Facts. Both george bush. And Michael Dukakis. Said their selections of a running mate. Would reveal a lot about themselves. And based on the history since world war two. There is almost a fifty fifty chance that one of the two men here tonight. Will become president of the United States. The candidates are. Senator dan quayle the republican nominee. And senatorfor the next ninety minutes will be questioning the candidates following a format designed and agreed to by representatives of the two campaigns. However there are no restrictions on the questions that my colleagues and i may ask deceiving. By prior agreement between the two candidates the first question goes to senator quayle. And you have two minutes to respond. Senator you have been criticized as we all know for your decision to stay out of the vietnam war. Or your poor academic record. But more troubling to some of the comments that have been made by people in your own party just lastly former secretary of state said that your pick was the dumbest call george bush could have made your leader senator bob dole said that a Better Qualified person could have been chosen. Other republicans have been far more critical in private. Why do you think that you have not made a more substantial impression on some of these people who have been able to observe you up. The question goes to whether im qualified to be Vice President. And in the case of a tragedy whether im qualified to be president. Qualifications for the office of Vice President president. Are not age alone. You must look at accomplishments. And you must look at experience. I have more experience than others that have sought the office of Vice President. Lets look at qualifications. And lets look at the three biggest issues that are going to be confronting america. In the next presidency. Those three issues are National Security and arms control. Jobs and education. And the federal budget deficit. On each one of those issues. I have more experience than does the governor of massachusetts. And National Security in arms control. You have to understand the relationship between a ballistic missile. A warhead. What megatonnage is. You better understand about dilemmas and a crapshoot. And you better understand that you have to negotiate from a position of strength. These are important issues because we want to have more arms control and arms reductions in the area of jobs and education. I wrote the Job Training Partnership act a bipartisan bill a bill that is trained and employed over three million economically disadvantaged youth and adults in this country in the area of but a federal budget deficit. I have worked eight years on the Senate Budget committee. And i wish that the congress would give us the line item veto veto. To help deal with that and of qualifications alone. Are going to be the issue in this campaign. George bush has more qualifications than Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen combined. Then again im going to interrupt at this point in and ask once again that the audience please keep your responses. As quiet as possible we know that many of you here are for one candidate or another but youre simply taking time away from your candidate. And more and more likely than not youll be causing the partisan for the other candidates to react again when their candidates speak softly. Senator bentsen. Respond. This debate tonight. Is not about the qualifications for the vice presidency. The debate is whether or not. Dan quayle and lloyd bentsin. Are qualified to be president of the United States. Because judy just as you have said that is happening too often in the past that tragedy should occur. We have to step in there without any margin for error without time for preparation to take over the responsibility for the biggest job in the world that are running in this great country of ours. To take over the awesome responsibility for commanding the Nuclear Weaponry that this country has. Is it a debate about the presidency itself. And a president ial decision that has to be made by you. The stakes could not be higher. Senator bentsen a question for and you also have two minutes to respond. What bothers people is not so much your qualifications but your split on policy. With governor dukakis. He has said that he does not want to clone of himself. But you disagree with him on the major issues. Aid to the nicaraguan contras, the Death Penalty, gun control among others. If you had to step into the presidency. Whose agenda would you pursue. I am delighted to respond to that question because we agree on so many things in the bast majority of the issues. We agree on the fact that we have to cut the steps. And governor dukakis has been able to cut that deficit. Ten budgets or in the state of massachusetts. While he lowered the tax burden on their people from one of the highest to one of the lower in the United States. That is a majors. Sense of achievement. And i admire that and im just delighted to be on the ticket what governor dukakis and i agree that we ought to have a trade policy for this country. That weve seen this administration more than double the national debt. That they move this country from the number one lender nation in the world to the number one that are now used in the world. Under their administration that they have not had a trade policy that they have let trade be handmade for other Foreign Policy objectives of the country. That this country has exported too many jobs and. And as i work. To pass a trade bill through the United States. They throwed through roadblocks on the way. Every step of the way. Bill that has this premise that any country that has full access to our markets where entitled to full access to their markets. Now that means that were going to stand. Top for america. And were going to protect those jobs. And were going to push american products. And were going to open up markets around the world. Well show leadership and that respect and turn this deficit and trade around. Thats the sort of thing that Michael Dukakis and i will do to bring about a better america for all of our people. Senator quail a minute to respond. You know senator benson didnt tell you very much about what governor caucus wants today. One of the things he tried to talk about is that he cut taxes. The fact is though that he has raised taxes. He raised taxes last year, thats why many people have referred to him as tax hike mike. Thats why they referred to massachusetts as the tax date. I dont blame senator benson, for not talking about Michael Dukakis hes talking more about his record and if i had to tell covered the liberal policies of mike dukakis i wouldnt do it either. Senator benson, you have said that wash and the governor the liberal governor would raise taxes. You once voted for and spoke for a six month delay on the cost of living adjustment increases for Social Security. Tell me arent you using this issue politically instead of fixing it. We have a contract with the American People on Social Security, and Social Security is an issue where senator quail, voted eight times to cut the benefits on Social Security. Where this administration came out, and tried to get the benefits the minimum benefits, 122 dollars a month. For retirees. Trying to get the benefits, for 62yearold retirees, by 40 . Try to do and on Social Security. But they promise not to cut it. But they cut it by some 40 billion. And while we were working together and the certain and that money was going to be there when people retired, at that point they tried a 40 Million Dollar and run. But the record is clear, and we saw Vice President bush, fly back in the west coast, to break a tie in the United States senate. They dont get the vote very often in the senate, but he made a special trip to come back and vote against a cost of living increase. So when you talk about Social Security, the people that are going to protect it are the democrats. Theyre the ones that brought forth that program. Its important that we are not seeing these kind of and runs by this administration. When they talk about the fact they are going to cut this budget, i know too well with their track record is. And we should be concerned about that kind of an effort once again after the election is over. Senator quail your response. Senator benson, you know that i did not vote to cut Social Security benefits eight times. What i have voted for, and what senator benson has voted for, is to delay the cost of living adjustment. He voted twice senator bentsen to delay this. And he supported a resolution to delay the cost of living adjustment. John you are right, they use this for political advantage, but what they try to do time and time again, its to scare the old people of this country. That is the politics of the past. In 1983, the republicans and democrats drop their political swords, and in a bipartisan effort, to save the Social Security system. Republicans and democrats banded together, because we know that this program is not a republican program. Its not a democrat program. Its a program for older americans. And that program is sound, to the turn of the century. John a question for senator quail. Senator since coming from the senate, you have voted against Environmental Protection legislation about two thirds of the time. This about pesticide controls, and health and safety protection for nuclear waste. Senator, do you consider yourself an environmentalist . If you do how do you reconcile that with your voting record . To i had a very strong, record on the environment. In the United States senate. I have a record, and i voted for the super fund legislation. Ive a record, where i voted against my president , on the override of the clean water act. I voted for the major pieces of environmental legislation that have come down, and voted on the United States senate. This administration, and i support this administration and its environmental efforts. This has moved in the area for the first time to deal with the ozone problem. We now have an international treaty, a treaty that is commonly referred to as the montreal treaty. For the first time, we are talking about the impact of co2 in the ozone layer. Thats progress for the environment. We are committed, to the environment. I take my children, hiking fishing. Walking in the woods and the wilderness. Believe me, we have a commitment to preserving the environment. You bring up the environment, you cant help but think about the environmental policy of the government governor of massachusetts. He talks about being an environmentalist, but let me tell you about his environmental policy. The boston harbor, the boston harbor, which is the dirtiest waterway in america. Tons of raw sewage go in there each and every day. What has the governor of massachusetts down about that . Virtually nothing. Then he has the audacity, to go down to new jersey until the people that he is against ocean dumping. This is the same governor, that applied for a license to dump massachusetts sewage waste, off the coast of new jersey who has the environmental record . Who has the environmental interest . I do. Senator senator bentsen . Well this late conversion, is new to me. I must say. When i talk about boston harbour and he says he hasnt done anything, the fact is he has a six billion Dollar Program underway, on waste street. And it was dissent ministration, their administration, that have cut out the money early on, to be able to clean up water, and made it impossible to move ahead on that boston harbour. We are the authors, clean water of the supermarket . I am one, with a major role in passing this legislation. And every environmental urbanization that, i know has now endorsed senator bentsen take it. And im one that has just received the environmental award in texas, for the work ive done to clean up the base and the water off the coast of texas. Now, i think we know well who can help clean up this environmental record, the history is there. And dukakis will be committed to that. Question for senator quayle the. Thank you judy. Theres been a lot of questions in this campaign about family, if i recall from your except in speech, in your lines. And i would like to ask you about the 65 million American Children who lived with their families in poverty. Id like for you to describe the audience the last time you may have visited one of those families, personally, and how do you explain to the family year votes against the School Breakfast program, the school lunch program, in the expansion of the Child Immunization Program . I have met with those people. And i met with them in indiana at a food bank. You may be surprised john, they didnt ask me those questions on those votes. Because they were glad that i took time, out of my schedule to go down and talk about how were going to get a food bank going, making sure that our food bank goes to indiana. And i have a very good record and commitment to the poor, those that dont have the family, want to have a family. This administration and George Bush Administration will be committed to eradicating poverty, poverty hasnt done up in this administration. It hasnt gone down, much either. And that means we have a challenge ahead of us. But i will tell you something, but we have done, for the poor. What we have done for the poor is that we in fact get the homeless bill. That mckinney, activism major piece of legislation, deals with the homeless. In congress theyve cut the finding of the administration recommend it. The poor and the poverty, the biggest thing we have done for poverty in america is to tax simplification act, 1986. 6 million working poor families got off the payroll. 6 Million People are off the taxpaying payrolls because of that tax reform. And they are keeping the tax money there. The help deplore we will have a commitment to the programs, and those programs will go on. And we are spending more in Poverty Programs today, than we were in 1981. That is a fact. The Poverty Program were going to concentrate on is to create jobs and opportunities, so everybody will have the opportunities that they want. Senator bentsen your response . I find that very interesting. Because he has been of no help at all when it comes to passing the most major welfare reform bill, in the history of our country. One where were working very hard to see that people can get off welfare, break that cycle, take a step up in life. Doing the kinds of things that we did there, to let them have medicaid for a year. Its a positive thing thats being done. But also, frustrates me with the kind of report i just heard here, its a kind of votes that hes cast against child nutrition programs. The fact that he is voted against money that we needed for further immunization. The denial of polio shots to kids where the parents couldnt afford to get that kind of shot. No i dont really believe that hes identifying with the concerns of people in poverty. Tom, a question for senator bentsen. Senator bentsen i like to take it back to the question i judy asked you about michael did caucus. Its one of the cutting issues of Foreign Policy in the last eight years, you and michael seem to be opposing in that i have been told in a close session with u. S. Senate, you were one of the most eloquent states like speeches on behalf that everyone had made in the eight years of the reagan term. That in fact, you alluded to the threat that assent an easter regime good oppose the state of texas. Governor dukakis has described it as immoral and illegal. Is he wrong . Governor dukakis and i have disagreed on this program, no question about that. But my big difference with this administration is they look at the contract program, and its the only way to resolve that problem. They concentrate on that. And i really think we have to get give this a chance. And thats why i have been such a strong support of this plan. A blend that wanted a noble prize for president of costa rica. I believe you have to work with the leaders of other Central American countries, to try to bring about the democratization of nicaragua. By negotiation, by pressure, by counseling, by diplomatic pressure. We ought to be trying that first. That in concentrating so much just on the disintegration has not paid enough attention to the rest of Central America. The concern i have is that we have a country with 85 Million People showing a 2000 mile border with us, with half of those people under the age of 15. A country that set a standard of living cut 50 , in the last six years. Now, we ought to be concerned about that, and we ought to be involved. I was born and reared on that mexican board. I speak their language. I spent a good part of my life down there. Some governar dukakis speaks spanish to. He spent a good deal of time in central in south america. And we believe, that we ought to be working together with a new alliance, bringing other countries to help. Bringing the europeans, the spanish, who have a real affinity for that area. Bringing in the japanese, who have a great capital circus down in looking for places to invested. Those are the kind of th