Third Debate Transcript: Page 11
Oct. 17, 2000 -- LEHRER: Vice President Gore?
GORE: I support the death penalty. I think that it has to beadministered not only fairly, with attention to things like DNAevidence, which I think should be used in all capital cases, but alsowith very careful attention. If, for example, somebody confesses tothe crime and somebody’s waiting on death row, there has to bealertness to say, wait a minute, have we got the wrong guy?
If the wrong guy is put to death, then that’s a double tragedy.Not only has an innocent person been executed but the real perpetratorof the crime has not been held accountable for it, and in some casesmay be still at large. But I support the death penalty in the mostheinous cases.
LEHRER: Do both of you believe that the death penalty actuallydeters crime?
Governor?
BUSH: I do, that’s the only reason to be for it. Let me finishthat — I don’t think you should support the death penalty to seekrevenge. I don’t think that’s right. I think the reason to supportthe death penalty is because it saves other people’s lives.
LEHRER: Vice President Gore?
GORE: I think it is a deterrence. I know that’s a controversialview, but I do believe it’s a deterrence.
LEHRER: All right.
Next question is for you, Vice President Gore, and Thomas Fisher(ph) will ask it.
Mr. Fisher (ph)?
QUESTION: Yes, my sixth grade class at St. Clair (ph) Schoolwanted to ask of all these promises you guys are making and all thepledges, will you keep them when you’re in office?
GORE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
I am a person who keeps promises. And you know, we’ve heard alot from the governor about not much being done in the last eightyears, as if the promises that I made eight years ago have not beenkept. I think the record shows otherwise.
We have gone from the biggest deficits, eight years ago, to thebiggest surpluses in history today. Instead of high unemployment, wenow have the lowest African-American unemployment, the lowest Latinounemployment ever measured, 22 million new jobs, very low unemploymentnationally. Instead of ballooning the debt and multiplying it fourtimes over, we have seen the debt actually begun to be paid down.
Here are some promises that I’ll make to you now. I will balancethe budget every year. I will pay down the debt every year. I willgive middle class Americans tax cuts—meaningful ones. And I willinvest in education, health care, protecting the environment andretirement security.
We both made promises in this campaign. I promise you I willkeep mine. Let me tell you about one of the governor’s.
He has promised a trillion dollars out of the SocialSecurity trust fund for young working adults to invest and save ontheir own. But he’s promised seniors that their Social Securitybenefits will not be cut, and he’s promised the same trillion dollarsto them. So this is the “Show Me” state, reminds me the line from themovie, “Show me the money.” Which one of those promises will you keepand which will you break, Governor?
LEHRER: Governor Bush?
BUSH: Thank you for your question.
(LAUGHTER)
I — there’s an old high school debating trick, which is toanswer something and then attack your opponent at the end. Now, youasked about promises. You were promised that Medicare would bereformed, and that Social Security would be reformed. You werepromised a middle class tax cut in 1992. It didn’t happen.
There’s too much bitterness in Washington. There’s too muchwrangling. It’s time to have a fresh start. One of the reasons I wassuccessful as the governor of Texas is because I didn’t try to be allthings to all people. When I campaigned in a race a lot of folksdidn’t think I could win, including, by the way, my mother …
(LAUGHTER)
… I said I’d do four things: tort reform, education reform,welfare reform and juvenile justice reform. And I won and I had thewill of the people in my state behind me, and then I brought folkstogether to get it done. And that’s what we need, I think, in thiselection.
To me, that’s what it’s all about. I know, listen, I’msure your sixth grade kids are listening — “These guys will sayanything to get elected.” But there’s a record. That’s what other people look at. And one of my promises is going to be Social Securityreform, and you bet we need to take a trillion dollar — trilliondollars out of that $2.4 trillion surplus.
Now, remember, Social Security revenue exceeds expenses up until2015. People are going to get paid. But if you’re a younger worker,if you’re younger, you better hope this country thinks differently,otherwise you’re going to be faced with huge payroll taxes or reducedbenefits. And you bet we’re going to take a trillion dollars of yourown money and let you invest it under safe guidelines to get a betterrate of return on the money than the paltry 2 percent that the federalgovernment gets for you today. That’s one of my promises.
But it’s going to require people to bring both Republicans andDemocrats together to get it done. That’s what it requires. There’sa chance to get this done. There’s bipartisan — bipartisan approach, but it’s been rejected. I’m going to bring them together.
LEHRER: Both of you — to both of you, on this subject, thereare other questions that also go to this skepticism, not necessarilyabout you but all people in politics. Why is that?
GORE: Well, first of all, Jim, I’d like to — I’d like torespond to what the governor just said because the trillion dollarsthat has been promised the young people has also been promised toolder people. And you cannot keep both promises. If you’re in yourmid-40s, under the governor’s plan, Social Security will be bankruptby the time you retire, if he takes it out of the Social Securitytrust fund.
Under my plan, it will be — its solvency will be extended untilyou’re 100.
Now, that is the difference. And the governor may notwant to answer that question, he may want to call it a high schooldebating trick, but let me tell you this: This election is not aboutdebating tricks; it is about your future.
The reason Social Security — he says it gets 2 percent. Youknow, it’s not a bank account, it — that just pays back money that’s invested. It is also used to give your mothers and fathers the SocialSecurity checks that they live on. If you take a trillion dollars outof that Social Security trust fund, how are the checks going to — howare you going to keep faith with the seniors?
Now, let me come — let me come directly to your point …
LEHRER: No, I think we’re — we have to go to the closingstatements and …
BUSH: Could I answer that? One reason people are skeptical isbecause people don’t answer the questions they’ve been asked.
(LAUGHTER)
The trillion dollars comes out of the surplus so that you caninvest some of your own money. There’s just a difference of opinion.I want workers to have their own assets. Who do you trust, thegovernment or the people?
Click here for page 12.