Asked to own up to a mistake they had made in the past, the candidates responded:
Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri:
“I voted for the Reagan tax cuts in 1981. I tried to pass an alternative that I thought was much better, much fairer. We didn’t get it done. And then I had to face a vote of `Are you for a tax cut at all or not?’ I voted for it. I thought we needed a tax cut to get the economy moving. In retrospect, that wasn’t a good vote, and if I had it back, I would have voted the other way.”
Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina:
“I voted for No Child Left Behind because I believe in accountability, I believe in standards, I believe that every child is entitled to a quality education, but, the truth is, if we put too much faith in a Bush administration administering that policy, and I’ve seen what’s happened on the ground, it’s been devastating.”
Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois:
“[As a senator] I went to the funeral of a friend who had been assassinated [the son of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha], and the right wing was able to convert that into `dancing with dictators’ and overturned a 25-year record of fighting for human rights.”
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts:
“In the first race I ever ran, I came under withering attack, and it was the first time that negative advertising had taken place, and even negative attacks from a newspaper. I made the great mistake of thinking you didn’t have to defend yourself. I have learned now, and I will never, ever make that mistake again …”
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio:
“I was mayor of Cleveland over 25 years ago … and one of the things that I’m not so proud of is–and the biggest mistake I think I made–was I fired the chief of police, live on the 6 o’clock news on Good Friday. If any of you can top that, I’ll yield to you. But let’s say that in the years since, I have learned a certain amount of diplomacy and actually have reconciled with that gentleman.”
Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut:
“I would say one that comes quickest to mind is that early in my career in the state Senate in Connecticut, I was more focused on the rights of criminals than the rights of victims of crime. I think in our system of justice, we have to be focused on both, and I have been since then.”
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean:
“Well, as you know, I have a reputation for saying exactly what I think, and while the words may not be precise, the meaning is not hard to figure out. But one of the mistakes I’ve made was in this campaign, when I accused John Edwards of having said one thing to the California state convention and something else to [explain] his position. I was wrong about that. I wrote him a letter of apology, and I apologize again today.”
