Ned Lamont in Connecticut 2006 Senate general campaign Debate

On Principles & Values: Challenging Bush is checks-and-balances, not partisanship

LIEBERMAN: One of the major problems in Washington is too much partisanship. The best way to fix Washington is to elect people who will stand up & do what's right regardless of the political consequences. Someone who will work across party lines to get things done for the people they serve. That's what I've done for 18 years. Negativity and partisan game-playing couldn't have accomplished anything.

LAMONT: I don't think it's bipartisan to rubber-stamp George Bush's rush to war in Iraq. That's a time we needed checks and balances, and tough questions asked. Every time someone says it's time for a change, Sen. Lieberman suggests they're too partisan, or too negative. We got ourselves into this mess not because we asked too many questions, but because we asked too few.

SCHLESINGER: The Senator likes to bring up partisanship all the time. Partisanship is not the problem in Iraq. Being a crutch to the Maliki government may be the problem.

On War & Peace: The stay-the-course strategy is a recipe for failure

LIEBERMAN: I'm not prepared to give up on Iraq and I'm not prepared to fail. Ned Lamont has embraced a proposal for withdrawal by July 2007. To me, that's not a plan for success, that's retreat and a recipe for disaster, and it will deeply hurt the American people.

LAMONT: During George Bush's rush to war in Iraq, we needed checks & balances, and tough questions asked. But every step of the way, there was Senator Lieberman saying "stay the course," and I think that was wrong. And here we are, years later, with our troops stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war. It's time for us to challenge the old thinking. We got ourselves into this mess not because we asked too many questions, but because we asked too few. With this election, we're going to start asking the tough questions again. Question #1 is How can we get our troops home safely? Joe Lieberman & George Bush's stay-the-course strategy - that's the recipe for failure.

On Energy & Oil: Cheney Energy Bill lost chance for comprehensive energy plan

LIEBERMAN: The Energy Bill has the most substantial incentives for energy conservation and alternative energy that Congress has ever adopted.

LAMONT: The real problem with that energy bill was along with production incentives, that was the time to put efficiency standards, to put together a comprehensive energy plan that would have meant real energy independence. For Sen. Lieberman to sign onto that bill we lost that opportunity.

On Energy & Oil: Focus on incentives & conservation to reduce oil dependence

LIEBERMAN: This is an outrage. People are being cheated. Last December, in the midst of the heating oil season, I submitted legislation that would impose a 50% Excess Profits Tax on oil companies for really undeserved profits and return that money to low- and middle-income consumers to help them pay bills.

SCHLESINGER: With all due respect, Joe, been there, done that. The last time we did, interest rates was to 14%, you couldn't get a mortgage, oil prices skyrocketed, and it just didn't work. Pres. Reagan repealed that Excess Profits Tax, and immediately oil prices fell to a 20-year low, and stayed therefore about 20 years. So that's not the solution.

LAMONT: Front and center to deal with energy prices is that we've got to deal with our dependence on oil, with incentives and conservation to allow that to happen.

On Homeland Security: North Korea: Negotiation is not appeasement

LAMONT: While we have been bogged down in Iraq, the world has become a much more dangerous place. In each case, first and foremost, it's time for hard-headed direct negotiations --negotiations backed up by sanctions, and negotiations are always backed up by the threat of force. Negotiation is not a form of appeasement - it's one of the tools in our toolbox for dealing with these rogue nations, and we've got to use it.

SCHLESINGER: North Korea can be dealt with either bilaterally or in 6-way talks. In Iran, Ahmadinejad has 18 nuclear facilities, 6 enriched nuclear warheads, and that's not for energy purposes.

LIEBERMAN: With regards to both Iran and North Korea, we need to first use economic and diplomatic sanctions. But they must know that in the final analysis, the US and our allies are prepared to stop Iran from becoming nuclear, and to stop North Korea from selling any of its nuclear weapons to terrorists.

On Homeland Security: Iran: Cannot negotiate while we're calling for regime change

SCHLESINGER: Haven't we learned anything from history? If you think you can negotiate with Ahmadinejad, no, our security is on the line. The guy's playing cat-and-mouse with us. One day he says he'll go with the incentives, and the next day not.

LIEBERMAN: I'm proud that I co-sponsored that bipartisan resolution calling for regime change in Iran because there are some leaders you can't negotiate with. Look at what Ahmadinejad has said. History reminds us in the case of Hitler and Osama bin Laden that they said exactly what they ultimately did. He wants to wipe out Israel and he has told thousands "Imagine a world without the USA; that is possible in our time." We need to be working with people in Iran, who hate this government, to help them overthrow it.