PERKINS: Ambassador Braun, a memo from the secretary of defense questions whether we are actually winning the war on terror, questions our intelligence. CIA Director George Tenet now under fire, a Clinton appointee.
Whose head should roll here?
And furthermore, everybody up here is going to say that the commander in chief needs to provide a plan, but what is your plan specifically for getting us out of this mess?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, I have been consistent from the beginning. I opposed this war, and I raised the question of how much it would cost the American people, even before our troops were committed there.
Having said that, I stand with the mothers of the young men and women who are there, and believe that, as Americans, we have to bring our troops home but we have to bring them home with honor. We blew the place up; we have to fix it back.
And at present, the United Nations and none of the – happily, we're moving toward internationalizing the force, but even the United Nations won't put troops in the ground there because it's too dangerous.
I think we have to do what we can do to give our troops the support. Some of those young men and women are sitting out there in the desert without even basic supplies. It is an outrage the way we are treating our own service men and women in this effort.
And by the way, those who are injured, like Shoshanna Johnson, are not getting the kind of support they need when they come back home.
It's just wrong the way the Defense Department is handling this and this administration is handling our troops.
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They're not supporting the troops, they're just supporting their friends with big contracts to rebuild Iraq and to make more money.
CAMERON: Ambassador Braun, you've urged the current administration repeatedly to negotiate peace and to deal with other nations, and an opportunity for you, perhaps, to go back and clear the record over something in the past.
It has been reported repeatedly that in 1996, as a senator, against the wishes of the U.S. government, you visited Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, someone who, at the time, was recognized worldwide as a murderous dictator.
How does that association play to your ability to be a peace- minded commander in chief?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, when you consider – thank you for the question.
When you consider that I have 20 years in public life and have a long record of advocating and fighting for human rights around the world – I led the fight in the state of Illinois to withdraw our support of the apartheid regime in South Africa. I know a number of African leaders, as a result of my work over time.
As the only African-American in the United States Senate, it was not inappropriate for me to visit countries in Africa, including Nigeria. And as I did so…
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And as I did so, on my own dime, by the way, and on private time, I never went…
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… the State Department never had anything to say to me about any of my private travels.
But the – specifically when you mention with regard to the late General Abacha, I went to his son's funeral. I did not make a PC judgment that it was inappropriate to go to that funeral.
But having said that, I must tell you that my human-rights record remains unblemished. My reputation and my record of integrity in office remains unscarred. And I am standing here before the American people offering my services, someone who knows her way around the world.
Thank you.
CARL CAMERON: This one for you, Ambassador Braun, a question about jobs, manufacturing in particular. Here in Detroit, there's been a great loss of manufacturing jobs, a problem that most of the Democrats have complained about during the course of this campaign.
In the context of trade, Ambassador, it has been embraced by Republican and Democratic presidents alike, that those jobs that may go overseas as a consequence of trade can be replaced through job training. Apparently it isn't working.
So what's the solution? Should we pull back on our international trade deals?
CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: I think the first thing we have to do is make certain that the globalization of trade does not create a race to the bottom, that creates the exploitation of workers abroad and the hemorrhaging of jobs here at home.
We have an absolutely responsibility…
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… an absolute responsibility to see to it that our country retains a vital and robust manufacturing base, because manufacturing is central to our ability to create goods for the rest of the world.
And in so doing, that's going to require a number of things. We need to take a look at the tax code and the way it works to impair the ability of people to manufacture.
But my big issue on manufacturing and what we can do to help is health-care reform. If we can take the burden…
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… of health care off of our manufacturers, if we can take the burden of health care off our small business, have a single-payer system of health care that will give coverage to every American…
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… that will go a long way to building up our manufacturing base and resolving some of our trade deficit issues.
IFILL: Ambassador Braun, the last financial statements show that your campaign actually has very little money. You are the only woman in this race, yet your base of support seems to be at least thin. What is your break-out strategy?
CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: Break-out strategy – I think that we have a vibrant, robust campaign. I am very excited about putting this campaign effort together. We are doing very well in the polls, as you know, beating a number of candidates who have been out in the field for over a year and have 20 times the money we have. We've got a grassroots effort.
So if break-out strategy means working with people and talking to voters one-on-one, retail strategy, I am happy to do that. That's how I've always won elections. You know, my whole career has been a matter of bringing people together and building bridges and breaking down barriers.
And I've made history before when people said I couldn't win. And I intend to make history again and take the “men only” sign off the White House door.
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Since I have another second, let me just tell a quick story. When I first ran for office, they told me, “Don't run, you can't possibly win. The blacks won't vote for you because you're not part of the Chicago machine. The whites won't vote for you because you're black. And nobody is going to vote for you because you're a women.”
I got in the race. I won. I have been winning elections ever since.
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People vote for their interests, and they will vote for me.
We have now reached the point in the debate where each of the candidates will have one minute to sum up the statements of the evening, starting with Senator Kerry.
BRAUN: Thank you very much.
You know, this race is not about the people on this stage or even George Bush; it's about you. It's about the people in this country.
And I believe our country is at a crossroads. If the Bush bait- and-switch administration stays in place for another four years, we won't recognize America.
I believe that it is time for women to have a chance to be heard and to renew this country.
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I am qualified to do this job, and I'm ready to take the “men only” sign off the White House door…
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… but I need your help to do it.
I hope everyone here commits themselves to register voters and to let people know that every vote counts, in spite of the 2000 election. We have a responsibility to our children to make sure that we leave them no less opportunity, no less hope, no less freedom than our ancestors left us.
And if we are to do honor to our ancestors and justice to our children, we have to come together to make certain that these people do not continue to bait and switch and take our country and take the promise of our country away from us.
It is time for another direction. I'm the clearest alternative to George Bush. I don't look like him, I don't talk like him, I don't act like him…
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… I don't think like him. And I can put this country on the right track as president of the United States.
Thank you.