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Rapid-fire verbal assaults served both debaters well

Vice President Dick Cheney likely helped his ticket recover from last week's wobbly performance. And Democrat John Edwards turned up the heat on the White House over Iraq.

By LESLEY CLARK
Miami Herald

Posted on Wed, Oct. 06, 2004

A persistent, serious Dick Cheney set out Tuesday night to right President Bush's ship, but Democratic rival John Edwards hit right back, accusing the administration of misleading the public.

Proving a cooler communicator than his boss was at last week's presidential debate, the vice president delivered Tuesday a measured defense for the war in Iraq during a tense, rapid-fire exchange with rival John Edwards, who immediately pounced on mounting evidence that some of the administration's rationale for going to war was wrong.

Cheney tartly fended off the criticism, insisting the administration was right to go to war, as he set out to excoriate Democrat John Kerry for a propensity to change his mind, baldly suggesting the Democrats don't have the credibility to keep the nation safe.

''Whatever political pressure of the moment requires, that's where you're at,'' Cheney said to Edwards, who, with trial-lawyer savvy honed building courtroom cases, held his own against the deliberate and methodical Cheney.

CONTRAST IN STYLES

The vice president, a Sunday-morning talk show veteran, looked almost pained at the start of the debate, but quickly warmed to the attack. At several points Cheney, setting himself up as the stable veteran, chuckled as he took shots at Edwards' limited government experience and presidential ambitions.

But the affable Edwards, a grin frequently on his face, was at his best during a two-minute closing as he sought to portray the administration as out of touch, looking into the cameras as he likened his millworker father's struggles to that of ordinary Americans.

And with a disarming smile, Edwards from the outset aimed cutting and confrontational remarks at what Democrats think is Bush's soft spot: New reports that call to question the administration's argument for going to war.

''Mr. Vice President, there is no connection between the attacks of September 11th and Saddam Hussein,'' Edwards said in the opening minutes of the 90-minute back-and-forth. ``Mr. Vice President, you are still not being straight with the American people.''

If the last debate was notable for Bush's peeved look, Tuesday's was notable for the early rancor and conflicting styles as the two men clashed on the personal and the political.

Even though the two were sitting down -- a talk-show format the Kerry campaign said would benefit the taciturn Cheney -- tensions ran high as the two traded criticism over unemployment, Iraq and even their own voting records.

Though vice-presidential debates are usually of little consequence -- voters assume their chosen candidate hasn't selected someone not fit for office -- strategists suggested the vice-presidential debate could be critical because of Bush's laggard performance Thursday at the University of Miami, a showing that allowed Kerry to catch up to the president in national polls.

By putting in a credible performance Tuesday -- and getting in a few zingers -- Cheney sets it up for his boss to go up against Kerry in their second face-to-face Friday night.

''If they couldn't stand up to the pressure that Howard Dean represented, how can they stand up to al Qaeda?'' Cheney said, suggesting that Kerry voted against an $87 billion funding package to equip the troops and support reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to take the steam out of then-Democratic rival Howard Dean's antiwar sails.

RECORDS SCRUTINIZED

Though the debate was largely about their bosses, neither pulled any punches in going after each other, Cheney at one point assailing the first-termer's Senate record as ``not very distinguished.''

Noting that as Senate president he's in the chambers most Tuesdays, Cheney said to Edwards, ''The first time I ever met you is when you walked onto the stage tonight.'' (The Associated Press reported that in fact the two had met at least twice before.)

Edwards didn't miss a beat, smilingly ticking off a list of legislation he said Cheney had voted against as a member of Congress. ''He voted against funding meals on wheels,'' Edwards said with a look of mock horror.

Herald staff writers Beth Reinhard and Marc Caputo contributed to this report.

Copyright 2004 Knight Ridder.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/9846040.htm