Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Analysis: Candidates can't hide contempt for the other side

Marc Sandalow, Washington Bureau Chief

Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Page A - 1

Washington -- Had Dick Cheney or John Edwards stood on their chairs and shouted "liar, liar pants on fire,'' it might have surprised viewers, but it would not have changed the tenor of Tuesday's night's debate.

Reflecting the intensity and tightness of the campaign a month before election day, the candidates challenged not only each other's positions but the very legitimacy of their statements on matters ranging from why the U.S. went to war in Iraq to which Americans deserve a tax cut.

Fact checkers will need time to sort through the substance of their disagreements, but millions of viewers could immediately take away something more basic: that the 2004 election is being fought between two sides who neither like nor trust each other.

Just how much a vice presidential debate will affect the outcome on Nov. 2 depends on the remaining two debates and events that no one can predict. But in the first presidential election after a contest that was decided by 537 votes, it was clear that neither side was going to yield any ground.

Edwards set the tone of the contentious debate in his opening response, when he turned to Cheney, who had just defended the administration's position on Iraq, and said: "Mr. Vice President, you are still not being straight with the American people.''

The arguments were not new. Cheney said that invading Iraq was necessary to defend America after Sept. 11, 2001, that taxes would rise in a John Kerry administration and that there is no sign of conviction in the Kerry-Edwards ticket.

"Your rhetoric would be much tougher if you had a record to back it up,'' Cheney said at one point.

"I couldn't figure out why that happened initially,'' Cheney said of Kerry's and Edwards' support for a resolution to authorize the use of force in October 2002 and then their criticisms of the war a year later. "And then I looked and figured out that what was happening was Howard Dean was making major progress in the Democratic primaries, running away with the primaries based on an anti-war record.

"So, they in effect decided they would cast an anti-war vote, and they voted against the troops. Now, if they couldn't stand up to the pressures that Howard Dean represented, how can we expect them to stand up to al Qaeda?'' Cheney said.

Edwards insisted that the upbeat scenarios put forward by Cheney on Iraq and the U.S. economy were dishonest and out of line with what most Americans can see with their own eyes.

"The reality, you and George Bush continue to tell people, first, that things are going well in Iraq. The American people don't need us to explain this to them. They see it over the television every single day."

Edwards accused Cheney of making misleading claims that the former ruler of Iraq had ties with al Qaeda, telling Cheney: "Mr. Vice President, there is no connection between the attacks of September 11th and Saddam Hussein."

Cheney insisted that he had never made such a claim and had instead only linked al Qaeda to Iraq. It is true that Cheney has never blamed Saddam Hussein for the Sept. 11 attack, but he has repeatedly suggested a connection between Iraq and al Qaeda, and asserted that attacking Iraq will strike a blow to the terrorists who "quote from whatever you were just reading from ...''

"What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do," Cheney said, arguing that Iraq was "the most likely nexus between terrorists and weapons of mass destruction.''

"Your rhetoric would be much tougher if you had a record to back it up,'' Cheney admonished Edwards at one point.

Beyond the familiar messages, each candidate displayed a contempt for the other side that is rarely seen in a face-to-face confrontation. While both kept their tempers in check, and neither openly grimaced or smirked as President Bush did in his debate last week, it was clear that Edwards -- who practiced the art of debate for 20 years as a trial attorney -- got under Cheney's skin.

"It's hard to know where to start with all those innocencies there,'' said Cheney, who did not flash a visible smile through the first hour of the debate.

In the course of a 98-minute debate, the candidates attacked each other's credibility regarding the progress toward free elections in Iraq, the connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, the amount of money being spent on the war, the consistency of the Democrat's position on the war, the propriety of Halliburton's no-bid contracts, the virtues of tax cuts, and each candidate's voting record in Congress.

Cheney and Edwards found just two things they agreed on: that lawyers file too many lawsuits, and that decisions about same-sex marriage ought to be left to the states.

Though both candidates wore dark blazers and red ties, with pins on their lapels, their manner could hardly have been more different.

Cheney appeared stern and somber, while Edwards flashed his trademark smile and was far more critical than he was during scores of Democratic forums during the primaries.

Edwards brought up Halliburton exactly 26 minutes into the debate, which prompted Cheney to respond that Edwards had a spotty record of attending Senate votes.

In a scolding tone, Cheney told Edwards that as president of the Senate he is at the Capitol nearly every week.

"The first time I've ever met you is when you walked on that stage tonight."

Edwards retorted that as a member of Congress, Cheney had voted against Head Start, against banning plastic guns, against Meals on Wheels, and against making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday.

"I'm surprised you'd bring up the record,'' he said.

The tone softened 60 minutes into the debate, when Edwards said he respected Cheney's devotion to his family, including his openly gay daughter. Cheney thanked Edwards for the comment.

©2004 San Francisco Chronicle

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