Lieberman, Cheney Keep The Gloves On Vice Presidential Candidates Politely Disagree Over Policy

They were friendly, almost gentle debaters.

They delivered no knockout punches, no big gaffes and few sparks, just “Dick” and “Joe,” a couple of vice presidential candidates sitting around talking about the issues while mildly criticizing each other.

Democrat Joseph Lieberman and Republican Dick Cheney fulfilled their mutual goal of having a positive “conversation” with the American people Thursday night in the only vice presidential candidates debate of the 2000 campaign.

Like their running mates Al Gore and George W. Bush, the vice presidential candidates offered somewhat conflicting views on the success of public education and military readiness, energy policy, tax cuts, oil exploration in Alaska and legislation to restrict abortions.

In one of the sharpest exchanges, Cheney broke into a Lieberman boast about successful bipartisan leadership of the past eight years to say: “With all due respect, Joe, there is just an awful lot of evidence that there has not been any bipartisan leadership out of this administration or out of Al Gore. The fact is the Medicare problems have not been addressed. We’ve had eight years of promises on prescription drugs and no action. The Social Security problem has not been addressed. We’ve had eight years of talk and no action.”

Lieberman shot back: “Dick Cheney must be one of the few people in America who thinks that nothing has been accomplished in the last eight years. The fact is, promises were made, promises were kept. Did Al Gore make promises in 1992? Absolutely. Did he deliver? Big time. Look at the 22 million new jobs, look at the 4 million new businesses.

“I’m pleased to see from the newspapers, Dick, that you are better off than you were eight years ago too,” Lieberman added, citing Cheney’s personal wealth.

“I can tell you, Joe, that the government had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Cheney responded.

The vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky., was more informal - a relatively tame talk-show with political chitchat - than the first presidential debate on Tuesday. Rather than stand at podiums, Lieberman and Cheney sat at a table fielding questions from CNN moderator Bernard Shaw during the polite 90-minute encounter.

Cheney conveyed a sense of serenity in the manner of a man cool under fire. Often accused on the campaign trail of being a reluctant candidate, an unhappy warrior burdened with the day-to-day tedium of stump speeches and handshakes, Cheney on Thursday projected a reassuring image while delivering matter-of-fact answers.

“I promise not to bring up your singing,” Cheney joshed.

“I promise not to sing,” Lieberman replied with a smile.

Lieberman, while declaring himself determined to remain positive, occasionally jabbed Cheney in a lowkey way. Of the two, Lieberman was much quicker to draw differences between the two tickets, always linking himself to Gore in nearly every answer.

Both candidates seemed intent on remaining nonthreatening and conversational, producing nothing like the earnest sparring between Gore and Bush in the first presidential debate. But “Dick” and “Joe,” as they called each other, did draw some clear contrasts.

One of their greatest differences came over energy policy, with Lieberman defending the Clinton administration’s response to rising oil prices by tapping an emergency reserve and Cheney citing neglect.

The administration, Lieberman said, could not just lie back and let foreign oil interests “roll over us.”

Cheney said the oil problems had deeper roots. “My assessment is that there is no comprehensive energy policy today, that as a nation we are in trouble because the administration has not addressed these issues,” Cheney said.

Cheney, a former House member, defended his vote to prohibit oil drilling in Wyoming while supporting Bush’s plan to open up part of the arctic preserve in Alaska to exploration. Lieberman strongly opposed such exploration.

Asked about their position on the abortion pill RU-486, the candidates presented a clear difference on the abortion-rights question, which is emerging as one of the most significant issues in the last month of the campaign.

“We want to look for instances of reducing abortion in our society,” Cheney said, while raising concerns, as Bush did on Tuesday, with the safety of the pill just approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

While strongly backing the FDA’s approval, Lieberman declared: “Al Gore and I respect a woman’s right to choose, and our opponents will not.” He called for support of more family-planning and sexual abstinence programs to “reduce unwanted pregnancies, and therefore the number of abortions.”

They clashed, mildly, on many other issues: Cheney called for education reform, citing problems in schools, while Lieberman defended public education, noting that test scores are improving.

Cheney said the armed forces have eroded under the Democrats’ watch, while Lieberman said they were the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

Cheney envisioned a smaller government and across-the-board tax cuts. Lieberman called for budget discipline, stressing the need for a “rainy-day” fund to deal with potential shortfalls, saying, “Al Gore and I want to live within our means, we don’t want to give it all away.”