Kerry Wins Second Debate
Matthew Rothschild - Progressive.org

October 8, 2004

While George Bush may have been more sure of himself in this debate than in the
last, his answers were all the more frightening.

On the war on terror, the Iraq War, homeland security, the economy, taxes, the
Patriot Act, abortion, the Supreme Court, stem cell research, and prescription drugs,
he showed the dangerous course he wants to keep taking this country down.

Kerry, for his part, demonstrated a masterful command of the issues and was able
to hit Bush hard several times, while Bush resorted to almost playground taunts:
repeating the charge, over and over again, that Kerry changes his mind, hurling the
"liberal" epithet and telling Kerry, "You can run but you can't hide." Apparently
unconsciously he referred to Kerry at one point as Senator Kennedy. And
subliminally, he was almost calling Kerry a terrorist, because Bush has used the
"you can run" line against Al Qaeda in previous speeches.

But in the face of the name-calling, Kerry stood his ground and actually has turned
the Republicans' smear campaign to his advantage. They have so caricatured him
and so lampooned him that when the American people get to see Kerry in person,
he comes off surprisingly well. He is smart, knowledgeable, prepared, calm, and
forceful. At best, Bush just comes across forceful and folksy.

As he did in the previous debate, Kerry brought up the name of Osama bin Laden
several times in St. Louis. And Bush again stepped in it.

This time, Bush said, "We're going to catch bin Laden," as if he were just a guy who
had been stealing furniture off the porch instead of the mastermind of the biggest
terrorist attack ever against the United States. And Bush implied that bin Laden
wasn't the main deal, saying Kerry had a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the
war on terror by confining it to bin Laden.

There certainly are a lot of terrorists in the world. But only bin Laden and Al Qaeda
have attacked the United States and have declared war against the United States.

Congress authorized Bush to take action against Al Qaeda, not against every
terrorist in the world.

What Bush is promising is war after war after war. Or, as he put it, "This war is a
long, long war," he said, adding later: "I'm going to spend what it takes to win the
war, more than just $120 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan." When Bush used the
word "just" before the figure $120 billion, I saw the eyebrows of America bobbing, as
Bush appeared intent on mortgaging the nation for his crusade.

And on Iraq itself, he was hardly reassuring. He sounded as though the Duelfer
Report that came out this week validated his argument for going to war, when it did
just the opposite, since it concluded that there were no weapons of mass
destruction. But there was Bush, still insisting that "Saddam Hussein was a threat
because he could have given weapons of mass destruction to terrorist enemies."
How could he give them the weapons when he didn't even have them?

Amazingly, about the draft, he said, "We don't need mass armies anymore."
Where's he been? He could have used a more massive army in Iraq, as his own
Army chief of staff warned him.

Kerry went right at Bush on this point, and also twice quoted--to devastating effect--
two Republican Senators, Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel, who have criticized the
"incompetence" of the Administration and its "beyond pitiful" performance in Iraq.

On homeland security, Kerry took Bush to task for saying in the previous debate
that he didn't want to raise taxes to pay for protecting our ports, chemical plants,
and nuclear plants. "The President chose a tax cut over homeland security," Kerry
said. " That's a bad choice."

On taxes, Bush crudely kept saying that Kerry was going to raise everybody's taxes,
even after Kerry explained how he was going to raise taxes only on those making
more than $200,000. And Kerry pointed out just how regressive Bush's tax breaks
were, giving the top 1 percent $89 billion last year, which is more than the bottom
80 percent of Americans got, put together.

In a nice, light touch, Kerry also said: "I suspect there are only three people here
who are going to be affected" by his plan to raise taxes on the rich: "The President,
me, and Charlie," referring to moderator Charlie Gibson.

On the economy, Bush seemed totally out of touch, painting a rosy picture and
asking, "Who's going to keep the economy growing?" Most Americans don't think
the economy is humming along. Kerry, at least, proposed a plan for cleaning up
Bush's mess, and noted that Bush is the "first President in 72 years to lose jobs."

And while we're on the subject of messes, the environment came up and Bush could
barely string together a defense, fumbling to come up with an answer about what
his Administration has done to improve the environment. Here was his first stab:
"Off-road diesel engines, we reached an agreement to reduce pollution from off-
road diesel engines by 90 percent." That's his big accomplishment? Then he moved
on to his Clean Skies Initiative, which Kerry aptly described as Orwellian.

On prescription drugs, Bush did a little flip-flop of his own, saying first that he
doubted the safety of importing drugs from Canada but that "it may very well be
here in December you hear me say I think there's a safe way to do it."

By denying seniors the right to get cheaper drugs from Canada, and, as Kerry
pointed out, by denying the government the right to bargain lower prices from the
drug companies, Bush showed himself to be out of step with the American people--
but in lockstep with the pharmaceutical firms.

On the Patriot Act, Bush seemed taken aback that anyone could think that there
was anything in there that was eroding our civil liberties. Kerry pointed out some of
the problems, and memorably added that we should "never let the terrorists change
the Constitution."

On abortion, Bush was just plain scary. He strutted about how he had signed the
Partial Birth abortion ban, while Kerry had voted against it, and how he had signed
the parental notification law, while Kerry had voted against it.

But then Kerry gave one of the best defenses of abortion rights I've ever heard a
Presidential candidate make. He said he voted against the so-called Partial Birth
ban because it did not have an exception for the life of the mother. And he said he
voted against the parental notification law because it would force a sixteen-year-old
girl who is raped by her father to have to get that same father's permission for the
abortion.

Bush had no comeback on this and looked fanatical on the subject.

He looked equally rigid on stem-cell research, callously saying, after Kerry pointed
out all the benefits for people who are dying right now of Parkinson's, that he
doesn't want to destroy life. This, even after Kerry noted that there are 100,000 to
200,000 embryos frozen at fertility clinics. "These weren't taken from abortion or
something like that," Kerry said. "They're from a fertility clinic, and they're either
going to be destroyed or left frozen."

For most Americans, with loved ones or friends with life-threatening diseases who
could be cured by stem-cell research, Bush's position is ice cold.

On the Supreme Court, Bush was alarming when he wasn't baffling.

Alarming because he said he would insist that any justice he appoints must be in
favor of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, even though there is a
case pending in the court system now so it would be inappropriate for any
prospective justice to make such a commitment--or for Bush to ask for it, for that
matter. In any event, the First Amendment's Establishment Clause should require
the stripping of "under God." Bush said he doesn't have any "litmus test," but he
announced this one.

Baffling because he brought up the Dred Scott case, apropos of nothing, and he
stumbled even to describe that crucial pro-slavery decision.

The longer George Bush stands on a stage with John Kerry, the better John Kerry
looks.

One more debate, and Bush will be toast.

-- Matthew Rothschild

SOURCE: Progressive.org
http://www.progressive.org/webex04/wx100904.html

Reference:

Oct. 8 Presidential Debate Transcript (long)
http://tinyurl.com/4borx

* * *

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn