had done all these things that al gore had a great record that bill clinton was the missing guest at this banquet they get detained and use it to try to pin the blame for the alleged inaction last eight years one bill clinton shows what a tricky political entity and an item bill clinton did say because he still retains this high job rating but joe lieberman out of his way to identify his bipartisanship they must've felt that based upon governor bush's emphasis of his bipartisanship and taxes for working with democrats there that they had to return to that so we talked about his working with connie mack the senate republicans in florida trent lott he co sponsored the republican leader with don nickles

support for president bush's foreign policy particularly persian gulf i found that i found that interesting in it it took a little bit of the edge off dick cheney dick cheney is not a hatchet man you understood tonight by george bush we have a ten point lead i think the sense you know it's it wasn't true that the tobacco the white house dick cheney was a natural vice president martin called uncle abe will be back but let's go now to margaret warner for some partisan reaction to tonight's debate and we get that assessment from republican pollster and strategist john mclaughlin he had by steve forbes during the republican primary season including his debates and democratic media strategist raced rather he helped repair lloyd bentsen for his vice presidential debate against dan quayle in nineteen eighty eight we both our experiences i just recited race rather or do you think maybe more effective persuasive case for his ticket or would you say they both get up and they're both pretty good and i think cheney was handcuffed chained had to sort of apologize for the personal pact bush made

so he was sort of put in a mode of tone that he had to be simple and more of a gentleman but it's the first time i can ever remember that the attack dog is the presidential candidates and the vice presidential candidate and the baby the tickets really upside down what ensued the precise a last debate now and that bush wants and parcel tax says stretch the global very serious very intelligent and very conservative political risk taking that really spoke to their bases and at the same time the old bridge that deadly reinvention got middle class and prayer problem more often the chicken then a dick cheney on the other hand dick cheney probably steered the issues for is his agenda in terms of taxes defense foreign policy and that it probably got more of the tactical advantage in terms of having issues on his terms things that people couple with and he did very well but as a strategist explain why you both think starting with you right

that they both took this if not laid back completely an aggressive approach to mean that the newspaper so they were filled with predictions about cheney was going to go after a lieberman on this this and this advice first and neither one of them did that why you think that i think they burn learned lessons from that first debate in this in this debate moten last debate moten this debate i think that's really what happened at that cheney was reacting to george bush and whether or not you think that he was a user attack dog rules and civil order that time it was a very personal attack he made a lot of people didn't did not been like to remember the selection rhinos about whether it's about when women don't like attack george bush himself great for the chinese in effect apologize but why do you think they get to this strategy i think the polls are also cautious the stakes are very high there in a very close presidential race is close nationally the debate probably didn't change that much but in the first round between gore and bush and is setting up for a more important debate in

the next round and neither one wanted to go down in history as the one of course their nominee the election so that all that well talking to their bases and out earn the surviving ten probably very well settled with for the next event could push the strongest of its goal stated young doctor did it that strike you what struck me in any event that lieberman campaign that our war on i need to talk about more all the time you know when he was asked to give his own you know what you bring to the ticket and shane talk about george bush as much there was a mistake that was deliberate and author i think i think what the question at the center of the end was when the cost of the changes for greece's rare about the flip flops on out on the position to senator lieberman and that what he's doing is he was helping al gore but he was speaking he was reaching empty on the base a lot of businesses that rhetoric of it could've been spoken by republican and what he's trying to do is as that final one last questions indicated he's trying to reconcile that he's

really not different than gordon now was perceived as much for a little leg they've come from senegal and i don't think that i think that both of them we're trying to be moderate and i think you're going on purpose at the first volume one track that there are cannons and it's a problem in the next debate so they were they were very cautious about that singing they saw this very much as a continuum there that had won four to three questions from the next debate of what you're tennis's number is shaw finally did get cheney to address this and did joe lieberman flip flop on the entertainment culture and who think that the better of that well it was obvious that it was a push question it was a natural question both scanners weren't done kafka with neither one answer it i think cheney were played softball with what the whole question ethically been unlucky a comeback they like each other and it shows oh i think i've i think on that question looms on the defensive but that's the thing out that there was this also missed

opportunities when lee rose talking about the lock box if to realize it's the republicans in congress who actually propose that in this legislation trying to secure the source security funds and he didn't go near the republicans is ray was saying is reaching out away from the base into the center and at the same time you know you eventually read on the mideast question would have had a special expertise and he really was very cautious he said nothing risky at all in that regard so you know in the way that they were overly cautious the reason this effort is here for both candidate and do you think you know there were a lot of record a lot of conservatives and religious conservatives were upset with george w bush and some of positions he took her his town do you think that person say on abortion have honey think they're now regard the way dick cheney handled the dance i think that that they've cheney shame based on record in the past and in terms of the bush record that both levels in good standing with the pro life forces and republicans understand that as roy said they're reaching out beyond their

base and they're trying to find some area of consensus and some very where a majority coalescing was interesting cheney what he did was he took that question when talk of a partial birth abortion and that's worse than most of his time talking about and that middle ground with the republicans do have the majority of the consensus and stronger and i will very much write it and now we turn to some of our other news our regulars when i flew with me are presidential historians doris kearns goodwin and michael beschloss and journalist and arthur haines johnson doing him tonight is richard norton smith presidential historian and biographer michael and we've seen the surrogates shadow boxing kind of exercises in the past vice presidential debates how to this one measure up i thought this problem most evenly matched vice presidential debate over say that you know it had all over the arid almost a us senate debate in michigan or pennsylvania and in a way it was because those are the votes those states states like them that these two guys are trying to get you know survive moderate sense of being around the table a couple of things that

surprised me one was the dick cheney who at the republican convention in philadelphia had this big attack on clinton ago and gore almost like an avenging grandfather remember you said you know we all know that in your routine and help is on the way there was almost none of that was a very different person and lieberman's case he said the beginning of the debate i'm not going to engage in personal attacks but you can pretty close match using the words big time which referred to george w bush's insult against the new york times reporter and dick cheney agreeing with us in illinois a small lapse but the main thing is you know why these two guys were packed cheney i think will never again hear why was dick cheney on this ticket he lands war seriousness and lieberman's case he was solid and center that very much helps article doris both of these candidates and to be very aware of the history of these kinds of debates you heard dick cheney the end lean over to joe lieberman and say you see i didn't wear watch tonight's awkward he wouldn't just when people mistake the george bush sr made several

years ago how to measure up to you we know what struck me most i think was that people talked of previously about the cautious tone i think that's a very good thing for american a certain sense think about the issues that they dealt with tonight abortion gays and lesbians race and each one of them reached across to the other side i had the feeling not just about the kangaroo taken heart that mark raised but what if one of these guys to be president and the other one leader of the opposition party maybe something could get done so it shows they made an assessment that for that part of the country that they want to reach that rhetoric and even for eight years ago which was so vitriolic on social issues is no longer going to work obviously also your question suggests that they didn't want to make any the mistakes in the past the gap that made all the hatchet man for ever by talking about the democratic wars were the personal attacks that people remembered and i think america wins in that respect i found that a very good debate it may not have been what dramatist but i thought it was good for the country to raise those issues in such a decent way richard norton smith doris mentions the aisle democrat wars comment the bottle made in nineteen seventy six

but tonight bipartisanship seemed to be the coin of the realm yet this was flat out the best vice presidential debate ever an arguably the most substantive awful enlightening debate in memory of these are obviously serious man it was it was interesting but then sometimes they were also surprising i thought cheney of all people handled the question on the environment and social security are better than either he or which have throughout the campaign i thought throughout this evening you saw the compassionate conservative for his part i thought senator lieberman perhaps surprisingly handle the issue of military readiness of areas actively abortion remains the devices in many ways defining issue but even their cheney tried to reach out to find a middle ground to stress being struck the evening of bipartisanship i will repeat what i said los angeles before this campaign is over millions of those who wish they could vote for these guys for president instead of the guys at the head of the ticket

james johnson is this what has to happen now in a vice presidential debate no longer can they be the attack dog along with can they be the ones throwing aspersions on the other presidential candidates it becomes a very civil meeting of the minds around the curves table yes i think always we seeing the night is a wonderful example of the end of this attack stuff that people hate and you saw over and over again the american people should feel very good tonight they have two people that are clearly responsible informed if your big issues they could explain clearly i think it was a wonderful debate all my colleagues have said this i wanna say amen to it it also does raise some questions about the future of this ticket at the bottom notes in some ways better than the ticket at the top but i do think what paul hugo said is maybe critical politically if it's a tie and you could argue that it was then i agree with paul this is a vote for the status quo and other words weekend in the case was not made that strong to make it big

change from this moment you know michael in past debates they've said things like dan quayle didn't do well against lloyd bentsen made that his daughters peggy george bush from getting elected is there anything about this debate which can affect this what we know from the past that affect the outcome of the selection now there wasn't a big mistake out like bob dole with the democrat wars or they better as lloyd bentsen was able to do by side today while you're no jack kennedy and i think something that is that i think is very wide and manages circle all the way back to the beginning of debates nineteen sixty john f kennedy was running against richard nixon vice president to a very popular president eisenhower peace and prosperity yet kennedy kept on saying yes the late last eight years you may like things about them but it's not enough i'm not satisfied nixon later onset of his memoir is the toughest thing that is one of the toughest things that you have to do if you're a candidate like that is to defend the record rather than attack in a way bush and cheney have to use your

job and i agree they have not done as effectively as it left us in the end this is the vice presidency we're talking about the war about you know why thomas says so what does it matter to me by that these two guys you get along so i you know it's interesting in that first debate of seventy six when dole was a vice presidential candidate he said this is crazy why we doing this we're not the man making the policies we're the second dive in command you should watch football instead of doing this what instead it does matter because it's the first big decision a presidential candidate makes and it reflects absolutely on him and i think that's where all saying these both men reflected well on the president and also as we said before the vice presidency is so much more powerful now he's a great key advisor the president often likely to become the next nominee and i think i was playing in the band certainly lieberman tonight you know would be a hatchet guy and lose your chance to be liked by the american public if you have a chance down the line he's young enough maybe even jane years young enough and i think they don't want to screw it up in that sense briefly hayes do you think it worked

so i think that in this case were given cheney was very good actually not also showed himself to be presidential and richard does it make a difference because it was he would have of the next debate if tonight's was part of a process you heard dick cheney talk about a new course for new era interesting he repeated that phrase several times if that is the beginning of what has been missing in the bush campaign an overarching theme this evening will be real progress thank you are very much and now some final thoughts and backed a syndicated columnist mark shields and wall street journal columnist portugal will pour your suggestion that both candidates did better than their prince bill's got lots of comments from our analysts which always wear suede sofas point of the difficulty of this exercise that is a lot of downside and risk but really what you're there for is to build up the boston well sure that that helps him in and cheney get better having what he offered tonight was a kind of experience by association for abortion in the sense that he is has a

clear competence on foreign policy defense middle east milosevic superior the to what george bush demonstrated that you get the sensitive of ordering of any doubt about george bush in the oval office you know she'll be right down the hall knows a lot he somebody that he's gonna be relied on and i think that helps the other thing that struck me about tonight was the difference between dick cheney in his convention speech and dick cheney tonight and i think that shows what's the big intervening event was joe lieberman's tech and joe lieberman being there and how the case for change at the convention was character builder character ethics and failure to lead lieberman and no third term for bill clinton lieberman's choice was kind of a cleansing for gore and i think complicated that strategy so much for a vote for bush and cheney in you saw that night because there was no argument about character tonight at all it has never appeared and if richard's it is right and i think you might be but the new course for new era being a slogan a theme that

cheney didn't develop that theme tonight one of i think the governor bush is going to have to do that to make that argument for change if george bush did lose today tuesday night in boston he has to win next time john mclaughlin this conversation of margaret republican strategist said he sets it up for governor bush gets better the candidates i haven't seen that track record of jazz but that that later what would pay and what color graded they have to stand to go and i are political reporters would fight promoters that's what that's what we are and that it's a disappointment that was such a great it was a great it was a great civics lesson i don't understand why dick cheney did not brief george w bush if george w bush could spend two weekends with dick cheney i think you have done a lot better job finally jacqueline richards said in that is the cheney made the case for compassionate conservative compassionate conservative was what separated george bush for the past from the

field early in this political year and really gave him a lift and an identity it's something he's moved away from and i don't know what this signals a return to that scene well on a couple of issues in his answer on abortion rather than giving a really polarizing right wrong answer he said that both parties would like to reduce the number of abortions and then made a distinction with with his party's approach to how that would be done would naturally i think that shows me that the bush campaign would really much rather talk about abortion and they think that it is too polarizing and that they believe lieberman showed this too because he didn't exactly run to the issue and he tried to make him say i am for it and in third trimester abortions i think they both feel that they have their parsons on that issue in their camp and they're reaching to swing voters who vote on other issues i did okay writes dick cheney gave a very nuanced he's an obviously and they were holding press says some people were that it's a personal factor with

dick cheney in lynne cheney's daughter and i thought that it is certainly never the personal and it but it was again it was compassionate it was i was words of tolerant and freedom and that day that we must be open and accepting this really a very very thoughtful and reflective answer and totally non judge randall well thank you both and we'll see you next debate like we'll sue you online and again tomorrow evening on the news hour while also be your next wednesday evening to bring you complete coverage of the second presidential debate in winston salem north carolina i'm ray suarez thanks for being with us and good night fb imagine the system

this is solomon this program was also made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you thank you ms bier yes nice bed fb