The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Bush and Kerry face off in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS - In a 90-minute debate that touched on issues ranging from the environment to policies on abortion, President Bush and Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry attacked each other Friday night on a slate of domestic issues, but only after a reiteration of the same old song and dance.

That song and dance is, of course, the Iraq War.

"This president rushed to war, pushed our allies aside," Kerry said in response to one of the debate's first questions after Bush defended his plan for Iraq. "He took his eyes off the ball, off of Osama bin Laden."

The 45-minute exploration of hot-button foreign policy issues set the tone at the second of three presidential debates, which took place Friday night at Washington University in St. Louis. Moderated by Charles Gibson, host of ABC's "Good Morning America," the debate was structured in a town hall format that allowed the candidates to freely roam the stage and field questions from about 140 undecided Missouri voters.

John Jackson, a visiting professor at the SIUC Public Policy Institute, said he was disappointed that Gibson allowed the questions to veer so far from domestic policy, which was supposed to be the event's main topic of conversation.

"Charlie Gibson didn't show enough backbone," Jackson said, noting the frequent interruptions to which Gibson acquiesced. "He didn't do a very good job of controlling it."

Regardless, the discussion of Iraq and the War on Terror segued toward the home-front with a question to President Bush about the possibility of a future draft, which came from undecided voter Daniel Farley.

Bush said despite popular rumors, he does not plan to reinstitute the draft if re-elected.

"We're not going to have a draft - period," Bush said. "The all-volunteer army works. It works particularly when we pay our troops well. An all-volunteer army is best suited to fight the new wars of the 21st century, which is to be specialized and to find these people as they hide around the world. We don't need mass armies anymore."

Kerry shot back by saying that he did not support a draft either but that the president's angle into Iraq had presented the military with a unique problem. Noting that the military is currently over-extended and that many members of the National Guard have done multiple tours of duty, Kerry said a "back-door draft" is preventing people from getting out when they are supposed to and that something needs to be done if the war is to be successfully concluded.

He said he plans to add 40,000 active duty forces to the military if elected.

On other fronts, Bush and Kerry answered - and sometimes skillfully skirted around - domestic questions regarding Medicare, medical malpractice suits and the importation of drugs from Canada, and finally coming around to questions about spending plans and taxes.

Kerry, when asked to look directly into the camera and say he is not going to raise taxes, did so, saying he plans to offer tax credits for child care and college tuition and will provide cuts across the board for people with incomes under $200,000. Bush countered that Kerry may charade as a fiscal conservative but he consistently has voted to raise governmental spending caps.

One of the final questions of the debate revolved around abortion and whether or not American tax dollars should go to support it. Kerry said despite his personal Catholic-based beliefs, it is he duty of the president to "represent all the people in the nation.

"I believe that you can take that position and not be pro-abortion, but you have to afford people their constitutional rights," Kerry said. "And that means being smart about allowing people to be fully educated, to know what their options are in life, and making certain that you don't deny a poor person the right to be able to have whatever the Constitution affords them if they can't afford it otherwise."

Bush said he will not spend taxpayer's money on abortion and that partial-birth abortion, which he condemned as "a brutal practice," should be avoided and that every child should be "protected by law and welcomed in life."

After the debate, polls were quick to show that Bush had bridged the gap created by the initial standoff between the two candidates, which is popularly considered to be a Kerry victory. Most pundits have placed the St. Louis debate in the tie column and say that Bush and Kerry are in a dead heat as they head into the final debate Wednesday at Arizona State University in Tempe.

"Things are close now," Jackson said. "It's a competitive race again."

 

 

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