US Democratic Presidential Candidates Criticize Bush on Economy, Iraq in Debate

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, September 05, 2003

US Democratic Presidential Candidates Criticize Bush on Economy, Iraq in Debate

Democratic presidential candidates criticized US President George W. Bush over the economy and the Iraq issue at the first major debate of the 2004 presidential race Thursday night.

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Democratic presidential candidates criticized US President George W. Bush over the economy and the Iraq issue at the first major debate of the 2004 presidential race Thursday night.

"This president is a miserable failure," Representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri said in the televised debate held at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"We have a president who has broken up alliances that Democratic and Republican presidents have put together over 70 years," he said.

The candidates, while criticizing Bush for mishandling the country's economy and his ways in dealing with the Iraq issue, welcomed Bush's decision to finally seek UN help in restoring order in Iraq.

Bush must now "go back to the very people he humiliated," said former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who got the first question atthe debate among eight of the nine candidates seeking Democrats' presidential nomination.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who officially announced his candidacy on Sept. 2, said, "the swagger of a president who says 'bring 'em on' does not bring our troops peace or safety."

Senator Bob Graham of Florida, who voted against the Iraq war resolution last year, said he voted that way because "I thought itwas the wrong war against the wrong enemy."

The candidates criticized Bush's tax cuts policies which they said had helped eliminate jobs in the country.

Also present at the debate were Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, John Edwards of North Carolina, Representative DennisKucinich of Ohio and former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, was absent at the debate because he was hampered by poor weather.

The candidates also debated on immigration laws, foreign trade and tax issues.

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