Respond to Bush Deceit About the $87 Billion

[Eric J in MN]

Bush and Cheney are going around the country saying that John Kerry didn't support the troops because he voted against the $87 billion.

They neglect to say that Bush threatened to veto the $87 billion bill if part of the money was in the form of a loan.

They also don't say that Bush presented the $87 billion request in only 53 pages (there should have been thousands of pages to account for where that much money is going) in a request which included $50,000 garbage trucks.

PLEASE EMAIL THE MEDIA WHENEVER YOU SEE A STORY ABOUT THE $87 BILLION WHICH LEAVES OUT IMPORTANT FACTS.

More facts about the $87 billion are at MoveLeft.com:
http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_07_22_respond_to_bush_deceit_about_the_87_billion_for_Iraq.asp

[BeFree]

1. Thanks

For the reminder.... some things ya just want to forget about. The wasted $87 billion is one of those things.... sigh. Glad JK voted no. He done good.

[donco6]

2. My district budget is 52 million, and it's over 100 pages.

Do the math. He must have had some SERIOUS consolidation of functions/objects going on. Does Congress not have some sort of minimum requirement for budget presentations? We are required by LAW to report up to a certain level of detail. PLUS, we have to include comparisons of prior years, list prior two years actuals, plus budget forecasts, impact on property taxes, etc. etc. Do they have to do none of this? Grrr.

BTW, I'm not sure $50,000 is out of line for a garbage truck. We spend $60,000 per school bus, and functionality-wise, a garbage truck is pretty complicated.

[imax2268]

3. Yup...

right now his Defense buddies are making out like bandits...raking in the money...!

[donco6]

5. Does war profiteering not carry a bad connotation anymore?

I remember not too long ago that profiting from war was looked at as immoral. Evidently, this is part of the new family values I'm so divorced from.

[Eric J in MN]

7. Senate Democrats tried to add an amendment against war profiteering

but the Republcans stopped them.

[billybob537]

8. Can you say CARLISLE GROUP?

[Eric J in MN]

6. But the Bush request called for $153 million on garbage trucks

for 3,060 trucks, so ideally, there would be a discount for buying so many at once to bring the price below $50,000.

Since the Iraqis had garbage trucks before the war, it's unclear why they needed over 3,000 new ones.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. It was an incompetent, greedy, bill

A president who holds up the Homeland Security Department unless he can destroy unions and crush workers or who threatens to villify anyone who votes against a Halliburton giveaway that doesn't even do the job is the real problem.

This is how Kerry and Edwards need to respond: we wanted to help the troops, but we didn't like this bill because it was opportunism. (The earlier example is just something I've had stuck in my craw since the mid-term elections.)

[Peachhead22]

9. I think our response should be...

When Bush, or whoever, repeats that "Kerry didn't vote for money for the troops", we (and Kerry) should come back with "Bullshit! Of course Kerry voted to fund the troops". Leave it at that, don't explain further (at this point of the exchange), don't split hairs about different versions of the bill. Just cut and dried.

If they want to push the meme make _them_ have to hem and haw and have to explain "Wll, Kerry didn't vote for OUR VERSION of the bill".

If need be, Kerry can shoot back with "I voted for the full amount in our more reponsible version. I didn't vote for their version because..." and then explain further.

We need more memes, we need more soundbites. Not nuance, not long-winded explanations. Not at this point of the campaign.

[Eric J in MN]

10. You can email that to reporters,

I'm just askng people to respond by email when reporters don't tell the full story on the $87 billion.