Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Clash in Fiery Debate
Sunday, May 04, 2003
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Not one strong leader emerged from Saturday night's Democratic debate involving nine candidates hoping to get their party's nod to run against President Bush in 2004.
During the debate held at the University of South Carolina (search) campus, the nine Democrats vying for the nomination traded barbs over the U.S.-led war against Iraq, health insurance, gay rights, guns, homeland security and Bush's tax cut in a very early primary debate.
But most of them realized they had to be in unison when it came to criticism of Bush's war tactics, since the commander in chief has such high approval ratings in the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom (search).
But many people likely weren't even awake to watch the debate. The network that carried the event -- ABC -- didn't air the taped debate until 11:30 p.m. The network's Washington affiliate opted to air Gladiator instead, the movie about great battles in the Roman Coliseum featuring Russell Crowe (search).
But the war in Iraq -- and the divisions among the candidates over the war -- were evident in the opening questions. Disagreements also emerged as the 90-minute debate moved toward topics such as candidate Dick Gephardt's plan to roll back Bush's 2001 tax cut to finance health care.
Moderator George Stephanopoulos of ABC News focused initially on Bush's decision to order U.S. forces to lead a coalition to disarm Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein. He highlighted former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's statement earlier in the day that Saddam really wasn't much of a threat to the country.
Dean, considered a far left liberal, has unabashedly blasted the Bush administration for everything and anything about the war.
Bush waged "the wrong war at the wrong time," Dean said, adding that the United States could face new threats if Iraq falls into the wrong hands. But he said he was "delighted to see Saddam Hussein gone."
Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut balked at Dean's statement that Saddam isn't dangerous.
"Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and, most particularly, to his neighbors," Lieberman said. "We did the right thing in fighting this fight, and the American people will be safer as a result of it."
Shortly before fighting began in Iraq, many Democrats -- such as Sen. Hilary Clinton, D-N.Y. -- rallied around the president despite traditional partisan differences. The Democratic primary time is usually when candidates try to win over left-winged voters, but this time around, candidates know they have to stay closer to the center to win the votes.
Many Democrats instead likely will attack Bush's domestic agenda, which many critics say has been lacking because of the White House's focus on the war on terror and military operations in Iraq.
Al Sharpton argued that "we could have disarmed Hussein by working with the United Nations."
Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun, the former Illinois senator, focused on the expense of keeping U.S. forces in Iraq and the reconstruction of the war-torn nation.
The start of the debate was dominated by a heated exchange between Dean and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Dean criticized a statement that Kerry's aides had issued earlier in the week questioning his ability to be commander in chief. Many of the other candidates made a plea for the two to stop squabbling, fearing that it would make the Democrats look bad.
"We're not fighting each other," said Florida Sen. Bob Graham. "We're trying to select one of us to be the opponent of George Bush."
Graham hasn't even formally announced his candidacy but that announcement is expected within the next few days.
The debate shifted to the issue of Gephardt's health insurance proposal, the cornerstone of his campaign that would require businesses to provide health care for their employees at a cost of more than $200 billion a year. The former House Democratic leader's plan would repeal all of Bush's 2001 tax cut.
Lieberman said he was unwilling to raise taxes to pay for health coverage. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina questioned a plan that would leave the decisions to "big corporate America and assume that they do the right thing.
"That sounds like Reaganomics to me."
Gephardt defended his proposal, arguing that his plan would stimulate the economy and contending that the Bush tax cuts have been a failure. He made his case with a call to his fellow Democrats.
"I think if we're going to win this election, we cannot be Bush-lite," said Gephardt of Missouri. "We can't come along and say, 'Well, I'll keep half the Bush tax cut, or I'll keep three quarters of the Bush tax cut.' The Bush tax cuts have failed. They are not making the economy better, they are not helping people get jobs, they're not covering anybody with health insurance."
Bush's tax cut is taking center stage on Capitol Hill as divisions grow even within GOP ranks. The president wants Congress to pass his economic package and have a bill on his desk by Memorial Day.
Earlier in the debate, Lieberman delivered another message to all the candidates hoping to unseat Bush in 2004, an argument certain to be part of his campaign platform.
"No Democrat will be elected president in 2004 who is not strong on defense, and this war was a test of that strength," Lieberman said.
Kerry challenged his rivals' stance on national security once again toward the end of the debate, saying: "I'm the only person running for this job who's actually fought in a war. I'm not ambivalent about the war, Joe."
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former mayor of Cleveland and staunch anti-war ally, declared he was the only candidate ready to "say it's time to cut the waste, the fat, the bloat out of the military."
The debate came before most of the candidates have fully developed their positions for next year's election. But with no clear front-runner, there is intense rivalry for the nomination, even among the longshots.
"The way to move a donkey is to slap the donkey," Sharpton, warming up for the debate, told delegates at the state party convention Saturday afternoon. "I'm going to slap the donkey until the donkey kicks and we are going to kick George Bush out of the White House."
In the final segment of the debate, Stephanopoulos honed in on the foremost criticism of each candidate and asked them to offer a defense to charges of personal weaknesses.
He asked Kerry about his aloofness, Graham about his lack of charisma, Edwards about his lack of policy experience, Sharpton if he's a racial polarizer and Gephardt if he's "been around the track too many times."
Gephardt responded, "George, you really know how to hurt a guy." He highlighted his experience and said if voters are looking for a fresh face, he's not their candidate.
When Stephanopoulos asked Lieberman if he's too nice to take on Bush, Lieberman responded, "I'd like to come over there and strangle you, George." But then said a candidate doesn't "have to be a screamer to be tough."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,85924,00.html |
