Two telling quotes from last night’s debate — thank you, Dick Cheney:

“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?”

“I’m up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they’re in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.”

So few words to convey the fact that the Kerry/Edwards ticket licks its finger, holds it up to the wind, and says “Today our position is . . . ”  And I LOVE that he nailed John Edwards regarding never having met him in the Senate.  For a public servant to convince me that he’s truly concerned about the public welfare, he needs to show up at the office a little more often.  The libs give W such a hard time about “vacations” in Crawford, but Kerry and Edwards’ attendance records in the Senate don’t seem to merit much notice.  Hmmm . . .

Here is some information regarding what Edwards said on several issues, and what the documented facts are regarding those issues:

Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Vice Presidential Debate Highlights

Debate Highlights

He Said It:

VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “If They Couldn’t Stand Up To The Pressures That Howard Dean Represented, How Can We Expect Them To Standup To Al Qaeda?”  VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “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 standup to Al Qaeda?” (Vice President Richard Cheney, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04) 

He Said It:

VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “Your Hometown Newspaper Has Taken To Calling You Senator Gone.” VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that’s not very distinguished.  You missed 33 out of 36 meetings in the Judiciary Committee.  Almost 70% of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee.  You’ve missed a lot of key votes on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform.  Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you Senator Gone. You’ve got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate. Now, in my capacity as Vice President I am the President of the Senate, the presiding officer. I’m up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they’re in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.” (Vice President Richard Cheney, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04) 

Breaking Debate Fact # 1

Setting the Record Straight

Edwards’ False Statement:

John Edwards Tonight Contradicted The Conclusions Of The Senate Intelligence Committee, Of Which He Was A Member, And The 9/11 Commission In Denying That Contacts Existed Between Saddam Hussein And Al Qaeda. “You’ve gone around the country suggesting that there is some connection. There’s not, and in fact, the CIA is now about to report that the connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein is tenuous at best, and in fact, Secretary of Defense said yesterday that he knows of no hard evidence of the connection. We need to be straight with the American people.”  (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

The Real Record:

The Senate Intelligence Committee Report:

CIA “Reasonably Assessed” Contacts Between Iraq And Al Qaeda.  (Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, 7/7/04, p. 346)

CIA’s Conclusion That Iraq Gave “Safehaven” To Al Qaeda “Was Reasonable.”  (“Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, 7/7/04, p. 347)

The 9/11 Commission:

Vice Chair Of The 9/11 Commission Lee Hamilton (D-IN): “[T]here Were Contacts Between Al Qaeda And Iraq Going Back Clear To The Early 1990s When Osama Bin Laden Was In Sudan, Then When He Was In Afghanistan. I Don’t Think There’s Any Dispute About That.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 6/20/04)

In Sudan, Bin Laden Began Developing A “Global Terrorist Network” Including “Leaders Or Representatives Of Terrorist Organizations” In Iraq. (“The 9/11 Commission Report,” National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States, 7/04, p. 58)

Breaking Debate Fact # 2

He Said It:

Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) Said Kerry’s Decision To Vote Against The Iraq Supplemental Was An Attempt “To Prove To Dean’s Guys” That He Was “Not A Warmonger.”  “But Biden’s bill had no chance of passing in a Republican-dominated Senate, and Kerry’s absurdly abbreviated account of the matter—’I did vote for the eighty-seven billion before I voted against it’—has left him open to relentless Republican ridicule. Biden himself ultimately voted for the money, and he confirmed that Kerry’s decision not to was ‘tactical,’ an attempt ‘to prove to Dean’s guys I’m not a warmonger.’”  (Philip Gourevitch, “Damage Control,” The New Yorker, 7/26/04)

Breaking Debate Fact # 3

Setting the Record Straight:

Edwards’ False Statement:

In Response To Question #2 John Edwards Said, “We Were Attacked By Al Qaeda And Osama Bin Laden. We Went Into Afghanistan And Very Quickly The Administration Made A Decision To Divert Attention From That And Instead To Begin To Plan For The Invasion Of Iraq.” (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

The Real Record:

In September 2002, Edwards Supported Action Against Iraq Regardless Of Any Ties To 9/11. SEN. JOHN EDWARDS: “But I think, separate and apart from 9/11, we have Saddam Hussein, a man who invaded another country, who started a war in 1991, who lost the war, and has, since that time, flaunted numerous, what, 16, 17 U.N. Security resolutions. He’s got weapons of mass destruction. He’s trying to get nuclear capability. This is a very serious situation, and I think it’s incumbent on us to take the action necessary to rid the world of this threat.”  (Fox News’ “The Big Story With John Gibson,” 9/19/02)

In September 2002, Edwards Wrote:  “Iraq’s Destructive Capacity Has The Potential To Throw The Entire Middle East Into Chaos, And It Poses A Mortal Threat To Our Vital Ally, Israel.”  “Thousands of terrorist operatives around the world would pay anything to get their hands on Saddam Hussein’s arsenal and would stop at nothing to use it against us. America must act, and Congress must make clear to Hussein that he faces a united nation.” (Sen. John Edwards, Op-Ed, “Congress Must Be Clear,” The Washington Post, 9/19/02)

Breaking Debate Fact # 4

Edwards Said It:

Tonight Edwards Claimed Kerry Has Been Consistent From The Beginning On The War On Terror.  EDWARDS: “John Kerry has been absolute – absolutely clear and consistent from the beginning that we must stay focused on the people that attacked us.”  (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

During The Democrat Presidential Primary, Edwards Slammed Kerry As Inconsistent.  “Edwards, on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ was asked about Kerry’s explanations of his vote for the resolution authorizing President Bush to go to war in Iraq.  ‘He’s not been clear to me,’ Edwards said.  ‘I think he’s said some different things at different points in time.  So I think there’s been some inconsistency.'”  (Dan Balz and Paul Schwartzman, “Reinforcements Rally For Frantic Final Push,” The Washington Post, 1/26/04)

Breaking Debate Fact #5

Setting the Record Straight

Edwards’ False Statement:

In Response To Question #14 John Edwards Said, “We Do Have Too Many Lawsuits.”  (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

The Real Record:

According To One Of Edwards’ Trial Lawyer Supporters, Edwards “Said Medical Malpractice Reform Will Pass Over His Dead Body.”  (William Tucker, Op-Ed, “Edwards Confident Of Verdict,” The New York Sun, 8/20/03)

Edwards Voted To Kill Medical Malpractice Reform In 2002 And In 2003.

Kerry Opposed Or Voted To Block Medical Liability Reform At Least Ten Times. 

• Kerry Missed Both 2004 Votes On Medical Liability Reform.  The February 2004 vote was a motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the motion to proceed to consideration of the bill that would place caps on damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits against obstetricians and gynecologists. The April 2004 vote was a motion to invoke cloture on a similar bill that would curb awards against emergency and trauma center personnel, as well as ob-gyns. 

Medical Liability Reform Could Save Between $60 Billion And $108 Billion In Health Care Costs Annually, Making Health Insurance More Affordable For Millions.  (“Confronting The New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality And Lowering Costs By Fixing Our Medical Liability System,” U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services, 7/25/02, http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/litrefm.htm)

Since 1989, Kerry Has Received $15,217,154 From Lawyers, Most Of Any Senator In That Time Period.  (Center For Responsive Politics Website, http://www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 8/16/04)

The Department Of Health And Human Services Found That Capping Non-Economic Damages Has A Significant Impact In Reducing Malpractice Premiums.  Over the two-year span of 2001 and 2002, the rate of increase of medical liability insurance premiums in states with caps of $350,000 or less on non-economic damages (18%) was less than half the rate of increase of premiums in states without caps (45%).  (Addressing The New Health Care Crisis: Reforming The Medical Litigation System To Improve The Quality Of Health Care http://www.hhs.gov, 3/3/03)