The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

Loading Recent Classifieds...

CNN Hosts Town Hall Meeting in Bucks County

CNN Hosts Town Hall Meeting in Bucks County

This year’s presidential race came to Bucks County on Oct. 14 when CNN anchor Paula Zahn held a town hall meeting in Tinicum featuring representatives from both the Bush and Kerry campaigns.

About 125 Bucks County voters were present in an historic barn in Tinicum Township.

Kiki McLean, a senior advisor to the Kerry/Edwards campaign, and Liz Cheney, oldest daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, answered questions from the audience.

The questions covered everything from the war on terror and the war in Iraq to the economy and gay marriage.

The first question came from Russa Steiner, whose husband was killed on September 11. She asked, “What options would Mr. Kerry have for a preemptive strike other than waiting until we’re attacked?”

McLean said senators John Kerry and John Edwards “have committed themselves to a plan and a path for homeland security that hopefully will take us really to where the terrorists are, not leaving al Qaeda untracked, as has been had now that we’re in Iraq, not leaving the terrorists to actually bubble up in more cells around the world, but to actually hunt them down, stop them and frankly do what we have to do here at home.

“That phrase homeland security is also about what we have to do here securing our borders,” she added. “Our borders have not been secured. Many steps have been taken, but we’re not nearly where we need to go.”

Cheney responded, “This president gets up every morning and goes to bed every night focused on what we can do to keep this country safe.

“As the 9/11 Commission said, we are safer today than we were on Sept. 10,” she added. “And it is very important to remember… that we can’t just keep our borders secured here. We can’t only try to keep the terrorists out here. We have to be on the offense.

“Iraq was the place. It was the nexus after September 11 where terrorists who want to do America harm were most likely to either be able to get the weapons or the capacity to make those weapons. What President Bush did was exactly the right thing. It is critically important that we have a commander in chief that doesn’t waver.”

Zahn asked Cheney to “defend the rationale for going to war now that we know that there were no weapons of mass destruction.”

Cheney answered, “I think it is absolutely clear, as I said before, after September 11, no American president can ever stand by and watch threats gather, wait until threats become imminent. We have to protect against the gravest danger we face.

“We have been absolutely clear. There is a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.”

McLean countered that while “Saddam Hussein is a bad guy,” the question is, “do you admit what happened and the circumstances under which we went to war and make responsible decisions now and take responsibility for it? Kerry and Edwards will take responsibility for it and they’ll deal with the facts. That’s not happening.”

The meeting took a turn when Cheney was asked her view of Kerry’s reference to her homosexuality in the last presidential debate. “I was offended,” she said. “I think that it was out of bounds.”

McLean responded, “I think the Cheneys have demonstrated a great amount of pride in their family.

“And I think that what both Senator Edwards and Senator Kerry did was just acknowledge that and so much so that her own father thanked the vice president for that.”

On the medical malpractice crisis, Cheney said, “I know Pennsylvania has got a real problem with doctors who simply are no longer able to practice because the liability insurance premiums have gotten so high. And what happens is, they start turning away high-risk patients.”

“I think we need medical liability reform across the board,” she added. “It is something the president is committed to, both because of what it means for health care system, but also because of what it means for our economy in general.”

McLean rebutted, “They [Senators Kerry and Edwards] support capping some levels of punitive damages to make — make sure that we have an opening for the moment egregious cases. There are some people that you have got to be able to stand up and fight for and they have got to have a channel and a place when they’ve been wronged significantly to do that.”