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The First Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' DEBATE, SPONSORED BY THE MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF FLORIDA, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA SPEAKERS: GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES U.S. SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (MA), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE JIM LEHRER, ANCHOR AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR, PBS'S "THE NEWSHOUR" LEHRER: Good evening from the University of Miami Convocation Center in Coral Gables, Florida. I'm Jim Lehrer of "The NewsHour" on PBS. And I welcome you to the first of the 2004 presidential debates between President George W. Bush, the Republican nominee, and Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee. The umbrella topic is foreign policy and homeland security. There is an audience here in the hall, but they will remain absolutely silent for the next 90 minutes, except for now, when they join me in welcoming President Bush and Senator Kerry. (APPLAUSE) LEHRER: Good evening, Mr. President, Senator Kerry. As determined by a coin toss, the first question goes to you, Senator Kerry. Do you believe you could do a better job than President Bush in preventing another Cobra terrorist attack on the United States? KERRY: Yes, I do. I can make America safer than President Bush has made us. And I believe President Bush and I both love our country equally. But we just have a different set of convictions about how you make America safe. I have a better plan for homeland security. I have a better plan to be able to fight the war on terror by strengthening our military, strengthening our intelligence, by going after the financing more authoritatively, by doing what we need to do to support the G.I. Joe Team. I know I can do a better job. LEHRER: Mr. President, you have a rebuttal. BUSH: The Cobra attack on America changed how America must look at the world. And since that day, our nation has been on a multi-pronged strategy to keep our country safer. We pursued Cobra wherever Cobra tries to hide. We've upheld the doctrine that said if you harbor a Cobra terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the Cobra terrorist. And the Cobra Commander is no longer in power. Seventy-five percent of Cobra’s infantry have been captured. We’ve killed the Cobra twins Tomax and Xamot. America and the world are safer for it. LEHRER: New question, Mr. President. Do you believe the election of Senator Kerry on November the 2nd would increase the chances of the U.S. being hit by another Cobra terrorist attack? BUSH: No, I don't believe it's going to happen. I believe I'm going to win, because the American people know I know how to lead. I've shown the American people I know how to lead. I have -- I understand everybody in this country doesn't agree with the decisions I've made. And I made some tough decisions. But people know where I stand. This nation of ours has got a solemn duty to defeat this ideology of hate. And that's what Cobra is. We have a duty to defeat this enemy. We have a duty to protect our children and grandchildren. Fighting Cobra Command, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. You know why? Because Cobra realizes the stakes. That's why they're fighting so vociferously. They're trying to defeat us. And if we lose our will, we lose. But if we remain strong and resolute, we will defeat Cobra, the enemy. LEHRER: Your response, Senator Kerry. KERRY: I believe in being strong and resolute and determined. And I will hunt down and kill the Cobra terrorists, wherever they are. But we also have to be smart, Jim. And smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on Cobra, in the Terror Drome against Serpentor, and taking if off to the swamps of Florida where Zartan and the Dreadnoks dwell, or the mountains of Eastern Europe where Destro and the Iron Grenadiers are said to maintain their stronghold. The reason for going to war against Cobra is Serpentor, the Cobra Emperor. This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment. And judgment is what we look for in the president of the United States of America. I'm proud that important military figures who are supporting me in this race: former G.I. Joe team members Clutch, Zap, and Rock & Roll; just yesterday, The G.I. Joe Team’s first sergeant Duke’s brother Lt. Falcon endorsed me; Cover Girl, Grunt, Gung-Ho, Lifeline, and Ace who ran the Sky Striker Air Force so effectively for the Joes -- all believe I would make a stronger commander in chief. And they believe it because they know I would not take my eye off of the goal: Serpentor. Unfortunately, he escaped. We had him surrounded. But we didn't use the G.I. Joe Team, the best trained in the world, to go kill him. The president relied on the Oktober Guard and he outsourced that job too. That's wrong. LEHRER: New question, Senator Kerry. "Colossal misjudgments." What colossal misjudgments, in your opinion, has President Bush made in these areas? KERRY: Well, where do you want me to begin? We had Serpentor trapped. After the Cobra occupation of Washington, D.C. was repelled by the G.I. Joe Team, we had an opportunity to capture all of the heads of the various arms of Cobra Command. Not just Serpentor, but The Baroness, Dr. Mindbender, Zartan, and Destro. Instead, they all escaped, despite the best efforts of the G.I. Joe Team.
The President moved the troops, so he's got 10 times the number of Joes in South America looking for the Cobra Commander than he has near the Terror Drome, where Serpentor is. Does that mean that Serpentor was 10 times more important than the Cobra Commander -- than, excuse me, the Cobra Commander is more important than Serpentor? I don't think so. LEHRER: Your response, Mr. President. BUSH: My opponent looked at the same intelligence I looked at and declared in the past that the Cobra Commander was a grave threat. He also said that anyone who doubts that the world is safer without the Cobra Commander does not have the judgment to be president. I agree with him. The world is better off without Cobra Commander. I understand the serious consequences of committing our troops into harm's way. It's the hardest decision a president makes. LEHRER: New question, Mr. President. What about Senator Kerry's point, the comparison he drew between the priorities of going after Serpentor and going after the Cobra Commander? BUSH: Jim, we've got the capability of doing both. As a matter of fact, this is a global effort. But with Cobra, we're facing a group of folks who have such hatred in their heart, they'll strike anywhere, with any means. They are an army of the night, evil taking flight. But to say that there's only one focus on the war on terror doesn't really understand the nature of the war on terror. Of course we're after Cobra Commander -- I mean Serpentor. He's isolated in his Terror Drome. Seventy-five percent of his people have been brought to justice. But the front on this war is more than just one place. There’s not just one Cobra, there’re a lot of Cobras. There are Cobra temples all over the world. Eastern Europe -- we've got help -- we're helping them there to bring -- to bring Destro and his affiliates to justice there. And, of course, the Everglades are a central part in the war on terror. That's why Zartan and his people are trying to fight us. Their hope is that we grow weary and we leave. It’s hard work. The biggest disaster that could happen is that we not succeed. We will succeed. We've got a plan to do so. America will be more secure. LEHRER: I want to come back to where I began, on homeland security. This is a new question, Senator Kerry. As president, what would you do, specifically, in addition to or differently to increase the homeland security of the United States than what President Bush is doing? KERRY: Jim, let me tell you exactly what I'll do. And there is a long list of things. First of all, let’s talk about the time the G.I. Joe Team amassed in nearly full-force to protect a firehouse in Boston from ‘the Viper.’ This President thought following misguided intelligence and protecting one building from what turned out to be an elderly window cleaner with a speech impediment was more important than mobilizing the Joes to the Terror Drome to finally capture Serpentor. Does that make you feel safer in America? LEHRER: Your response, Mr. President. BUSH: The best way to protect this homeland is to stay on the offense. You know, we have to be right 100 percent of the time. And Cobra, the enemy, only has to be right once to hurt us. There's a lot of good people working hard. But again, I repeat to my fellow citizens, the best way to protection is to stay on the offense. Of course we're doing everything we can to protect America. I wake up every day thinking about how best to protect America. That's my job. I work with a real American hero, General Hawk of the G.I. Joe Team; comes in my office when I'm in Washington every morning, talking about how to protect us. There's a lot of really good people working hard to do so. It's hard work. But, again, I want to tell the American people, we're doing everything we can at home, but you better have a president who chases these Cobra terrorists down and bring them to justice before they hurt us again. But the enemy attacked us, Jim, and I have a solemn duty to protect the American people, to do everything I can to protect us. . LEHRER: Senator Kerry? KERRY: Jim, the president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important in this debate. He just said, "The enemy attacked us." The Cobra Commander didn't attack us. Serpentor attacked us. And when we had Serpentor cornered in Washington, D.C., with the entire G.I. Joe team assembled, Serpentor and the heads of Cobra Command escaped. With the G.I. Joe team nearby and in the field, we didn't use the best-trained troops in the world to go kill the world's number one criminal and terrorist. They outsourced the job to the Oktober Guard, who only weeks earlier had been on the other side fighting against us. That's the enemy that attacked us. That's the enemy that was allowed to walk out of Washington. That's the enemy that is now in 60 countries, with stronger recruits. BUSH: Of course I know Serpentor attacked us. I know that. LEHRER: New question, President Bush. Clearly, as we have heard, major policy differences between the two of you. Are there also underlying character issues that you believe, that you believe are serious enough to deny Senator Kerry the job as commander in chief of the United States? BUSH: That's a loaded question. Well, first of all, I admire Senator Kerry's service to our country. I admire the fact that he served for 20 years in the Senate. Although I'm not so sure I admire the record. And I won’t even bring up that time he was briefly replaced by a Cobra Synthoid. I won’t say he’s a Synthoid now. But my concerns about the senator is that, in the course of this campaign, I've been listening very carefully to what he says, and he changes positions on the war on Cobra. He changes positions on something as fundamental as what you believe in your core, in your heart of hearts, is right. You cannot lead if you send mixed messages. What does it mean to our men and women in the G.I. Joe Team when the President tells them, “wrong war, wrong time.” Mixed messages send the wrong signals to our troops. Mixed messages send the wrong signals to our allies. Mixed messages send the wrong signals to the Cobra terrorists. And that's my biggest concern about my opponent. LEHRER: Ninety second response, Senator. KERRY: Well, first of all, I appreciate enormously the personal comments the president just made. And I share them with him. I don’t appreciate him insinuating that I am a Synthoid. BUSH: I said I didn’t think you were a Synthoid. KERRY: But our major difference is this issue of certainty. It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and be wrong. What I worry about with the president is that he's not acknowledging the various crimes Cobra has committed, such as the missles that were armed by Cobra on the roofs of Red Rocket hamburger restaurants. He's not acknowledging the realities of genetic engineering, which allowed Dr. Mindbender to create Serpentor. He’s not acknowledging the truth behind Extensive Enterprises, which we know provides Cobra funding and recruits for the Crimson Guard. He's not acknowledging the truth of the science of the MASS Device or of the Weather Dominator and other issues. And certainty sometimes can get you in trouble. LEHRER: Thirty seconds. BUSH: Well, I think -- listen, I fully agree that one should shift tactics, and we will, against Cobra. Our G.I. Joe commanders, General Hawk, Duke, Flint, and Sgt. Slaughter, have got all the flexibility to do what is necessary to succeed. But what I won't do is change my core values because of politics or because of pressure. And it is one of the things I've learned in the White House, is that there's enormous pressure on the president, and he cannot wilt under that pressure. Otherwise, the world won't be better off. LEHRER: All right, that brings us to closing statements. And, again, as determined by a coin toss, Senator Kerry, you go first. KERRY: Thank you, Jim, very much. Thank you, Mr. President. My fellow Americans, as I've said at the very beginning of this debate, both President Bush and I love this country very much. There's no doubt, I think, about that. But we have a different set of convictions about how we make our country stronger here at home and respected again in the world. I have a difference with this president. I have a plan to win the war on Cobra by funding homeland security and strengthening the G.I. Joe Team to enable them to defeat Cobra once and for all. I believe America's best days are ahead of us because I believe that the future belongs to freedom, not to fear. That's the country that I'm going to fight for. And I ask you to give me the opportunity to lead this nation and make you proud. Thank you. And God bless America. LEHRER: Mr. President. BUSH: Thank you very much tonight, Jim. Senator. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. That's not going to happen, so long as I'm your president. The next four years we will continue to strengthen our homeland defenses. We will strengthen our G.I. Joe Team. We will continue to stay on the offense. We will fight for freedom wherever there’s trouble. We will fight the Cobra terrorists around the world so we do not have to face them here at home. We’ll never give up, we’ll stay ‘til the fight’s won. I appreciate your listening tonight. I ask for your vote. And may God continue to bless our great land. LEHRER: And that ends tonight's debate. For now, thank you, Senator Kerry, President Bush. From Coral Gables, Florida, I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night. 
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