Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20121023

Candidates jill stein and Rocky Anderson into the debate. Republican and democratic parties may have some differences, but they have both morphed into a militarist, anti democratic course that betrays the most basic and civil human rights. Democratic and republican establishments continue to inflict austerity on the American People while they continue squandering trillions of dollars on wars for oil, wall street bailouts, tax breaks for the wealthy, an enormous private Health Insurance waste. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President obama and republican challenger mitt romney met for their third and final debate monday night before the general election two weeks from today. With the focus on Foreign Policy, both candidates shared wide agreement on issues including support for the Israeli Government, the withdrawal of u. S. Forces from afghanistan, and opposition u. S. Military involvement in syria. But they clashed over a few key points including military spending, iran and libya. The one exchange, obama chided romney for seeking to increase military spending by an additional 2 trillion. Governor romney has not spent enough time looking at how our military works. He mentioned the navy and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Governor, with your horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not taken the battleship where were counting ships, it is, what are our capabilities the despite caution nonmilitary spending, the two candidates struggled at times to differentiate themselves on key Foreign Policy areas. Asked about u. S. Drone warfare abroad, romney said he fully backs the obama administrations efforts. Let me ask you, governor, because we know president obamas position on this, what is your position on the use of drones . Well, i believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world. And it is widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and i support that entirely and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology and believe that we should continue to use it to can the continue to go after people who represent a threat to the station and to our friends. As i said earlier, were going to have to do more than just going after leaders and killing bad guys, important as that is. Well have highlights from the debate and are expanding the debate special with thirdparty candidates jill stein and Rocky Anderson after the headlines. A retired cia agent who publicly confirmed the torture of al qaeda operative abuse of vita is set to plead guilty in court today to leaking classified information. John kiriakou who served from 1990 to 2004 is best known for the 2007 abc news interview detailing how zubaydah was waterboarded in cia custody. At the time, i felt waterboarding was something we needed to do. As time has passed, and as september 11 has moved farther and farther back into history, i think ive changed my mind. I think waterboarding is probably something we should not be doing. Why do you say that now . Because we are americans and we are better than that. Under a plea deal, kiriakou will admit to a single count of revealing the identity of a covert officer, which carries a potential sentence of up to 30 months. His indictment marked the latest in the obama administrations crackdown on government whistleblowers. An africanamerican woman in louisiana has a brutally attacked and left with serious injuries in an apparent hate crime. 20yearold Sharmeka Moffitt reportedly told police she was set on fire by three men who wrote the initials kkk and a racial slur on her car. She suffered burns on more than half her body and is in critical condition. No arrests have been made in the case. Doctors for the pakistani teenager activist Malala Yousafza say shes been able to stand and write for the First Time Since being shot and seriously wounded earlier this month. The 14yearold malala is undergoing medical treatment in britain after militants shot her for publicly campaigning for girls education. Her british doctors said she is showing slow improvement dayby day. She is not out of the woods yet. Having said that, she is doing very well. In fact, she was standing with some help for the first time this morning. She is communicating very freely. She is writing. She has a tube in because her way was swollen by the passing of the bullet. Of violence continues to flare in the panamanian city of colon and its protests over the sale of stateowned land to private companies. On monday, Police Fired Gunshots to disperse demonstrators who had blocked roads. The shootings followed days of protests that saw least three deaths last week, including a 9 yearold boy who died when police opened fire. The Honduras Supreme Court has struck down a proposal for a number of socalled private cities with their own tax and justice systems. Wealthy landowners have pushed the plan, drawn opposition from human rights groups. The honduran justices ruled the establishment of private jurisdictions outside of honduran law would violate the constitution. Former president jimmy carter is accusing the Israeli Government of abandoning any effort to reach a peace deal with the palestinians. Speaking during a visit to israel and the occupied west bank, president carter said israel, with u. S. Backing, has never been less publicly committed to a twostate solution. I think for the first time in my memory of the mideast peace process, we have reached a crisis stage. It because all the previous Prime Ministers of israel have been detective lee and proven the committed to a twoday solution. I was at every Prime Minister i have known has been a pursuer of the twoday solution. I dont know that president obama has found Prime Minister netanyahu is willing to go that route. In canada, thousands of people gathered outside the provincial parliament in victoria, British Columbia on monday to protest a massive oil pipeline. The rally was billed as the largest to date against the enbridge corporations Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would carry crude oil from alberta to canadas west coast. Critics say it stands to cut through sensitive environmental areas and First Nations lands. Rallies were held across the u. S. On monday in a national day of action against Police Brutality and the targeting of people of color. In new york, hundreds joined the october 22 coalition for a rally in march leaving from union square. A rally and march leaving from union square. Three robbers rocked my uncles grocery store. My brother was tried to escape the robbery and not get killed. When he ran out of the store, there is a Police Officer in front of the door and shot and. The Police Officer says it was a mistake. You cannot just kill someone as a mistake. Across the country, the Police Brutality movement is coming back to a place where people are Holding Police accountable from a Grassroots Level to a legislative level. We see the Committee Safety act being passed in new york as well as a Class Action Lawsuit against stop and frisk all way down to grass roots organizing. A recent study from the not the max Grassroots Movement out at least 110 africanamericans were killed by police, security guards, and selfappointed vigilantes during the First Six Months of the year, a rate of roughly one every 40 hours. Muslim american man has returned home to new york after his inclusion on this governments nofly list left him stranded in europe for over three weeks. Samir suljovic had been unable to return from vienna and munich after the u. S. Government barred him from flying without explanation. He was finally allowed to board a u. S. Bound flight after a Public Campaign on his behalf. Samir suljovic says he believes he was targeted because of his muslim faith. And a longtime native american activist Russell Means has died at the age of 72. Russell means was an early leader of the American Indian movement who helped head the uprising at wounded knee in 1973. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Our 100the road in city tour in summer fallow, california. President obama and republican challenger mitt romney squared off monday in florida in their final president ial debate before the november 6 general election. In a debate focused on Foreign Policy, both candidates agreed on a number of issues including the secret drone war, u. S. Support for israel, the withdrawal of u. S. Forces from afghanistan, and opposition to u. S. Military involvement in syria. But they clashed over military spending, iran, and libya. Several Key International issues were not addressed at all, including climate change, the economic crisis in europe, and u. S. Backed drug war in latin america. Last night broke the sound barrier once again by adding the voices of two third Party President ial candidates that were excluded from the debate. Jill stein of the green party and Rocky Anderson of the justice the party. We air the obamaromney debate, pausing the tape after each question to give dr. Stein and Rocky Anderson a chance to respond the same questions put to the major party candidates. We also invited libertarian candidate gary johnson, but he declined to join us. We recorded the show in front of a Live Audience here of the kosher Marin Jewish Community Center in san raphael california. Today we bring you highlights from our expanding the debate special. We begin with debate moderator Bob Schieffer of cbs news. The first segment is the challenge of the changing middle east and the new face of terrorism. I will put this into two segment so youll have two topic questions within this one segment on that subject. The first question, and it concerns libya, the controversy over what happened there continues. For americans are dead, including an american ambassador. Questions remain. What happens . What caused it . Was a spontaneous . Was it an intelligence failure . Was it a policy failure . Was there an attempt to mislead people about what really happened . Governor romney, he said this was an example of an american policy in the middle east that is unraveling before our very eyes. Id like to hear each of you give your thoughts on that. Governor romney, you won the toss. You go first. Thank you, bob, and thank you for agreeing to moderate this debate this evening. Thank you to Lynn University for welcoming us here, mr. President , it is good to be with you again. We were together at a humorous event a little earlier, and its nice to maybe be funny this time not on purpose. This is an area of great concern to the entire world and to america in particular, which is to see a complete change in the structure and the environment of the middle east. With the arab spring him a great deal of hope that there would be a change towards more moderation and opportunity for greater participation on the part of women in public life and in Economic Life in the middle east. But instead we have seen in nation after nation a number of disturbing events. In syria, 30,000 civilians having been killed by the military there. We see in libya an attack apparently by well, i think we know now by terrorists of some kind against our people there, to people dead. Our hearts and minds go to them. Mali has been taken over by al qaedatype individuals. In egypt, Muslim Brotherhood president. Were seeing a pretty dramatic reversal in the kind of hopes we have for that region. For years closer to a new query Nuclear Weapon, we have iran. I congratulate the president of taking a Osama Bin Laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda, but we cannot kill our way out of this mess. Were going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and robust strategy to help the world of islam and other parts of the world reject this radical violent extremism, which its really not on the run. Its certainly not hiding. This is a group that is now involved in 10 or 12 countries, and it presents an enormous threat to our friends, to the world come to america long term, and we must have a comprehensive strategy to help reject this kind of extremism. Mr. President. My first job as commander in chief is to keep the American People safe, and that is what we have done over the last four years. We ended the war in iraq, refocused our attention on those who actually killed us on 9 11. As a consequence, al qaedas core leadership has been decimated. In addition, we are able to transition out of afghanistan and irresponsible way, making sure that afghans take responsibility for a security, and that allows us also to rebuild alliances and make friends around the world to combat future threats. With respect to libya, as i indicated in the last debate, which we received that phone call, i immediately made sure that, number one, we did everything we could to secure those americans who were still in harms way. No. 2, that we would investigate exactly what happened. And most important, number three, that we would go after those who killed americans, and we would bring to justice. And that is exactly what were going to do. It is important step back and think about what happened in libya. Keep in mind, that i and americans took leadership in organizing an International Coalition that nature that we were able to without putting troops on the ground, at the cost of less than what we spent in two weeks in iraq liberate a country that had been under the yoke of dictatorship for 40 years, got rid of a despot who had killed americans. And as a consequence, despite this tragedy, you had tens of thousands of libyans after the events benghazi marching and saying, america is our friend. We stand with them. Now, that represents the opportunity we have to take advantage of. And you know, governor romney, im glad that you agree that we have been successful in going after al qaeda, but i have to tell you, you know, your strategy previously has been one that has been all over the map and is not designed cuban american sake or the bill on the opportunities that exist in the middle east. Thirdparty candidate, green Party President ial candidate jill stein, you have two minutes to respond to the question about the situation in libya. Thank you so much to democracy now for expanding this debate in a way that is absolutely essential. Here, i getting set up could not hear all of the comments barack obama and mitt romney, but i will respond generally to the issue of libya and the tragic events at the embassy. It is very clear there is blowback going on across the middle east, not only the unrest directed at the libyan embassy, likewise at the embassies across the middle east including in egypt we are seeing in afghanistan, our soldiers are being shot and by the Police Forces they are supposed to be training in afghanistan. We are seeing in pakistan, 75 of the pakistani to identify the United States now as their enemy, not as their supporter or their allies. In many ways, we are seeing a very illconceived, irresponsible, and immoral or policy come back to haunt us where the United States foreign policies have been based, unfortunate, on brute military force and wars for oil. Under my administration, we will have a Foreign Policy based on International Law and human rights and the use of diplomacy. Instead of fighting wars for oil, we will be leading, as america, a leading the fight to put an end to climate change. In afghanistan and iraq, we have spent about 5 trillion. We have seen thousands and thousands of american lives lost, hundreds of thousands of civilian lives lost, about 1 trillion a year being spent on a massive, bloated military, Industrial Security budget. Instead, we need to cut the military budget, right sizes year 2000 levels, and build a true secured here at home, bringing our war dollars home. Rocky anderson from the justice the party, yet two minutes. The question was whether the killings of the embassy in libya were a policy failure, whether they reflect a policy failure. And it is so clear to everyone that the policy failure has been the way the United States has treated so many nations in the middle east. Were like the bully that never got counseling, and we keep wondering, why dont they like us . We invaded iraq and occupied the country. It was completely illegal. Two United Nations secretary general declared it was illegal. It was a war of aggression and all done on a pack of lies. We aggravate the situation by keeping bases in so many other nations, including saudi arabia. At bolstering these tyrants. At the same time, engaging in direct, unmanned drone strikes in at least four sovereign nations, killing in the process, hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent men, women, and children. That is the policy failure our belligerence, our efforts to control, to dominate, and to make certain that we will always have that control over resources in these nations. That is what this is all about. We took over the government. We overthrew the government in iran in 1953. If we are still paying a heavy price for that. We have a history of doing that in this country. I think the American People have finally got it. We need to Start Building for relationships with these nations and not go around with the kinds of belligerence or not only do we attack these countries, but mitt romney calling russia our greatest geopolitical foe . We ought to be working with russia to bring about the peaceful resolution of what is happening in syria. This is a holistic problem with imperialists Foreign Policy that we have to turn around and the American People can see to it if we join together. Justice Party President ial candidate Rocky Anderson. When we come back, will continue with our expanding the debate special and the responses from all four candidates. Bob schieffers next question on the middle east, which focused on syria. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We continue with our expanding the debate special, adding the voices of two thirdParty President ial candidates excluded from last nights debate jill stein of the green party and Rocky Anderson of the justice party. This is debate moderator Bob Schieffer of cbs news. Let me interject the second topic question about the middle east. And that is you both mentioned alluded to this, and that is syria. The were in syria has spilled over into lebanon. We have, what, more than 100 people that were killed there in a bomb. There were demonstrations there, eight people dead. Mr. President , it has been more than a year since you saw since you told alassad he had to go. Since then, 30,000 syrians have died. 300,000 refugees. The war goes on. He is still there. Should we reassess our policy and see if we can find a better way to influence events there, or is that even possible . You go first, sir. What we have done is organize the International Community, saying alassad has to go. We have mobilized sanctions against that government. We have made sure that they are isolated. We provided humanitarian assistance, and were helping the opposition organize, and were particularly interested in making sure that we are mobilizing the moderate forces inside of syria. Ultimately, syrians are going to have to determine their own future. Everything were doing, were doing in consultation with our regions with our partners in the region, including syria. Seeing takinge place in syria is heartbreaking, and thats why were going to do everything we can make sure that were helping the opposition. But we also have to recognize that, you know, for us to get more entangled militarily in syria is a serious step. And we have to do so making absolutely certain that we know who we are helping, that were not putting arms in the hands of folks who eventually could turnn the region. And i am confident that al assads days are numbered. But we cannot do is to simply suggest that, as governor romney at times has suggested, that giving heavy weapons, for example, to the Syrian Opposition is a simple proposition that would lead us to be safer over the long term. Governor. Lets step back and talk about what is happening in syria and how important it is. First of all, off 30,000 people being killed by their government is a humanitarian disaster. Secondly, syria is an opportunity for us because they play a minute they play an Important Role in the middle east, particularly right now. Syria is irans only ally in the arab world. It is the route to the sea. It is the route for them to arm hezbollah in lebanon, which threatens our ally israel. And so seeing syria remove al assad is a very high priority for us. No. 2, a replacement government being responsible people is critical for us. We dont have military involvement there. The right course for us is working to our partners and with our own resources to identify responsible parties within syria, organize them, bring them together in a form of if not government, a form of counsel back and take the lead in syria, and then make sure they have the arms necessary to defend themselves. We do need to make sure that they dont have arms that get into the wrong hands. Those arms could be used to hurt us down the road. We also need a major record make this effort with our allies and particularly with israel. But the saudis and the qatari and the turks are all very concerned about this. Theyre willing to work with us. We need to have a very effective leadership occurred in syria, making sure that the insurgents there are armed and that the insurgents that become armed are people who will be the responsible parties. Recognized i believe that al assad must go. I believe he will go. But i believe we want to make sure that we have the relationships of friendship with the people that take his place such that in the years to come we see syria as a friend and syria as a responsible party in the middle east. This is a critical opportunity for america. And what im afraid of is that weve watched of the past year or so first the president saying, well, will let the u. N. Deal with it. Kofi annan came in and said were going to have a ceasefire and that did not work. Then it looked to the russians and said, see if you can do something. We should be playing a leadership role there, not the published on the ground the military. First, Rocky Anderson, justice Party President ial candidate. Probably just for the greatest example of why we need to open up these president ial debates because the premises under which both of these candidates are operating, the constricted debate does such a disservice to the people of this country. What do we hear a question of president obama say we have got to do everything we can to help the opposition and mitt romneys and we ought to be shipping them heavy arms. This is a call for a bloodbath in syria. Many in the internal opposition in syria, not the outsiders, the Muslim Brotherhood and saudi arabia and the tories who are helping arm them, even the salafists you are associated with al qaeda going in and helping build bars for the opposition. This is really what we want as a country . We have no business doing anything other than working with russia and helping to bring about a peaceful resolution. It can be done. There are many in the internal opposition in syria that what exactly that approach. And they are saying i think probably the best thing that has been written about this recently is jonathan stills excellent article in the latest nation magazine. What they want is for the International Community to but out except for helping bring about a diplomatic, peaceful resolution and some of them say, youre not going to get any democratic advances through more violence in syria. Green Party President ial candidate jill stein. Yes, and there is it is as if there is collective amnesia, as if we did not just go through a decade of 5 trillion and thousands of u. S. Soldiers whose lives have been sacrificed, and far more civilians whose lives have been lost in an attempted military resolution to the civil and religious strife. We see in spite of putting the full force of the United States military and nato in trillions of dollars in a decade, we have not, with all the power of that force, unable to resolve these conflicts on the ground in iraq and afghanistan. So how in the world with a far smaller commitment, given the colossal failure of the war effort in iraq and afghanistan, how in the world are they thinking that a lesser degree of military intervention is going to solve the problem . I dont think the problem here is that we failed. I think the problem is that we are trying to assert our will and dictate the results. Can you imagine if there were muslim countries coming into the United States and occupying us, invading us, telling us where to run our government than running unmannned drones over canada and mexico, the nine states, determining who was going to live and who is going to die . In the process, killing hundreds, if not thousands . Innocent men, women, and children. It is an outrage. Our National Security is at risk longterm because of the hostility and hatred that were generating throughout that part of the world. We have got to turn this around. And we, the American People, can do it. Absolutely. This is a failed policy from the get go. Not only failed in its impact, but has failed from its very conception. As the human rights had for the United Nations navi pillay points out that with arms flowing into both sides in syria, you really have a catastrophe in the making. We need to stop the flow of the arms. In fact, the United States and the obama government undermined an International Treaty that would have begun to slow down the International Flow of arms. So the american role here has actually been to throw gasoline on the fires of virtually every ethnic religious and National Conflict around the middle east through its militaristic export of arms and the profitsharing war industry. I would like to move to the next segment. Red lines, israel and iran. Would either of you be willing to declare an attack on israel is an attack on the United States . Which, of course, is the same promise that we give to our close allies like japan. And if you make such a declaration, would that not deter iran . Is certainly deterred the soviet union for a long time when we made that promise to our allies. Mr. President Customer First of all, israel is a true friend, our greatest ally in the region. If america is attacked, america will stand with israel. Youre saying that we have already made that declaration. I will stand with israel if they are attacked. This is a reason why, working with israel we have created the Strongest Military between our two countries in history. In fact, this week, we will be carrying out the Strongest Military exercise with israel in history. This very week. But to the issue of iran, as long as im president of the United States, iran will not get a Nuclear Weapon. I have made that clear when i came into office. Within organized the strongest coalition and the strongest sanctions against iran in history. And in this crippling americana, they have dropped 80 . The Oil Production has plunged to the lowest level since the refining of war with iraq 20 years ago. Their economy is in shambles. We did this because a nuclear iran as a threat to our National Security and is a threat to israels National Security. We cannot afford to have a Nuclear Arms Race in the most volatile region of the world. Iran is a statesponsored terrorism. And for them to be a to provide Nuclear Technology to non state actors, that is unacceptable. And they have said they want to see israel wiped off the map. So the work we have done with respect to sanctions now offers iran a choice. They can take the diplomatic route and end their Nuclear Program or they will have to face a united world and the United States president , me, who said were not going to take any options off the table. The disagreement i have with governor romney is that during the course of this campaign, hes often talked as if we should take premature military action. I think that would be a mistake because when ive sent young men and women into harms way, i always understand that that is the last resort, not the first resort. Two minutes. First of all i want to underscore the same point the president made, which is that if im president of the United States, when im president of the nine states, we will stand with israel. And if israel is attacked, we have their back, not just diplomatically, not just culturally, but militarily. With regards to iran and the threat of iran, theres no question but that a nuclear iran, a nuclearcapable iran is unacceptable to america. It is a threat not only to our friends, but to us for iran to have nuclear material, Nuclear Weapons that could be used against us or used to be threatening to us. Its essential for us to understand what our mission is in iran, and that is to dissuade iran from having a Nuclear Weapon through peaceful and diplomatic means. And crippling sanctions are something id called for five years ago when i was and is resting at a conference but i laid out seven steps crippling sanctions were number one. And they do work youre seeing it right now in the economy. Number two, something i would add today is i would tighten those sanctions. I would say that ships that carry iranian oil cannot come into our ports. I imagine the eu would agree as well. I would say companies that are moving the oil cannot. I would tighten those sanctions further. Secondly, i would take on diplomatic isolation efforts. I would make sure ahmadinejad is indicted under the genocide convention. His words amount to genocide incitation. I would mention the diplomats are treated like the pariah they are around the world, this and we treated the apartheid diplomats of south africa. We need to increase pressure time and again on iran because anything other than a solution to this which stops this Nuclear Folly of theirs is unacceptable to america. And of course, a military action is a last resort. It is something one would only, only consider if all of the other avenues had been tried to the full extent. Justice Party President ial candidate Rocky Anderson, two minutes. This is a predictable. Once again, president obama repeats the lie that president ahmadinejad and the iran stated that he wanted to wipe israel off the map. He never said it. He referred to the regime in israel one day being in the dustbin of history. It was a misinterpretation, and it is so warmongering of both of these candidates to talk about how they will basically blow iran away. Romney wants to impose crippling sanctions. Who would he be crippling . He would be crippling, among others, some of the hundreds of thousands of people who stood in tehran and a candlelight vigil in sympathy for the victims of the 9 11 attacks on the United States. By the way, the people of the United States have stood in solidarity with the iranian people after their last election with candlelight vigils and this country. It is time the people of both nations expressed their solidarity with one another and express our disdain, are discussed with these leaders who are engaging in misconduct that is ultimately going to lead to utter tragedy for the people of iran. Would mitt romney the sow was to go over and attack mockery of because they have a nuclear bomb . How about pakistan . How about russia . We have an obligation, number one, to start reducing the number of Nuclear Weapons and provide that kind of leadership because it is the United States u. S. Led the way for other nations to build up their nuclear armaments. If iran feels like theyre going to be attacked that is all theyre hearing nowadays, of course theyre going to consider building a Nuclear Capability to deter an attack. But there is no evidence that any Nuclear Capability. It isnt other black frontally basis basis for a romney to say iran is four years closer to building one. Dr. Jill stein. Were seeing the candidates again very similar to each other. They are both saber rattling about iran, both of down there obedience to the rightwing government in israel both are rattling their obedience to the rightwing government of israel. Airbus and the will stop at nothing, but war will be the last result. We see shades of gray between the republican and democratic candidate spread were not sing with the American People really need and what interNational Security really needs. In fact, iran recently hosted the nonaligned nations. It is not just iran. It was all the nonaligned nations with them brazil and argentina and many others that together put forward a proposal for eliminating Nuclear Weapons throughout the middle east. In fact, eliminating Nuclear Weapons throughout the world. That is the true solution that we should be getting behind. In fact, i should add that 10 seconds. The slavelike mentality toward israel is absolutely unjustified. We need to start raising the bar for israel and holding them to an equal standard for supporting humanrights and International Law and ending occupations and illegal settlements. That was green Party President ial candidate jill stein. When we continue with our expanding the debate special after the break, all four candidates discuss the military budget. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We continue with our expanding the debate special, including two thirdParty President ial candidates excluded from last nights debate dr. Jill stein of the green party and Rocky Anderson of the justice party. During a special broadcast monday night, we broke the sound barrier during the brahma obamaromney debate, to get realtime responses from jill stein and Rocky Anderson. This is debate moderator Bob Schieffer of cbs news. Are you saying you want a bigger military, a bigger navy . You do not want to cut defense spending. What i want to ask you, we were talking about financial issues. Where you going to get the money. First of all, im going through from the beginning we will cut about 5 of the discretionary budget, excluding military. [indiscernible] i will be happy to have to take a look. Come on our website. We will have a balanced budget in eight to 10 years. Number one, i get rid of obamacare. There are a number of things that sound good but we cannot afford them but that does not sound good and is not affordable. I would get rid of that from day one. We take program after program, and that we dont absolutely have to have come and get rid of them. Number two, we take some programs that were guandique, like medicaid, which is a program for the poor. We take that Health Care Program for the poor and give to the states to run, because states run these programs more efficiently. As a governor, i thought, please, give me this program. Can he do that . I can run this more efficiently and the federal government. States like arizona and rhode island have taken these medicaid dollars, have shown they can run these programs more effectively. I want to do those two things and get us to a balanced budget within eight to 10 years. A quick spot with the military lets go back to the military, though critics he is not answer the first question. Governor romney has talked about 4. 20 or 5 during tax cuts that hes going to pay for by closing deductions. The math does not work, the continues to claim he is going to do it. He wants to spend another 2 to in on military spending on of the military is not asking for. Keep in mind that our military spending has gone up every single year that i have been in office. We spend more on our military than the next 10 countries combined china, russia, france, the nine the united kingdom, you name it, next 10. And what i did was work with our joint chiefs of staff to think about what we are going to need in the future to make sure that we are safe . And that is the budget will put forward. But what you cannot do is spend 2 trillion in additional military spending that the militarys not asking for, 5 trillion on tax cuts, you say youre going to pay for by closing loopholes and deductions and without naming what those loopholes and deductions are, and then somehow youre also going to deal with the deficit that weve already got. The math simply doesnt work. But when it comes to our military, what we have to think about is not come in know, just budgets, we got to think about capabilities. We need to be thinking about cybersecurity. We need to be thinking about space. Thats exactly what our budget does, but it is driven by strategy not by politics. Its not driven by members of congress and what it would like to see. It is driven by what are we going to need to keep the American People safe . That is exactly what our budget does. It then also allows us to reduce our deficit, which is a significant National Security concern, because we have got to make sure that our economy is strong at home so that we can project military power overseas. Bob, im pleased that ive balanced budgets. I was in the world of business for 25 years. If you didnt balance your budget, you run out of business. I went to the olympics that was out of balance, and we got it on balance and made a success. I had the chance to be governor of a state. For years in a row, democrats and republicans came together to balance the budget. We cut taxes 19 times, balanced our budget. The president hasnt balanced a budget yet. I expect the opportunity to do so myself. Lets talk about military spending and thats this. Our navy is older excuse me our navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. The navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. Were headed to the low 200 possibly go through sequestration. Thats unacceptable to me. Our air force is older and smaller than at any time since 1947. Change for the First Time Since fdr. Since fdr we have always had the strategy of saying we could fight in two conflicts at once, now were changing to one conflict. Look, this is my view, it is the highest responsibility of the president of the United States, which is to maintain the safety of the American People. I will not cut our military budget by 1 trillion, which is the combination of budget cuts the president has as well as the sequestration cuts. In my view, that is making our future less certain and less secure. And wont do it. Bob, i need to comment first of all, the sequester is not something that i propose. It will not happen. The budget that were talking about is not reducing our military spending. Its maintaining it. I think governor romney has not spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the navy and that we have fewer ships than in 1916. We also have your horses and bayonets because the nature of our militarys changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of battleship where were counting ships. Its what are our capabilities. So when i sit down with his secretary of the navy and the joint chiefs of staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home. And that is not reflected in the kind of budget that youre putting forward, because it just wont work. All right. Perhaps we visited the website quite a bit and it still does not work. A lot to cover. Dr. Jill stein, green Party President ial candidate, on this issue of military spending. I think they both made the case for us. The numbers do not add up. We cannot continue spending 1 trillion a year on this bloated military Industrial Security complex without having to really pay the price here at home. They are talking about a balanced budget. They are talking about needing to educate our students. Lets look at where that money is going. We are spending trillions of every year, not only on the bloated military budget, but on the wars for oil as well as the bailout for wall street and tax breaks for the very wealthy. Unfortunately, we do not see either of these candidates, not the democrats and not the republicans, really changing any of those really serious problems. Right now the Federal Reserve is bailing out wall street again, effectively for the fourth time. This is the third quantitative easing on top of the tarp program, which was 700 billion. The 700 billion under george bush has become many, many trillions under barack of ayman. So these bailouts continue. And now were doing a quantitative easing to a tune of 40 billion every month, again, to bail out the banks. It is time to be breaking up the big banks and bailing out the students instead. They have got it the other way around they are breaking up the students and bailing out the banks. We need to put an end to that. Likewise, we are squandering trillions of dollars over the coming decade on a massive, wasteful Health Insurance, private Health Insurance bureaucracy. The alternative to austerity is actually moving to medicare for all, single payer system that makes austerity unnecessary. [applause] in fact, by moving to a single payer, medicare for all system, we get a system that people are happy with, that they love and want to defend from government tampering, in fact, and the system covers everyone comprehensively, puts you back in charge of your healthcare, and in addition, it actually saves as trillions over the coming decade, equivalent to that austerity plan that they were talking about. And the way it does that is by changing what we have right now is 30 of every health care dollar is being spent on bureaucracy, red tape, and paper pushing under medicare, that 30 shrinks down to 2 to 3 . That is enough to cover everybody. And we deserve that. In addition, under medicare for all, this health care inflation, which is going like this, much faster it is inflating much faster than inflation and the economy. But what happens when you move to medicare for all system, is that that hyperinflation in health care, with your premiums and arco is going up practically every month, that puts an end to. So we go back to an inflation level like the level of the economy and that saves as trillions of dollars over the coming decade. So these are the ways that we should be spending our tax dollars, not on the military, but on what we need at home. And by inserting those dollars instead of squandering them, we can spend them on the things we need im bailing out the students and on creating public higher education, which is free, tuitionfree, the way it should be. Justice Party President ial candidate former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson. We offered another great example of how the republicans and democrats for candidates, just like the coverts and congress, are basically one in the same in terms of their corporatism and militarism. It is just a matter of degree. President obama is bragging about increasing the military spending in these last four years . This is how it works. The f22 weapons program, republicans and democrats alike try to keep it light, even though the defense said it is an outmoded system. Billions of dollars going into the system, just firming as and repair. It was republicans and democrats fighting for continued funding. Then you wonder, why would they do that . It is because the general contractor for that Weapon System they know what theyre doing when it comes to congress they put in contractors or subcontractors in 44 different states. Yet dianne feinstein, Barbara Boxer and republican from utahs first Congressional District of fighting for continued fighting because they wanted to take the bacon back home so they could brag about it when they run the next time. That is treasonous conduct. When people are looking up on political interest in having the American People, especially when there are so many unmet needs in this country. Mitt romney is one of the greatest [indiscernible] he says were going to star was 60 trillion dead, give everybody a 20 tax cut, and then were going to do away with some deductions. Having noticed is never identified with those deductions are going to be . The studies say, even if he did away with mortgage deductions and charitable deductions, which is not likely to happen, if you take away all of those deductions, you cannot give more than 4 in tax cuts without adding to our deficit, so there is no way that he could meet anywhere near these promises of balancing the budget. Instead, we would more likely see what we saw under reagan and the second bush administration, with record deficits with these republican president s. In terms of jobs. Our employers in this country are at a huge competitive disadvantage with their competitors overseas because we are the only nation in the entire developed world that does not provide Insurance Coverage for everyone, and were paying more than twice the average of the rest of the industrialized world and getting far worse medical outcomes. More than 70 of the American People, the majority of doctors in the healthcare debate, said they wanted to see a single payer, medicare for all system. And this president would not even let the proposal see the light of day because he, like the rest of the members in congress with the exception of a handful who were courageous enough for a while to stand up against the corrupting money, they caved in to the forprofit Insurance Industry and the pharmaceutical companies. And once again, we end up getting shafted, the American People. We cannot afford it. We need to said that message there will be political consequences every time the corporate sector ones wins out over the interests of the American People. Rocky anderson predicts that concludes our final cuexpanding the debate special. To see the full expanded final debate, go to democracynow. Org. Tune in to our special Election Night coverage. Our 100city summer majority tour continues today in palo alto, california. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] democracy now ]