October 6, 2004

Are They Serious?

After listening to part of the Cheney-Edwards debate and viewing the rest on teevee, I've gotta ask this question of the democrats: Are they serious when they tell us that John Edwards is qualified to be vice president? C'mon. He's gotta be a place-holder for some kind of October surprise, right? Kerry's gonna dump him and put Bill Clinton on the ticket, right?

Edwards comes off as a slightly more serious Dan Quayle - too young, too eager and too inexperienced to lead the world's most important nation in a critical time of war.

Serious times demand serious leaders who address serious issues seriously. But on the serious issues of the day, Edwards, like his ticketmate Kerry, is often missing in action.

Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that's not very distinguished. You've missed 33 out of 36 meetings in the Judiciary Committee, almost 70 percent of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee.

You've missed a lot of key votes: on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform. Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you "Senator Gone." You've got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate.

Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.

Debate transcript here.