Posted on 09/08/2008 2:35:24 PM PDT by Red Steel
BOSTON -
Longshot U.S. Senate candidate Ed O’Reilly battered incumbent Sen. John Kerry over his vote to authorize the Iraq war and his delivery of funding to Massachusetts, and questioned his commitment to serve out a full term, but failed to inflict major damage on the four-term senator during a brief debate Friday.
O'Reilly grew up in Watertown and has deep ties to the town.
In what will likely be their only staged debate, scheduled for air on WBZ-TV Sunday at 8:30 am, O’Reilly also accused Kerry of not doing enough to help other Democratic candidates, a charge Kerry called “plain, flat untrue.”
Kerry said he was proud of his record, and eager to return to Washington to continue his work. He repeatedly linked himself to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, noting that he was the first elected official of national standing to endorse Obama.
Standing next to one another at podiums in the station’s Brighton studios with moderator Jon Keller, the political commentator, Kerry and O’Reilly battled over Kerry’s motivations behind his 2002 vote to authorize military action in Iraq.
O’Reilly, a Gloucester attorney, twice read from Kerry adviser Robert Shrum’s book recounting how Kerry had asked him before the vote about the political ramifications, and said Kerry should have read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Kerry said he had consulted with senior national security and intelligence officials, and called that better due diligence.
Kerry also knocked O’Reilly for not being politically active in the presidential election, and swiped at him for not having a “full-time job.”
Irking Kerry at the end of the debate, O’Reilly asked if Kerry would commit to serve out his full six-year term if re-elected.
Accusing O’Reilly of breaking the rules, Kerry said, “I’ve said consistently, I am only running for one job, I’m not asking for any other job, I’m not looking for any other job. I intend to serve my term if I’m elected, and that’s what I’m doing.”
O’Reilly later said Kerry has been angling to become secretary of state.
Kerry told reporters afterward, “Don’t waste your breath about this, folks. I’m running for re-election. You can’t make predictions or sit around about the future, and I’m not going to do that.”
The debate, which will air during Keller’s half-hour show on Sunday, featured less than 19 minutes of question-and-answer exchanges.
Asked how to protect a federal line item for technology sector funding, O’Reilly stumbled, offering a muddled answer about building coalitions and turning to the Department of Commerce. Kerry turned his answer into a discussion of his committee posts and recent funding he had helped land for the state.
Kerry, reluctant to engage with the underdog, signaled that he would not relent to another debate. “This is what we agreed to, this is what we negotiated,” he said after the debate. “We’ve done it.”
Asked how he thought the debate went, Kerry, whose last campaign debate was against President George W. Bush, replied, “It was fine. It went.”
When a reporter asked about his best moment during the debate, O’Reilly replied, “When I didn’t faint.”
“It was my first debate, I don’t think I’ve ever had a debate before,” he said. “I think that that was probably my best moment, was what I didn’t do.”
O’Reilly has challenged Kerry to at least 23 joint appearances, in all 14 counties, on college campuses, and on TV.
“It was very short,” O’Reilly said. “There were a lot of issues I wanted to get into that I thought were relevant, special interests and money in politics. I wish we could’ve gotten into that. You know, I think it went well, but you know, there’s a lot more we need to discuss. I wish we had more debates, I think that we could get into the issues a little bit more deeply.”
The winner of the Sept. 16 primary will face Republican Jeff Beatty in November.
Kerry arrived at the WBZ studios with dozens of sign-holding backers chanting his name as his minivan pulled up. O’Reilly, who emailed supporters earlier in the week asking them not to come because the debate should not be taken seriously due to its format and brevity, arrived earlier this morning.
Donkey fight?
Who cares.
Is there a Republican running against whatever Donkey survives the infighting?
Probably some no-name local businessman with no financial or national support.
The RNC should wake up.
After all, the FIRST BLACK SENATOR was EDMUND BROOKE, a REPUBLICAN from MASSACHUSETTS!!
They could do it again, if they would just get their act together.
Only in MA would Kerry be the “conservative” in the race. I know, I lived there for a while.
Brooke was not the first black senator, but the first one in the modern era (post-Reconstruction). Hillary Rodham tore into him in the speech she gave at her commencement (which he was attending as an honored guest).
Of course, it's also true that the Reconstruction-era black senators were Republicans.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were that easy? :-)
Two Democrats on TV for a 19-minute debate.
Yeah, I’d say that’s about par for the course. The limit of brain power without having to nap.
> Brooke was not the first black senator, but the first one
> in the modern era (post-Reconstruction).
Thank you for the correction.
> Hillary Rodham tore into him in the speech she gave at
> her commencement (which he was attending as an honored
> guest).
I didn’t know about this, either. Was her basis that he was a “Tom” to be a Republican?
I plan to vote against O'Reilly or Kerry in the general election.
I forget the details but I think it was that he was too “establishment” and not left-wing enough—I don’t think she actually called him an Uncle Tom. That was after doing her senior thesis on Saul Alinsky so that’s where she was coming from.
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