Dean, Lieberman Go Head-to-Head in Debate
URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,107332,00.html
Sunday, January 04, 2004
JOHNSTON, Iowa — Eager to attack, Sen. Joe Lieberman (search) ridiculed Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean in campaign debate Sunday for saying that America was no safer with Saddam Hussein (search) in captivity.
"I don't know how anybody could say that," the Connecticut senator said within moments of the first debate of the election year.
Lieberman went on the offensive shortly after Dean noted that 23 American troops have been killed since Saddam's capture last month, and "for the first time American fighter jets [are] escorting commercial airlines" out of security concerns.
Dean said instead of spending $160 billion in Iraq, the Bush administration "should have ... followed up trying to get Usama bin Laden."
"We need a concentrated attack on Al Qaeda (search)," he said of the organization blamed for the terrorist attacks on the United States Sept. 11, 2001.
Lieberman and Dean were joined by five of the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls in a debate outside Des Moines little more than two weeks before the state hosts the first contest of the election year. Wesley Clark, who has decided to bypass Iowa, and Al Sharpton did not participate in the debate.
The Iowa caucuses will be followed eight days later by the New Hampshire primary, and the two events combined are likely to dispatch some of the contenders to the sidelines.
The format for the debate, which was sponsored by the Des Moines Register, was not designed to encourage the rivals to challenge one another -- but they did.
Rep. Dick Gephardt, who has made union support the cornerstone of his campaign, said all his rivals except for Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio had voted for NAFTA and normalized trade relations with China. The former House Democratic leader said both had contributed to the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States.
That brought a rebuttal from Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina: "You can take any one vote from any of us and distort it."
He said he wasn't in Congress at the time the NAFTA agreement was approved, reducing trade barriers with Canada and Mexico.
"But you voted for China" free trade, Gephardt jabbed.
Edwards pushed back, correcting Gephardt by saying he hadn't been in the Senate at the time NAFTA passed, reducing trade barriers to Canada and Mexico.
"I understand," the Missouri congressman said, producing laughter and a demand from Edwards that he concede he'd made a mistake.
"I'm quite willing to say you weren't there and you didn't vote for it but, you voted for China," Gephardt rebutted.
Gephardt also turned his sights on Dean, who has lately sought to minimize his earlier enthusiasm for the two trade bills. Recent polls show the two Democrats locked in a close fight for the lead in Iowa.
"Howard, you were for NAFTA, you came to the signing ceremony. You were for the China agreement. ... It's one thing to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk," Gephardt said.
Kucinich, an avid opponent of trade legislation in Congress, said he was the only Democratic hopeful who had demanded that the United States withdraw from NAFTA.
On another issue, Dean provoked laughter at one point when he pledged to balance the federal budget in "the first six years of my administration." It was a remarkable display of confidence for a politician running for a four-year term, and he seemed caught off guard when the audience laughed.
"What?" he asked with a confused look on his face. |
