The Vice Presidential Debate

This evening was the second of the four debates planned. But unlike the other three debates scheduled, this featured the right-hand men of the campaign... Vice President Dick Cheney and Vice Presidential Nominee John Edwards. Earlier in the evening I was at a GOP event with my College Republican chums watching Dr. Ralph Reed (founder of the Christian Coalition and national Bush advisor) give a speech. But we managed to get back in time to watch the debate in its entirety... and I must say that this was the kind of debate the first one should have been. I can even go as far to say that it was a real dog fight!

I wish I could say that more people saw this debate... and I don't know the numbers yet, but I am sure it didn't get ratings as high as the Presidential debates do. Which is a real shame... Because if you want to know where these two candidates for president stand, you need to hear their VP's talk about them. Bush and Kerry are good debaters and communicators in different ways... but neither can communicate their views as good as Cheney and Edwards did tonight. However, I think Edwards hurt his side of things, and Cheney trounced him in every regard outside of the "who smiled more" category. Edwards came away from the debate tonight looking naive, childish, unintelligent, and often a little too rehearsed and inexperienced.

Dick Cheney has been working in the White House since he was 33, and it shows. He is, without a doubt, the best Vice President this nation has seen. Period. There is no other VP out there with as much experience, dedication, and fervor as this man. Sure he might have a really bad heart, and be hated by a large majority of Americans, but if you look at what he does... you have to respect him. He is the only VP I can think of who is doing this job because it's HIS job. He isn't Vice because he hopes to one day be president. He doesn't want to be president. Instead he wants to use his wisdom and experience to help govern, and that showed. Cheney was able to recall facts and relevant stories from way before Sen. Edwards took office. He knew records, he knew statistics, and most importantly, Cheney knew the correct statics.

John Edwards, much like his counterpart did during the first debate, began harping on the "$200 Billion" that American supposedly spent on the this war. Of course, Cheney was more than happy to point out to him that those figures were terribly inaccurate, and that the cost of the war was actually $120 billion (Janet Hook, "Rivals' Bold Assertions Are Debatable," Los Angeles Times, 10/6/04). Also, Edwards went on to bash the VP in saying that 90% of the casualties in Iraq were American. Again, Dick responded with the truth that Coalition casualties were actually 50%, the other 50 belonging to Iraqi officers ("Our Kerry Iraq Guide," The Wall Street Journal, 9/30/04). Edwards even got stopped when he attacked the job creation rate that the president has been dealing with! Cheney informed him that 1.7 million jobs had been created this year, and this numbers were from 2003.

Dick Cheney looked especially good when Edwards began talking about Halliburton. Anyone who was even remotely alive during the 2000 election has already heard about these arguments, and there are enough "punk voters" out there wearing "evil Halliburton" shirts to choke a donkey. This is nothing new, and no one cared the first time we heard these claims. The truth is that Halliburton did business with Lybia long before Cheney was in charge of them! To imply that Cheney himself did these things is incorrect ("Cheney & Edwards Mangle Facts," FactCheck.org, 10/6/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=272, Accessed 10/6/04). But the best part about Edwards bringing up Halliburton was that it prompted Dick to say the following:

"The reason they keep trying to attack Halliburton is because they want to obscure their own record. And Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that's not very distinguished. You've missed 33 out of 36 meetings of the Judiciary Committee, almost 70 percent of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee. You've missed a lot of key votes on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform. You're 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. "

Snap! In my opinion that basically shattered any credibility Edwards had, and really reminded me that this man is not fit to be the president if something would happen to John Kerry. And really, that's the most important quality in a VP nominee.

And so the debate was concluded with closing arguments. Edwards' speech sounded a bit like a closing argument in a civil trial. He told stories, he talked about "America" and he really pulled on someone's heart strings. Thankfully he didn't touch Cheney's heart strings so he was able to give his closing speech. I am waiting to see if this debate will affect either candidate in the polls, especially since both parties are declaring victories. I just know that people who were unsure about Cheney's ability are now pretty confident.