Oct. 30 Democratic debate transcript

Williams: We're going to try to enforce this time limit.

Senator Biden?

Biden: A big piece of that cost is risk. People are betting on things getting worse. That old joke, you know: When you're in a hole, you should stop digging.

Why do we continue to cause the price of oil to rise by continuing to rattle the saber with Iran? Why do we continue to cause the price of oil to rise by a foreign policy that is absolutely moribund of any center?

And what we have to do immediately to take care of those people in Iowa and New Hampshire: provide for emergency fuel assistance.

Williams: Senator Edwards?

Edwards: Well, what we can do in the short term -- and I will do as president -- is ensure that my Justice Department investigates what these oil companies who are vertically integrated, you know, from refinery to pump, are doing.

But I think there's something else that -- we've talked a lot about being straight with people tonight. I think it's really important that every four years the presidential candidates roll through Iowa and New Hampshire, promise this, promise that, promise this.

Here's the truth: We need to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war.

And I want to be the president who says to America, we're in this together. We're going to have to be willing to sacrifice. If we love this country enough, we're going to have to conserve, in our homes, in our workplaces, and alter our behavior to make America what it's capable of being.

Williams: Senator Clinton?

Clinton: Well, I agree with everything that my colleagues have just said. I think it's important that we do have enough money in LIHEAP. It's a battle we fight every year against the Republicans. That's the program to help consumers pay their bills. We should have a crash program on weatherization, which will help to drive those bills down.

We need to do more to investigate, as John says, and we might even have to look at the strategic petroleum reserve, which the Bush administration has been filling up beyond any expectation of need for the short term, at least. But we also have to have a serious move toward energy efficiency and conservation. And that is where we need to get people to be more conscious to do it for themselves.

Williams: Senator Obama?

Obama: As Joe pointed out, out of the $90 that it's costing right now for a barrel, about 30 percent of that is just risk.

It's not dictated by supply and demand. If we can lower the rhetoric, with respect to military action in the Middle East, that will have an immediate impact.

All the other suggestions that have been made are sound. But one of the things that we have to do, with respect to conservation is increase fuel efficiency standards on cars.

And we have to make that commitment not just by going to environmentalist groups and saying we're going to do it but doing what I did, which is go to Detroit, talking to the auto makers. Joe and I have been working on legislation that would provide them the incentives to start making those shifts.

Williams: Congressman Kucinich?

Kucinich: Everyone knows that the war against Iraq was about oil. This administration was trying to gain control of Iraq's oil, with the help of Congress. It's time we had a president who stood for the Constitution and international law.

And that's exactly what I'll do.

Everyone knows that the saber-rattling against Iran is driving up the price of oil. We have to stop the war in Iraq, bring our troops home, end the occupation, have an international security and peacekeeping force that moves in as our troops leave.

We have to stop planning for war against Iran. We have to insist that we enforce the Constitution of the United States, which this president continues to violate, and, again, I state that the president and the vice president should be subject to impeachment.

Then we can start to get control of our energy policies by rejecting this doctrine of preemption, which is not worthy of this nation.

Williams: Thank you. Thank you, Congressman.

Governor Richardson?

Richardson: You need an energy revolution in this country -- an Apollo program that does the following: one, reduces consumption of fossil fuels by 50 percent by 2020. Fuel efficiency -- I'm going to be specific -- 50 miles per gallon. A renewable portfolio standard -- in other words, all electricity in America -- 30 percent renewable sources.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2040; by 30 percent by 2020. A cap-and-trade system.

Energy efficiency, too. You got to ask the American people to sacrifice a little bit. What does that mean? That means when we use appliances, mass transit, air conditioning, that we all bound together to reduce this dependence on foreign oil that affects our national security, when 65 percent of your oil is imported.

When the planet -- when the planet is polluted by fossil fuels and manmade pollution, it is American leadership, and it's presidential leadership, and it has to be an energy revolution, not these little energy bills that the Congress keeps passing that are meaningless.

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