It was the defining moment of the vice-presidential debate: CEO Dick Cheney took the upstart junior exec John Edwards to the woodshed. "You've missed 33 out of 36 meetings of the Judiciary Committee, almost 70 percent of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee," Cheney said, "You've missed a lot of key votes on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform. ? You've got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate." And now you think you deserve my job, you could almost hear Cheney thinking.
John Edwards needed to reassure Americans that he was capable of stepping into the presidency if necessary. Edwards failed, utterly. Will it make a difference in the ultimate outcome of the election? Probably not, but it should. Dan Quayle's callow performance in the 1992 vice-presidential debates, while not a decisive factor in the race, is estimated to have cost the Republicans a couple of percentage points on Election Day. In an election as tight as the 2004 contest, voters ought to hold Edwards accountable for his inexperience and indifference to his sworn duty as a United States senator.
Why should voters trust a man who has so disregarded his obligations as an elected official? Edwards -- a multimillionaire -- continues to draw his $158,100 salary in the Senate, but has been AWOL from the Senate for most of the last two years. His even richer running mate, Sen. John Kerry, too, has neglected his duties, missing 72 percent of the 119 recorded votes in 2003 alone. Both men apparently believe they have the right to live off the taxpayers, while competing for a promotion to the top jobs in government. When faced with a similar decision in 1996, Bob Dole did the honorable thing: He resigned both as majority leader of the Senate and as senator from Kansas.
Edwards tried to forestall an attack on his shallow record by saying, "a long resume does not equal good judgment." But neither Edwards nor Kerry has shown much judgment by holding on to no-show jobs. Whether you're talking about an assembly line worker or the chairman of the board, attendance records like Senators Edwards' and Kerry's would get anyone else fired.
Their willingness to ignore their official duties -- which both men have taken a solemn oath to uphold -- is a major character flaw. It cuts to the heart of whether or not these men can be trusted to do what they promise. For months, Kerry and Edwards have hammered President Bush on what they claim is a credibility gap. They have accused him of lying, deceiving and misleading the public. Edwards did it again last night. "You are not being straight with the American people," he said in reference to the situation in Iraq.