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How come Tim Russert did not ask these questions?
Jun 6, 2005
Mehlman on NBC Meet the Press: Long on Rhetoric and Short on Facts
Washington, DC - Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney issued the following statement regarding Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman's appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press":
"With a smooth command of GOP talking points, Ken Mehlman was long on rhetoric and short on facts, which seems to be the GOP mantra these days. He once again showed how out of touch the Republican leadership really is with the realities facing the American people," said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney.
"Even more troubling, Ken Mehlman stood by the ethically challenged leadership of Tom DeLay. DeLay's repeated efforts to trade legislative access for fundraising favors, extravagant junkets, and handouts to his corporate cronies reflects the reckless abuse of power that has become a trademark of Republican leadership in this country. This behavior may represent the values of the Republican Party, but it doesn't represent the values of the American people. Democrats believe that Americans deserve more from their leaders."
THE KEN MEHLMAN ACTION FIGURE – WITH NEW IMPROVED TALKING POINT ACTION
Today on Meet The Press, Ken Mehlman continued his practice of spouting rosy rhetoric, even while Americans experience a very different reality. Repeatedly, Mehlman spouted the line that he "respectfully disagreed" with Tim Russert's statements – even when the facts blatantly contradicted his talking points. The economy is stalled, job creation slowed to a standstill, and the deficit is the largest in history. But instead of offering America real solutions, Ken Mehlman insisted that everything is fine. He even touted Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has repeatedly tried to to trade legislative access for fundraising favors, extravagant junkets, and handouts to his corporate cronies, as "an effective leader." On issue after issue, Ken Mehlman chose to follow Republican talking points instead of coming clean with the American people.
MEHLMAN'S RHETORIC: THE ECONOMY IS DOING GREAT
AMERICA'S REALITY: ECONOMY "HITTING THE BRAKES"
Job Creation Close to a Standstill. "The nation added only 78,000 jobs in May, less than half the pace of the previous three months and the smallest monthly increase in nearly two years," the Labor Department reported today. A total of 78,000 jobs were created, less than half of what Wall Street analysts had predicted.
About 80 Percent of New Jobs Created Pay an Average Hourly Wage Lower Than The National Average. About 2.9 million of the new jobs that have been created since August 2003 are in the service sector with an average wage that is 40 cents lower than the national average. More than 256,000 of these jobs are temporary jobs. More than 851,000 of these jobs were in low-paying domestic industries, such as wait staff in restaurants and bars and retail workers. This means that more than 30 percent of the new jobs created are temporary jobs or in low-paying domestic industries.
U.S. Economy Is Hitting the Brakes; GDP Growth at Slowest Rate in 2 Years. The nation's GDP grew at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 200 — much slower than the 3.8 percent growth in the final quarter of 2004, and the slowest rate since 1.9 percent growth in the first quarter of 2003. Activity slowed across most of the economy, including lower consumer spending and corporate investment. "Final demand" — real purchases by companies and individual —expanded only 1.9 percent in the first quarter. The remainder of the 3.1 percent expansion "was a result of an $80 billion surge in the accumulation of inventories."
MEHLMAN'S RHETORIC: WE ARE REDUCING THE DEFICIT
AMERICA'S REALITY: DEFICIT EVEN WORRIES CHAIRMAN GREENSPAN
Each American's Current Share of National Debt Is More Than $26,000; Greenspan Expresses Worries Over Deficit. Bush's deficits have increased the national debt to $7.7 trillion—totaling $26,248 for each man, woman, and child in the United States. In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on April 21, Alan Greenspan testified that "Unless that trend is reversed, at some point these deficits could cause the economy to stagnate or worse… The federal budget deficit is on an unsustainable path, in which large deficits result in rising interest rates and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years."
MEHLMAN'S RHETORIC: TOM DELAY IS AN EFFECTIVE LEADER
AMERICA'S REALITY: DELAY AND THE ETHICS COMMITTEE, THEY MEET WAY TOO MUCH:
ADMONISHMENT 1: DeLay Received Private Admonishment for Continuing with Gingrich's K Street Project. In 1999, the House Ethics Committee sent a letter to DeLay privately admonishing him for pushing the Electronics Industry Association to hire former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-NY) as a lobbyist instead of former Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-OK). The plan was part of DeLay's push to load K Street power lobbying firms with Republicans, which he re-launched in 2004, despite being admonished for it by the Ethics Committee in 1999.
ADMONISHMENT 2: House Ethics Committee Admonished DeLay for Bribes for Votes. DeLay violated House standard procedure and kept the 15-minute House vote on Medicare open for 3 hours. Later on, the House Ethics Committee conducted an investigation into whether DeLay threatened and bribed representatives into voting the Medicare law, including a large contribution of "$100,000-plus" for the campaign of the son of a member of Congress.
ADMONISHMENT 3-A: Westar Traded Cash To DeLay in Exchange for "Seat At The Table" During Energy Bill Negotiations. An energy company, Westar, gave more than $56,000 in cash to DeLay for a "seat at the table" during energy bill negotiations. As a result, language was added to a bill that specifically benefited Westar.
ADMONISHMENT 3-B: DeLay Abused Leadership Position and Used Influence To Track Private Airplane. DeLay abused his leadership position and used his influence to direct the Department of Homeland Security track a private airplane carrying Democratic members of the Texas legislature who were rebelling against a DeLay-led Texas redistricting plan.
ADMONISHMENT 4, PENDING: Committee Will Decide Whether to Pursue Action Based on TRMPAC. The House Ethics Committee deferred action on another complaint dealing with DeLay's fundraising group TRMPAC. A Texas grand jury in September 2004 indicted three of DeLay's political associates on charges of using TRMPAC to illegally collect corporate donations and funnel them to Texas legislative races. The ethics committee said it will take no action on the matter "pending further action" concerning the indictments or the Texas-based investigation that prompted them.
MEHLMAN'S RHETORIC: PERSONAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS ARE JUST LIKE THE THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN
AMERICA'S REALITY: TSP "UNWORKABLE" AS MODEL FOR BUSH PLAN
Bush Plan Much Different than Thrift Savings Plan; Modelling Called "Not Workable." "Bush's proposed accounts differ substantially from the 19-year-old TSP. Moreover, they would be much more difficult to run than the TSP and have far higher administrative costs than the president and his supporters let on, some experts say. 'It's a non-starter,' said Francis X. Cavanaugh, a designer of the TSP. "There's no way they can do this without an enormous federal subsidy. . . . This has to do with workability, no matter how one feels about it philosophically, and it's not workable."
For Federal Workers, TSP Only Supplements Federal Pension and Social Security. "For most federal employees, the TSP serves as one leg of a 'three-legged stool' of retirement income; the other two are the traditional Social Security benefit and a government pension. But because many businesses no longer offer defined-benefit pensions, many employees in the private sector have only a two-legged stool — their 401(k) plan plus Social Security. The money that workers divert to Bush's personal accounts, plus 3 percent interest, would come out of their guaranteed Social Security benefit. So, in effect, the president would be shaving down one of the legs and hoping that a new one — the individual account — would grow at least enough to compensate for the loss."
Annual Administrative Costs for Small Busineses Would Eat Up 30 Percent of Yearly Profits. Based on surveys of administrative costs for firms that set up 401(k)s for companies with 10 or fewer employees, the annual cost per worker amounted to more than $300. For an account of $1,000 (the maximum under the president's proposal), a cost of $300 per worker would require more than a 40 percent investment return just to get the fund back to $1,000 at the end of the year. <"Feasibility of Social Security Individual Accounts", Francis X. Cavanaugh, AARP Public Policy Institute, #2002-14, 9/02; Statement of Francis X. Cavanaugh, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means, 6/18/98>
MEHLMAN'S RHETORIC:
DEMOCRATS NEVER SAID THEY'D WORK WITH US
AMERICA'S REALITY: DEMOCRATS HAVE SAID THEY WILL NEGOTIATE WHEN PRIVATIZATION IS OFF THE TABLE
Pelosi Said Remove Privatization, Then Democrats will negotiate. "I join my colleague, Mr. Rangel, the Ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, when we say: 'Remove the poison pill of privatization, and Democrats will come to the table with our ideas, with our commitment, and with our cooperation to address the problem that exists, not a crisis, but the problem that exists in Social Security down the road."
Reid Said Democrats Would Negotiate on Social Security When Private Accounts Were Off the Table. "The Senate Democratic leader said Democrats will only enter negotiations with Bush 'once he takes privatization off the table.' Reid was referring to Bush's call for creating private accounts within the current Social Security system."
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