Following is a transcript of the third and final presidential debate between between President Bush (R) and Sen. John F. Kerry (D). The moderator of the nationally televised debate is Bob Schieffer of CBS News.
SCHIEFFER: Good evening from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. I’m Bob Schieffer of CBS News. I want to welcome you to the third and last of the 2004 debates between President George Bush and Senator John Kerry.
As Jim Lehrer told you before the first one, these debates are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Tonight the topic will be domestic affairs, but the format will be the same as that first debate. I’ll moderate our discussion under detailed rules agreed to by the candidates, but the questions and the areas to be covered were chosen by me. I have not told the candidates or anyone else what they are.
To refresh your memory on the rules, I will ask a question. The candidate is allowed two minutes to answer. His opponent then has a minute and a half to offer a rebuttal.
At my discretion, I can extend the discussion by offering each candidate an additional 30 seconds.
A green light will come on to signal the candidate has 30 seconds left. A yellow light signals 15 seconds left. A red light means five seconds left.
There is also a buzzer, if it is needed.
The candidates may not question each other directly. There are no opening statements, but there will be two-minute closing statements.
There is an audience here tonight, but they have agreed to remain silent, except for right now, when they join me in welcoming President George Bush and Senator John Kerry.
(APPLAUSE)
SCHIEFFER: Gentleman, welcome to you both.
By coin toss, the first question goes to Senator Kerry.
Senator, I want to set the stage for this discussion by asking the question that I think hangs over all of our politics today and is probably on the minds of many people watching this debate tonight.
And that is, will our children and grandchildren ever live in a world as safe and secure as the world in which we grew up?
KERRY: Well, first of all, Bob, thank you for moderating tonight.
Thank you, Arizona State, for welcoming us.
And thank you to the Presidential Commission for undertaking this enormous task. We’re proud to be here.
Mr. President, I’m glad to be here with you again to share similarities and differences with the American people.
Will we ever be safe and secure again? Yes. We absolutely must be. That’s the goal.
Now, how do we achieve it is the most critical component of it.
I believe that this president, regrettably, rushed us into a war, made decisions about foreign policy, pushed alliances away. And, as a result, America is now bearing this extraordinary burden where we are not as safe as we ought to be.
The measurement is not: Are we safer? The measurement is: Are we as safe as we ought to be? And there are a host of options that this president had available to him, like making sure that at all our ports in America containers are inspected. Only 95 percent of them -- 95 percent come in today uninspected. That’s not good enough.
People who fly on airplanes today, the cargo hold is not X-rayed, but the baggage is. That’s not good enough. Firehouses don’t have enough firefighters in them. Police officers are being cut from the streets of America because the president decided to cut the COPS program.
So we can do a better job of homeland security. I can do a better job of waging a smarter, more effective war on terror and guarantee that we will go after the terrorists.
I will hunt them down, and we’ll kill them, we’ll capture them. We’ll do whatever is necessary to be safe.
But I pledge this to you, America: I will do it in the way that Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy and others did, where we build the strongest alliances, where the world joins together, where we have the best intelligence and where we are able, ultimately, to be more safe and secure.
SCHIEFFER: Mr. President, you have 90 seconds.
BUSH: Thank you very much.
I want to thank Arizona State as well.
Yes, we can be safe and secure, if we stay on the offense against the terrorists and if we spread freedom and liberty around the world.
I have got a comprehensive strategy to not only chase down the Al Qaida, wherever it exists -- and we’re making progress; three-quarters of Al Qaida leaders have been brought to justice -- but to make sure that countries that harbor terrorists are held to account.
As a result of securing ourselves and ridding the Taliban out of Afghanistan, the Afghan people had elections this weekend. And the first voter was a 19-year-old woman. Think about that. Freedom is on the march.
We held to account a terrorist regime in Saddam Hussein.
In other words, in order to make sure we’re secure, there must be a comprehensive plan.
My opponent just this weekend talked about how terrorism could be reduced to a nuisance, comparing it to prostitution, illegal gambling. I think that attitude and that point of view is dangerous. I don’t think you can secure America for the long run if you don’t have a comprehensive view as to how to defeat these people.
At home, we’ll do everything we can to protect the homeland. I signed the homeland security bill to better align our assets and resources. My opponent voted against it.
We’re doing everything we can to protect our borders and ports.
But absolutely we can be secure in the long run. It just takes good, strong leadership.
SCHIEFFER: Anything to add, Senator Kerry?
KERRY: Yes. When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped.
Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, “Where is Osama bin Laden?“ He said, “I don’t know. I don’t really think about him very much. I’m not that concerned.“
We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.
SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?
BUSH: Gosh, I just don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama bin Laden. It’s kind of one of those exaggerations.
Of course we’re worried about Osama bin Laden. We’re on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We’re using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden.
Of course we’re worried about Osama bin Laden. We’re on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We’re using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden.
SCHIEFFER: New question, Mr. President, to you.
We are talking about protecting ourselves from the unexpected, but the flu season is suddenly upon us. Flu kills thousands of people every year.
Suddenly we find ourselves with a severe shortage of flu vaccine. How did that happen?
BUSH: Bob, we relied upon a company out of England to provide about half of the flu vaccines for the United States citizen, and it turned out that the vaccine they were producing was contaminated. And so we took the right action and didn’t allow contaminated medicine into our country
We’re working with Canada to hopefully -- that they’ll produce a -- help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season.
My call to our fellow Americans is if you’re healthy, if you’re younger, don’t get a flu shot this year. Help us prioritize those who need to get the flu shot, the elderly and the young.
The CDC, responsible for health in the United States, is setting those priorities and is allocating the flu vaccine accordingly.
I haven’t gotten a flu shot, and I don’t intend to because I want to make sure those who are most vulnerable get treated.
We have a problem with litigation in the United States of America. Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and therefore they have backed off from providing this kind of vaccine.
One of the reasons I’m such a strong believer in legal reform is so that people aren’t afraid of producing a product that is necessary for the health of our citizens and then end up getting sued in a court of law.
But the best thing we can do now, Bob, given the circumstances with the company in England is for those of us who are younger and healthy, don’t get a flu shot.
SCHIEFFER: Senator Kerry?
KERRY: This really underscores the problem with the American health-care system. It’s not working for the American family. And it’s gotten worse under President Bush over the course of the last years.
Five million Americans have lost their health insurance in this country. You’ve got about a million right here in Arizona, just shy, 950,000, who have no health insurance at all. 82,000 Arizonians lost their health insurance under President Bush’s watch. 223,000 kids in Arizona have no health insurance at all.
All across our country -- go to Ohio, 1.4 million Ohioans have no health insurance, 114,000 of them lost it under President Bush; Wisconsin, 82,000, Wisconsites lost it under President Bush.
This president has turned his back on the wellness of America. And there is no system. In fact, it’s starting to fall apart not because of lawsuits -- though they are a problem, and John Edwards and I are committed to fixing them -- but because of the larger issue that we don’t cover Americans.
Children across our country don’t have health care. We’re the richest country on the face of the planet, the only industrialized nation in the world not to do it.
I have a plan to cover all Americans. We’re going to make it affordable and accessible. We’re going to let everybody buy into the same health-care plan senators and congressmen give themselves.
SCHIEFFER: Mr. President, would you like to add something?
BUSH: I would. Thank you
I want to remind people listening tonight that a plan is not a litany of complaints, and a plan is not to lay out programs that you can’t pay for.
He just said he wants everybody to be able to buy in to the same plan that senators and congressmen get. That costs the government $7,700 per family. If every family in America signed up, like the senator suggested, if would cost us $5 trillion over 10 years.
It’s an empty promise. It’s called bait and switch.
SCHIEFFER: Time’s up.
BUSH: Thank you.
发表于 2005-3-10 14:06:00
