Vice-President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards went head to head Tuesday night in the first and only vice-presidential debate of the 2004 election year. The rival candidates met at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio to debate on many issues of public interest. Among the debate issues were homeland security, the economy, health care reform and gay marriages.
The first questions posed were in regards to two of the most talked about issues, the Iraqi war and national security. When asked about the war in Iraq, Vice President Cheney stated immediately “what we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action.”
Senator Edwards responded by accusing the vice president of “not being straight with the American people.” Senator Edwards went on to say, “Mr. Vice President, there is no connection between the attacks of September 11 and Saddam Hussein. The 9/11 commission said it. Your own secretary of state has said it.”
Throughout the debate neither of the candidates held anything back as Vice President Cheney frequently attacked Senator Edwards’ inexperience as well as his record in the senate. “Frankly Senator, you have a record that’s not very distinguished…You’ve missed a lot of key votes: on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform. Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you ‘Senator Gone,'” stated Vice-President Cheney.
Senator Edwards in rebuttal stated, “A long resume does not equal good judgment,” and went on to list the many “misjudgments” of the Bush Administration. Senator Edwards claimed that when Vice President Cheney was “secretary of defense, he cut over eighty weapons systems.” He also claimed that there have been misappropriations of military funds, “We also thought it was wrong to have a $20 billion fund out of which $7.5 billion was going to go to a no-bid contract for Halliburton.”
When responding to the Vice President’s answer of whether or not U.S. businesses should be allowed to do business with Iran, Senator Edwards again attacked Halliburton, stating, “When [Dick Cheney] was CEO of Halliburton, they paid millions of dollars in fines for providing false information on their company, just like Enron. They did business with Libya and Iran, sworn enemies of the United States.”
Cheney responded by calling the Halliburton accusations a “smokescreen… an effort that they’ve made to try to confuse voters and to raise questions.” Halliburton, according to one political analyst, is something that many American people do not know exactly what it was all about, but they do know that it was bad; this could have a damning effect or no effect at all.
When asked about domestic issues, specifically jobs and poverty, Vice President Cheney stated that there needed to be a more effective tax policy, and adequate health care needed to be provided. Vice President Cheney stated that he would “zero in on education” and referred to the No Child Left Behind act, because the public school system needs to be “first-class.”
On the same issue, Senator Edwards stated that Kerry/Edwards had a plan to end the outsourcing of jobs and end the tax breaks for those companies that send jobs overseas. He also said, “We want to invest in the creative, innovative jobs of the future.”
On the issue of gay marriages, Vice President Cheney said, “Traditionally, that’s been an issue for the states. States have regulated marriage… That would be my preference.” Vice President Cheney also said that he needed to support the President’s position.
When posed the same question, Senator Edwards said, “I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, and so does John Kerry. I also believe that there should be partnership benefits for gay and lesbian couples in long-term, committed relationships… those who have been in long-term relationships deserve to be treated respectfully, they deserve to have benefits.”
Although Vice Presidential debates are often more heated than Presidential debates, they have not been known to radically change the outcome of a Presidential election. According to an ABCNEWS.com poll 43 percent of registered voters said Cheney won the debate, while 35 percent said Edwards won and 19 percent said it was a tie.
Meanwhile the Presidential candidates will meet again tonight at Washington University in St. Louis Missouri. The debate airs on all major broadcast companies at 9 p.m.