Word: lehrer
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...Amidst all the back-patting, there was one moment of tension: When Gore attempted to trip Bush on his previous pledge to keep U.S. troops out of non-essential deployments, citing the war crimes in Bosnia, Bush fired back: "I don?t know who the questioner is here," prompting Lehrer to rouse himself from his passive observation and briefly regain control of the exchange, patiently reminding the candidates they weren?t allowed to question each other directly...
...possibly the most reductive question ever posed to presidential candidates, Lehrer whipped out a laundry list of past U.S. military interventions, including Lebanon, the Gulf War and Somalia, and asked both for a pro- or con- position statement. Here, Gore?s response was more thoughtful, but Bush got a much-needed chuckle when he reminded Lehrer, "You know, I?ve got kind of a conflict of interest on some of these, if you know what I mean...
...Lehrer pointed out that Bush did not seem particularly interested in sending troops to Africa. The Governor responded with his first head-slapper of the night, saying, "Africa is important? It?s an important continent...
...this point, Lehrer had apparently exhausted every two-minute foreign policy question, so he moved on to domestic issues. And Gore, who had been almost visibly holding back through the first 45 minutes, finally sunk his teeth into the exchange, effectively grilling Bush on failed attempts to pass hate crimes legislation in Texas and managing to paint himself as an ally of both Cheney and Lieberman on the issue of gay marriage. On gun control, the differences were less stark: Gore favoring licensing but vowing to keep his hands off "hunters? and sportsmen?s rifles." Bush held up pretty well...
...This presented the veep with his big chance to pull the "just folks" response: "I don?t know about all these percentages he?s tossing out." Lehrer pushed Bush back to Gore?s accusation, leaving the Governor looking defensive and slightly...