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An Interview with President Bush An Interview with President Clinton |
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MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Well, thank you all for joining us once again. Allen, starting with you, Allen Ramsay, how much do you think these candidates' helped or hurt their presidential candidate? ALLEN RAMSAY, Graduate Student, Independent Wake Forest University: Well, I'm really glad that I don't have to make a decision based on the vice presidency. They behaved more like bickering children in a school yard than one of the most powerful people in the world. I thought Stockdale clearly wasn't very political. But the other two really didn't influence my opinion one way or the other. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Anybody else, how much these candidates helped or hurt their -- ROBIN GANZERT, Accountant, Democrat, Winston-Salem, N.C.: I was very disappointed with the mudslinging that went on tonight between the candidates, between Bush, Bush's Quayle and Clinton's Gore, it was just terrible for people in that position to be mudslinging like they were tonight. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Now what did you consider mudslinging? ROBIN GANZERT: The back and forth, Quayle saying "you pulled a Clinton on me." I can't remember some of the other one-liners, but it was definitely mud that was going back and forth. JAMBEY CLINKSCALES, Computer Technician, Democrat, New York City: It made it entertaining but I don't think they helped to move their candidate's positions forward any great deal at all. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Anybody have a different opinion? GWEN CLINKSCALES, Teacher, Independent, New York City: Yeah. I thought Sen. Al Gore really helped Bill Clinton because he was pretty sure of himself. He seemed to have the facts down, and he was able to present in a very concise and steady manner. In comparison, the admiral, Stockdale, he seemed to be there sometimes, he seemed to be with us, and sometimes he did not seem to be with us. And he even mentioned at one point that he had turned his hearing aid off. So I don't think he helped -- Adm. Stockdale helped Perot -- and Vice President Quayle, I think that President Bush should have listened to some of his advice and find someone else to run with him. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Dr. Eure, what do you think? DR. WILLIAM EURE, Retired Physician, Republican, Hattiesburg, MS: I think we had a spectacle here tonight. I've been voting for 44 years. This will be my 11th presidential election to vote in. And I think we had the anatomy of what transpired here tonight developing over the past four years. I've never seen a public official maligned and debased as much as I've seen Dan Quayle debased over the past four years by the media and the late night shows. It's understandable that he would do tonight what he felt like he had to do to establish credibility, come in there being combative, aggressive, to try to talk up the policies that he thought that President Bush needed. It doesn't decide anything. I'm not sure that he changed anybody's mind, but I think we had -- we should have suspected exactly what happened here tonight. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Scott MacCormack. SCOTT MacCORMACK, Computer Consultant, Republican, Denver: I agree with that to a certain point. Clearly, I think the Republicans needed to take the gloves off. They needed to mix it up. They're behind in the polls. And I kept thinking, looking at Quayle. He was like a terrier held back by a chain. I think it might have gone too far and a little out of hand, no question about it. And in that regard, I don't think it helped clear anything up for me. I think we got more from -- from Perot's party of the cracker barrel philosophies, and yet, they still won't come out and tell me where they stand on major, major issues. I can't believe a candidate saying, we haven't thought that out, I don't have a comment, and passing his time up, regardless of whether it was political or not, so I have a problem with that. MARTHA MacCORMACK, Teacher, Democrat, Denver: I had two reactions from the debate tonight. The first was that Gore and Quayle fit the paradigm of politicians. They beat around the bush. They didn't get things said well enough. They ended up throwing things at each other, trying to make the other person look bad, then make themselves look good. And the admiral ended up saying things, but even though he said those things, he didn't say them well enough for me to feel that Perot is someone I would vote for, although I like the fact that he was to the point. The other thing it made me think about is -- embarrassing to watch adults behave in that manner. When I have a niece who is studying debate in high school, she can't emulate people who are going to take over our country who should know what to do when they are put in a situation to get to the point. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Anne Greer, do you have a thought? ANNE GREER, Real Estate Agent, Republican, Columbus, OH: It was clear that the admiral had not been well versed in public speaking. I think his intentions are very good. However, it gave me some time to pause and to think very definitely. I was very put off by Vice President Quayle coming back time and time again, questioning how truthful Bill Clinton and Al Gore are in their campaign when often in my heart I question how truthful he and George Bush are in their campaign. And oftentimes, those types of things backfire, and I really think this one will. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Jason, what about you? JASON CONLEY, College Student, Republican, Wake Forest University: I think Quayle accomplished his task very well -- even more so than George Bush did -- last night. I think he really did take the gloves off, and he kept on pounding and attacking the policies of Bill Clinton, setting out the Bush proposals and specifics. And that's something the President didn't do, but I think some of the things -- everyone is talking about the bickering and the accusations and what not, but I would venture to say that this is what the vice presidential candidates are for. These are things that need to be said but can't be said by the presidential candidates for fear of not looking presidential. I think Stockdale did not help Perot very much, and I think Gore did not hurt Clinton. He seemed to emulate Clinton, very smooth, perhaps pre-packaged, but he did not help him entirely very much. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: How informative was this debate? I mean, did any of you learn anything that you didn't know, or have any issues clarified? ROBIN GANZERT: Actually, beneath all the mud I did hear some issues that were clarified for me. I heard a very clear statement that Gore helped clarify on the Republican stance on abortion, for example, abortion under the Republican platform. There are no exceptions for race, incest, et cetera, under the Republican platform, and I do not believe that Bush and Quayle bring that up at all. I also heard family leave, as you mentioned. That was clarified, and I also heard some stances on the education, pro-choice for the schools. JAMBEY CLINKSCALES: I think Gore raised a real good issue in terms of the SS-18 because Bush did mention that at the debate, that that was a done deal, and Quayle wasn't able to say that he has a commitment from Yeltsin on that particular point. So I think he really was effective in raising that, and he is also, Gore was also effective in raising the issue of Bush's veto on the family leave bill. So it seems as though Gore was able to score a few points, but I don't think he got out of it without having a few points scored on him. I think despite the fact that Quayle did seem to be an attack dog, that he did bruise Gore a little bit with some of his attacks. The other thing, I was surprised at how defensive Al Gore was in terms of his book on the environment. It seems as though he wasn't really able to come across as strongly on that issue. And it was one of the issues that I was turned onto him about, the fact that he had a book and he had some commitment, but it seems as though he couldn't say things specifically to deflate any of the criticism about that issue. So I think that he took some damage on that. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: All right. Let me just ask this question of those of you who have been sitting on the fence up to this point. Did tonight go any distance in helping you make up your mind about what candidate you're going to support? MARTHA MacCORMACK: They confused me more. At the Democratic convention, I was -- I was ready to vote for Clinton, and now with all of the mudslinging or throwing out the dirty laundry, now I'm looking at what Perot and the admiral are saying and thinking that they're saying things that I want to hear from the other candidate. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Scott MacCormack. SCOTT MacCORMACK: The thing that frightens me is this is the first, if you will, presidential appointment by Ross Perot. And I think the admiral -- I really respect the history of what he's been through. I'm really disappointed that Perot couldn't find someone that could have been a little more political, that could have used his air time better. And I'm not -- I'm not certain that the admiral couldn't be quite good, but, gee, this is -- this is our first look at a Perot appointee. What does that say about Ross Perot? That shook my faith in going independent. Therefore, I'm still confused. I'm still on the fence. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Are you still on the fence, Anne Greer? ANNE GREER: Yes. I think that Perot and Stockdale have proved that they have hearts. I feel that Adm. Stockdale does have many years of proof behind him of his ability to lead. He is not an articulate spokesman but there's a lot of people that aren't articulate spokesman who are able to put together programs that are workable. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Excuse me, Jason Conley, we know that you are in the Bush camp and in Bush's corner, so your position was unchanged, just more solidified by this tonight, right? JASON CONLEY: Oh, definitely. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: All right. What about you, Allen Ramsay, did this solidify anything for you in any way? ALLEN RAMSAY: I wouldn't say it solidified anything. I was -- if I had to pick one of the candidates I was more impressed with it was actually Quayle finally. He did more tonight than he's done in the past four years for me. And I think he brought up some real pointed questions. And I was glad to see it, especially the mathematics of the Clinton/Gore budget issue. I mean, I knew that he had planned to raise taxes on the $200,000 and above group, but I had no idea that -- that it would have to come down to $36,000 to achieve the -- I think $150 billion that they're looking for. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: And you didn't -- you didn't believe Al Gore when he said that wasn't true? ALLEN RAMSAY: I don't really recall him refuting it pointedly. I know that they -- he would say, no, no, no, and, you know, you could hardly understand the candidates from them all talking in their microphones, but, I mean, I would like to see the mathematics of raising taxes on $200,000 and above group, because that worries me. The $36,000 group is pretty low, and that really does worry me. And that's one of the biggest issues for me, is the deficit, taxes, and so forth. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Did any other fence sitter get pushed in one direction or another? STEPHEN HERRING, Substitute Teacher, Republican, Hattiesburg, MS: After hearing what was said tonight, I am more in favor of the Bush camp. The statements that Quayle made about Gore's book about the environment, I don't think Gore ever refuted those at all, and he quoted the page number in the book. Also, as was mentioned earlier, the statements about his economic package and that it -- it just did not add up. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Clearly tonight, Vice President Quayle's approach was to attack Gov. Clinton's character in even stronger terms than President Bush did, his truth, his credibility, his veracity. What do you think of that strategy? JAMBEY CLINKSCALES: You know, there's just certain things that Quayle has been saying that, personally, really scares me. And, and two of the issues that he raises that scares me is when he talks about family values and when he talks about voucher systems for schools. I think that often I respond to the family values issue as it really being a code phrase. And I think in that code phrase, he's implying that people in the inner-cities and people who are disadvantaged and people of color are not part of some defined family unit. And I always feel that he's trying to revert to some time in the past when, you know, "Leave It to Beaver" and that type of family was all there was. And I feel that's exclusive. He talked about the fact that family life degrading is the problem, and he connected that with the cities as the degradation of family values came first. And I think he's missing the point. And the point is that the degradation of life within the cities is the cause of family values to be going down. And I'm afraid that when you talk about vouchers for kids to pick their school, parents of children in Bedford Stuyvesant are not going to be able to take that voucher and send their kids out to Forest Hills. So I think -- MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Bedford Stuyvesant being a black community in New York, and Forest Hills being a predominantly white community. JAMBEY CLINKSCALES: Exactly. And the result is I think that when he talks about that, it's really a code phrase that is really appealing to conservatives. Not just Republicans but conservative Republicans. And I think that that's what Quayle has been doing. He's been out there, appealing to conservative Republicans, and those code phrases make me afraid. DR. WILLIAM EURE: I think Vice President Quayle recognized that he had to do something to shake the confidence of the electorate in Gov. Clinton, and I think he attacked it, though it was unpleasant to hear all these things. I think he did what he felt he had to do, because the president didn't -- or felt he couldn't do it. And so I think as his surrogate, he did what he had to do for the Republican cause. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Does this debate tonight provide momentum for the next presidential debate, in your -- ANNE GREER: Yes. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: I mean, does it sustain interest, and everybody agrees with that? ANNE GREER: Yes. DR. WILLIAM EURE: It opens a new page, it sets the stage, and I think you will see two very different debates between the presidential candidates. ANNE GREER: Yes. JAMBEY CLINKSCALES: Primarily because of the format, having that five minutes to respond back and forth opened it up for a lot of emotion. MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Well, listen, all of you, we'll see you there. Thank you.
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