John Kerry / John Edwards / George Stephanopoulos: This Week

]10:40:47 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(VO) After a rain-soaked rally in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Kerry and Edwards came to our ABC bus to talk about the campaign ahead, President Bush, taxes and Iraq.
[1]10:40:57 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Welcome back to the bus.
[1]10:40:58 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
It's good to be back.
[1]10:41:00 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Let me pick up where we left off yesterday, the $87 billion. Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney hit it again today, and I want you to imagine it's October. You're debating President Bush. He turns to you and says, you know, Senator, Senator Daschle, Senator Biden, Senator Clinton, they all agreed with you on the policy, but at crunch time they didn't abandon the troops.
[1]10:41:20 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Nor did I nor would I ever, and let me tell you something, I know what it means to be a troop under fire, and I know what it means to have a policy that isn't working. And when the policy isn't working, one of the things I learned in Vietnam is you stand up and you fight to make it work for the troops. I voted to defend those troops by changing the policy, and it's that simple, George, and it's that real, and they still don't have it right. Our troops are at greater risk today and we've lost more troops than we needed to because this administration has not gotten the policy right in Iraq. They rushed to war without a plan to win the peace. They didn't build a real international coalition. They didn't exhaust the remedies of the United Nations, and they did not keep faith with their own words of going to war as a last resort. Let's have that debate. Bring it on.
[1]10:42:08 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) You know, you talk about you know what it's like to be in battle, and that's exactly what you said on Thursday night. You're going to fight the war with the lessons you learned in war.
[1]10:42:16 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
You bet I am.
[1]10:42:16 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Because President Bush didn't serve in Vietnam, what lessons did he fail to learn?
[1]10:42:20 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
That's for others to judge, that's not for me. I'm just going to speak for myself. What I know is I know how to defend America. I know how to make our country strong. I was willing to put myself on the line for it once, and as president, I will defend this nation. I will not hesitate to use force wherever necessary with swiftness and certainty in order to protect America, but I also know that strength is not just tough words. Strength is using the power of our ideals, as I said in my speech. We have to reach out to other countries. General Eisenhower, President Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Jerry Ford, Richard Nixon and Democratic presidents, Kennedy, Johnson, others used the power of the presidency to build relationships in the world. This president has gone unilaterally, broken many of those relationships. The American taxpayer is paying billions of dollars today, billions of dollars that could go to our schools, that could go to health care, that could go to seniors because this president didn't listen to his own military advice and rushed to war without a plan to win the peace.
[1]10:43:25 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Let me give you a crack at this, but in a slightly different angle. Going forward, Senator Kerry said on Thursday night, I know what we need to do in Iraq, but there weren't a lot of specifics there. Specifically, be as specific as you can, what are the differences between your approach and President Bush in Iraq going forward?
[1]10:43:39 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Well, the first and I think probably the single most important is with a fresh president, with a new president, we have the credibility to go to friends around the world, potential friends, to NATO, for example, and get them involved in helping provide security.
[1]10:43:54 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) NATO is involved now.
[1]10:43:54 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Oh, not in the way they can be involved. And we know that, and they know that, but that's something we can have a real impact on with John as our president. Second, to do the hard work, to make sure, John said this many times, the Arab countries in that region of the world, they don't want Iraq, a failed Iraq is a disaster for many of them, maybe most of them, and we need to work with, for example, to make sure that Iran and Syria and other countries in the region are not interfering with moving forward toward stability and a Democratic ...
[1]10:44:21 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) But how do you do it?
[1]10:44:21 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
The way we do it is, we have the kind, number one, we have the kind of relationships with other countries both in that region of the world and the rest of the world that allows us to do it and allows us to bring the international community, the force of the international community to putting pressure on nations we might otherwise have trouble with, Iran, Syria, for example, and in addition to that, you know, the Iraqi economy is going to have to get off the ground. They're burdened with this huge debt. In order for us to do something about that, we ought to bring Russia, France, Germany into the reconstruction effort and in exchange ask them to give up some of this debt to relieve some of the debt so the Iraqi economy can get off the ground.
[1]10:44:59 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Can I go one step further?
[1]10:44:59 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Yeah.
[1]10:45:00 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I agree with everything John just said, and I would add to it. I've been involved in this for a long time, longer than George Bush. I've spent 20 years negotiating, working, fighting for different kinds of treaties and different relationships around the world. I know that as president there's huge leverage that will be available to me, enormous cards to play, and I'm not going to play them in public, George. I'm not going to play them before I'm president.
[1]10:45:27 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) So we're not going to see ...
[1]10:45:28 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
But I have the ability, I have the ability to sit down with leaders that I know. I know President Mubarak. I know Crown Prince Abdullah. I know King Abdullah. I've been there to those regions, and I believe there are many cards we have available to us that haven't even been put on the table by this administration.
[1]10:45:44 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) But, Senator, forgive me. That sounds like the famous old Nixon secret plan.
[1]10:45:50 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I don't care what it sounds like. It's truth. I don't care what it sounds like. The fact is that I'm not going to negotiate in public today without the presidency, without the power. I'm going to do that as president. And people will have to judge my 35 years of involvement in foreign affairs, my 20 years as a Senator fighting to make things happen. That's the judgment people make in this race. It's a judgment of character, and I believe my character is one that has shown that when I say something, I follow through on it, and when I stand up and fight for something, I'm tenacious about it. I will be tenacious in the interests of the American people to get our troops home but not to do so in a way that fails our objective of a stable Iraq moving towards democracy capable of standing on its own two feet, and I know from my own experience, I know from colleagues of mine, Senator Biden, Senator Levin, you go talk to them, they've been abroad recently. They've talked with many of these leaders. They know there's a different equation available to us. This administration has failed in its diplomacy. I will not.
[1]10:46:54 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Can you promise that American troops will be home by the end of your first term?
[1]10:46:57 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops. We will probably have a continued presence of some kind, certainly in the region. If the diplomacy that I believe can be put in place can work, I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps. There are great possibilities open to us. But this administration has had very little imagination, enormous sort of ideological fixation and, frankly, took its eye off the war against al Qaeda and the war on terror shifting it to Iraq at enormous cost to the American people and to the legitimacy of the war on terror.
[1]10:47:39 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Taxes, first words out of President Bush's mouth yesterday in his speech were, they're going to raise taxes, we are not. You said in your speech on Thursday night, we won't raise taxes on the middle class. Is that a rock hard pledge?
[1]10:47:51 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Rock hard.
[1]10:47:53 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) No matter what, no new taxes?
[1]10:47:55 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Absolutely solid. No new taxes on the middle class. We are going to, in fact, provide, 98 percent of Americans will get a tax cut under our plan, and the other folks know it. We've said this for the last year. It's in our plans. Both John and I ran in the caucuses and primaries very clearly saying we believe we need to protect the middle class.
[1]10:48:15 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) So if you're ...
[1]10:48:16 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Ninety-nine percent of American businesses will get a tax cut under our economic approach because we're going to stop rewarding the companies that go overseas and start rewarding the companies that are fighting to create jobs here.
[1]10:48:29 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) So let's try to define middle class. If you're earning under $200,000 you're guaranteed no tax increase in a Kerry administration?
[1]10:48:35 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Correct, that's, that's our plan. Not only that, we're going to give them, here let me give you the break that we're giving them. Well, let me tell you ...
[1]10:48:42 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) I know that's your plan.
[1]10:48:43 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Well, you got to get Congress to, Congress has to pass it, but that's what I will submit to Congress, and I will further submit an increase in the child care credit so that families can take care of their kids. We have a plan to provide a $4,000 tuition tax credit for families trying to send and pay the higher tuitions at college, and in addition we're going to lower the cost of health care in America, and the way we pay for those things, George, and we've shown this, is by rolling back the president’s unaffordable, unwise tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, and we invest that money in a combination of deficit reduction and these tax cuts.
[1]10:49:22 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) But I'm trying to get here at what happens if circumstances change, if the economy slows down, if your plans end up being more expensive than you think. Are you saying no matter what, the middle class isn't going to get a tax increase?
[1]10:49:29 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
That's what I'm saying.
[1]10:49:33 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) No matter what. Okay, well, then I want to bring back a conversation I had with the mayor of Scranton yesterday. He thought your crowd was terrific. He thought it was just great. He said this is what he's afraid of.
[1]10:49:42 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Let me make one caveat.
[1]10:49:44 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Okay.
[1]10:49:46 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
War, obvious national emergency.
[1]10:49:48 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Well, we're at war now.
[1]10:49:49 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Well, it is possible obviously if the war, we've said that our plan is going to reduce the burden in this war, I have no doubt on that, none whatsoever. We're going to reduce the burden in this war, and if we do what we need to do for our economy, we're going to grow the tax base of our country.
[1]10:50:03 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) That's a pretty big caveat.
[1]10:50:06 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
No, it's not a big caveat. I'm talking about a national emergency beyond what we have today in Iraq, if you had something extraordinary that happened, and obviously I want to be realistic about that.
[1]10:50:13 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Okay, let me go back to the mayor of Scranton. Like I said, he was very impressed. But what he's worried about, he said, is you all convincing the voters that you're fiscally conservative, that you're, that you're really not going to break the bank, and I wanted you to give us some insight into how you're going to handle it.
[1]10:50:31 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Can I just say very quickly, George, I was one of the first three Democrats in 1985 who broke with my party and fought for a balanced budget. I voted for it then. I voted for it in '93. I voted for it in '97, and my pledge to the American people is that we are going to do pay as you go, which is what we did in the 1990s. Now, I think that is more fiscally conservative than George Bush and this administration.
[1]10:50:57 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) So you are in the Oval Office, you want to cut the deficit in half. It's pay as you go. You have got a health care plan, about $650 billion. Education, $200 billion. Increasing the military about $80 billion. There's a downturn in the economy. What are your priorities? Which gets scaled back?
[1]10:51:12 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I've said already I've scaled back some of my programs, unfortunately. I wanted to do more for early childhood education. I've scaled that back already because George Bush has built up an even larger deficit, and I'm trying to be realistic about where we are with the deficit. I won't change on health care. Health care for all Americans will, in fact, be an investment that reduces the cost of doing business in America so that our businesses are freer to invest and hire more people and create new jobs, and I think it is a very important moral imperative for our country.
[1]10:51:46 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) You come from the south where you also have a lot of fiscal conservatives. Are you convinced that your ticket has crossed over that hurdle that Democrats had faced in the past?
[1]10:51:57 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Yeah, I'm convinced we're in the process of crossing over. People have to know more about John, more about me. We have time to do that between now and election day. For example, there may be a lot of voters in the south, George, that just don't know one way or the other about the leadership he just talked about. I mean, it takes principle and backbone to say you're going to be one of the few people in your party against criticism to lead us toward balanced budgets. This is something he's believed in. Any kind of objective analysis says this guy is a fiscal hawk. He just is. He has been whole time he's been in the Senate. But we need to make sure voters in the south know that. And I might add, it's not a little thing the fact that he has a life of accomplishment in the Senate, not just on balancing the budget but on a whole range of issues, which I'll be happy to talk about if you want me to, but on top of that, the place where I grew up in a rural town in North Carolina, the kind of people we look up to are people who volunteer to serve their country and put their lives on the line. It's just not all that complicated. People like that, we know in our guts, are going to do everything they can to protect this country and to make America better because they've proven in the past that they love America.
[1]10:53:05 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) President Bush has an interesting strategy with you. Every time he talks about Vice President Cheney, he says he's not the prettiest man in the race. When he says something like that, does that amuse you or annoy you?
[1]10:53:15 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Oh, neither. What I really think is I think that most people in this country are really tired, whether it's done lightly or in a harder way, are really tired of this personal stuff. They want to know what we're going to do for them. That's what the election is about. I mean, do we have the strength, the character and the fight, which I believe I've shown in the 51 years I've been alive my entire life, to lead? I believe I have that, and more importantly, we have a clear vision for the country on how to move this country forward.
[1]10:53:44 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) He also says that Vice President Cheney has sound judgment. Do you agree?
[1]10:53:47 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I would say that there's serious questions about that.
[1]10:53:50 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Why?
[1]10:53:52 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Because if you look at some of the things that have happened during the course of this administration, some of the things that the vice president has done, for example, just one example, you know, having secret meetings with energy lobbyists to set the nation's energy policy. I would never do that. This is a democracy. This energy policy of this country, this government, it doesn't belong to me, it doesn't belong to Dick Cheney. It belongs to the American people, and they deserve to know what is going on.
[1]10:54:14 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Your daughter Vanessa this week said she has one big disagreement with you on gay marriage. And I wonder, I know you're against gay marriage, I know you're for civil unions, I know you're against a constitutional amendment. But I wonder how much of this issue, you think, is generational. And when you look forward in America in 20 years, is gay marriage going to be commonplace?
[1]10:54:34 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I have no way to know. I just know what I believe, and I have to go with my own gut and what I believe. We do have a difference, and we've talked about it as a father and a daughter can and should. I respect her opinion. She respects mine. I don't know where America will be, but I think what's important, George, is not to get divided over something that is being used for political reasons to divide America.
[1]10:54:59 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) So as a president ...
[1]10:55:00 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I think what Americans want, what Americans want is a president to bring all of our people together. One of the things that we remember, as the president said, he was a uniter, not divider, but never has the country been more divided. The fact is that the president won by that one vote in the supreme court, and you would have expected more sort of reaching out to find the common ground. I've done that. I do reach out to find the common ground. John McCain and I did that on Vietnam, for instance, and on other issues I've done it with Republicans. I pledge to the American people that I'm going to reach out as never before to get solutions to real problems. As Franklin Roosevelt said, I don't care if it's a Democrat or Republican solution, I want a solution for America.
[1]10:55:46 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Senator Edwards, on gay marriage, what should, if you all are elected, what should you do once you're in the White House to advance your position? You're against gay marriage, you're for civil unions. What should the president and the vice president do specifically?
[1]10:55:58 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
I think what we believe is that this is something the states of the country ought to be able to decide for themselves, and both of us have very clear personal views. I agree completely with what John just said, and I think that's the position we would take as the Kerry/Edwards administration.
[1]10:56:13 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) You're both Senators. You're both lawyers. Neither one of you has significant executive experience. How big a liability is that?
[1]10:56:21 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Well, I think I do have executive experience, and I think I've shown in the course of my life decisiveness and a willingness to take command and take charge and make decisions that are tough decisions. I started out in the United States Navy, where I had a command, and I've made decisions. I also had an executive position as a lieutenant governor. I've had an executive position running one of the ten largest District Attorneys offices in the United States of America. I started my own small business, two of them, as a matter of fact, because I opened my own law firm, so that's a small business, and I started a retail business. I've shown command leadership in the course of the Senate in various roles that I played taking the lead and making things happen. I think what people are looking for is a consistency of character and judgment through a lifetime that shows that you know how to take charge and make tough decisions. I made tough decisions in this campaign, tough decisions about mortgaging my own home, tough decisions about changing my own leadership in the campaign in midstream. I know how to make tough decisions, George, and I will lead this country. I know how to demand from people who work for me in a way that gets things done. I know how to set goals. I know how to be an executive who measures as you go along, who gets the best out of people, who has accountability. I can do things that this president has failed to do in terms of making America safe, leading us to a stronger intelligence system, a stronger military, a stronger set of relationships in the world. And anybody you talk to about me will tell you, when I set my mind on something and I start going and working towards it, I know how to be relentless and get the job done, and that's the mark of an executive.
[1]10:58:00 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Can I just say one last thing on this same general subject? You know, it's such in a dramatic contrast to have a candidate who or candidates who are running for reelection talking about personal things about their opponents and on the other hand having a candidate for the presidency of the United States who's talking about strength and vision and where he wants to take America. I have a very powerful feeling, it's right here, right here that what the American people want in their leader, in their president is somebody who has strength and character and leadership, who's talking about their lives and how he's going to lead America forward, and I think the contrast in the choice is very clear in this election.
[1]10:58:39 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) So are you all the favorites now?
[1]10:58:40 SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
No way. Running against an incumbent president with the power of the presidency with the things that can be done over the next months, the challenger is always uphill, and we're going to slug it out everyday, but we're going to try to stay as positive as we can about our vision for the country. That's what we're really offering.
[1]10:58:57 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Senator Kerry, Senator Edwards, thank you very much.
[1]10:59:00 SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE)
Thank you, George.
[1]10:59:00 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)
(OC) As you can see, I'm here with our political panel. We'll be right back for the debate.