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CNN Live At Daybreak
Nine Democrats Running for President Taking Aim at President Bush
Aired October 27, 2003 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The nine Democrats running for president are taking aim at President Bush and his post-war Iraq policy. It was the main focus of their latest debate.
CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The audience applauded loudest when the rhetoric was toughest.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president didn't know why he wanted it then. He doesn't know what he's doing today.
CROWLEY: And you know how much politicians love applause.
REV. AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bush was wrong to go in in the first place. To delay coming out is not going to make it right.
CROWLEY: Still, this is a Democratic primary and eventually eight of these candidates must go. There wasn't even a single knock down in the fifth debate sanctioned by the Democratic Party, but there were some sharp elbows.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know how John Kerry and John Edwards can say that they supported the war but then opposed the funding of the troops.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Joe, I have seared in me an experience which you don't have, and that's the experience of being one of those troops on the front lines when the policy has gone wrong.
CROWLEY: No real bloopers, though Dennis Kucinich got Detroit crime statistics wrong and John Edwards had trouble explaining why he rails against the Patriot Act he voted for.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, and the attorney general of the United States came before us and told us that he would not abuse his discretion.
CROWLEY: But the hot seat is still occupied by the new kid, Wesley Clark, testy and on defense when asked yet again about his position on war in Iraq. CLARK: I was against it in the winter, I was against it in the spring and I'm against it now.
CROWLEY: But the general was on offense when asked about a military colleague's statement that Clark was relieved of his NATO command for matters dealing with integrity and character.
CLARK: We used to call charges like that McCarthyism when they came out in the 1950s.
CROWLEY (on camera): Howard Dean took several incoming barbs, but seemed uncharacteristically mellow, the sign, perhaps, of the man with the most money and the best polls, and less than three months to go before the first vote is taken.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
President Bush>
Aired October 27, 2003 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The nine Democrats running for president are taking aim at President Bush and his post-war Iraq policy. It was the main focus of their latest debate.
CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The audience applauded loudest when the rhetoric was toughest.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president didn't know why he wanted it then. He doesn't know what he's doing today.
CROWLEY: And you know how much politicians love applause.
REV. AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bush was wrong to go in in the first place. To delay coming out is not going to make it right.
CROWLEY: Still, this is a Democratic primary and eventually eight of these candidates must go. There wasn't even a single knock down in the fifth debate sanctioned by the Democratic Party, but there were some sharp elbows.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know how John Kerry and John Edwards can say that they supported the war but then opposed the funding of the troops.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Joe, I have seared in me an experience which you don't have, and that's the experience of being one of those troops on the front lines when the policy has gone wrong.
CROWLEY: No real bloopers, though Dennis Kucinich got Detroit crime statistics wrong and John Edwards had trouble explaining why he rails against the Patriot Act he voted for.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, and the attorney general of the United States came before us and told us that he would not abuse his discretion.
CROWLEY: But the hot seat is still occupied by the new kid, Wesley Clark, testy and on defense when asked yet again about his position on war in Iraq. CLARK: I was against it in the winter, I was against it in the spring and I'm against it now.
CROWLEY: But the general was on offense when asked about a military colleague's statement that Clark was relieved of his NATO command for matters dealing with integrity and character.
CLARK: We used to call charges like that McCarthyism when they came out in the 1950s.
CROWLEY (on camera): Howard Dean took several incoming barbs, but seemed uncharacteristically mellow, the sign, perhaps, of the man with the most money and the best polls, and less than three months to go before the first vote is taken.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
President Bush>
