SECOND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' DEBATE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
SPEAKERS:
GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
U.S. SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (MA), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE
CHARLES GIBSON, ABC ANCHOR
GIBSON: Good evening from the Field House at Washington University in St. Louis. I'm Charles Gibson of ABC News and "Good Morning America."
I welcome you to the second of the 2004 presidential debates between President George W. Bush, the Republican nominee, and Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee.
The debates are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Tonight's format is going to be a bit different. We have assembled a town-hall meeting. We're in the Show-Me State, as everyone knows Missouri to be, so Missouri residents will ask the questions.
These 140 citizens were identified by the Gallup Organization as not yet committed in this election.
Now, earlier today, each audience member gave me two questions on cards like this, one they'd like to ask the president, the other they'd like to ask the senator.
I have selected the questions to be asked and the order. No one has seen the final list of questions but me, certainly not the candidates.
No audience member knows if he or she will be called upon. Audience microphones will be turned off after a question is asked.
Audience members will address their question to a specific candidate. He'll have two minutes to answer. The other candidate will have a minute and a half for rebuttal. And I have the option of extending discussion for one minute, to be divided equally between the two men.
All subjects are open for discussion.
And you probably know the light system by now. Green light at 30 seconds, yellow at 15, red at five, and flashing red means you're done.
Those are the candidates' rules. I will hold the candidates to the time limits forcefully but politely, I hope.
And now, please join me in welcoming with great respect, President Bush and Senator Kerry.
(APPLAUSE)
Gentlemen, to the business at hand.
The first question is for Senator Kerry, and it will come from Cheryl Otis, who is right behind me.
OTIS: Senator Kerry, after talking with several co-workers and family and friends, I asked the ones who said they were not voting for you, "Why?" They said that you were too wishy-washy.
Do you have a reply for them?
KERRY: Yes, I certainly do.
(LAUGHTER)
But let me just first, Cheryl, if you will, I want to thank Charlie for moderating. I want to thank Washington University for hosting us here this evening.
Mr. President, it's good to be with you again this evening, sir.
Cheryl, the president didn't find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so he's really turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception. And the result is that you've been bombarded with advertisements suggesting that I've changed a position on this or that or the other.
Now, the three things they try to say I've changed position on are the Patriot Act; I haven't. I support it. I just don't like the way John Ashcroft has applied it, and we're going to change a few things. The chairman of the Republican Party thinks we ought to change a few things.
No Child Left Behind Act, I voted for it. I support it. I support the goals.
But the president has underfunded it by $28 billion.
Right here in St. Louis, you've laid off 350 teachers. You're 150 -- excuse me, I think it's a little more, about $100 million shy of what you ought to be under the No Child Left Behind Act to help your education system here.
So I complain about that. I've argued that we should fully funded it. The president says I've changed my mind. I haven't changed my mind: I'm going to fully fund it.
So these are the differences.
Now, the president has presided over an economy where we've lost 1.6 million jobs. The first president in 72 years to lose jobs.
I have a plan to put people back to work. That's not wishy- washy.
I'm going to close the loopholes that actually encourage companies to go overseas. The president wants to keep them open. I think I'm right. I think he's wrong.
I'm going to give you a tax cut. The president gave the top 1 percent of income-earners in America, got $89 billion last year, more than the 80 percent of people who earn $100,000 or less all put together. I think that's wrong. That's not wishy-washy, and that's what I'm fighting for, you.
GIBSON: Mr. President, a minute and a half. BUSH: Charlie, thank you, and thank our panelists.
And, Senator, thank you.
I can -- and thanks, Washington U. as well.
I can see why people at your workplace think he changes positions a lot, because he does. He said he voted for the $87 billion, and voted against it right before he voted for it. And that sends a confusing signal to people.
He said he thought Saddam Hussein was a grave threat, and now he said it was a mistake to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
No, I can see why people think that he changes position quite often, because he does.
You know, for a while he was a strong supporter of getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He saw the wisdom -- until the Democrat primary came along and Howard Dean, the anti-war candidate, began to gain on him, and he changed positions.
I don't see how you can lead this country in a time of war, in a time of uncertainty, if you change your mind because of politics.
He just brought up the tax cut. You remember we increased that child credit by $1,000, reduced the marriage penalty, created a 10 percent tax bracket for the lower-income Americans. That's right at the middle class.
