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For Immediate Release
October 6, 2004
BUSH’S DEBATE MULLIGAN:
BUSH’S FOUR SYLLABLES: DES-PER-A-TION
Kerry spokesman Phil Singer: “John Kerry summed it up best in four words: more of the same. George Bush showed it in four syllables; des-per-a-tion. If there was any confusion about whether George Bush is honest with the American people, this speech confirms that he is not. This was a mulligan speech where the President tried to redo the debate from last week by giving a speech full of untruths he couldn’t say on stage with John Kerry because he knew Kerry would knock them down. George Bush needs to get real with the American people and start telling the truth.”
DESPERATE LINES FOR DESPERATE TIMES:
Bush claimed he has a plan for victory in Iraq, but Bush rushed to war without a plan; has no plan to win the peace. Kerry’s plan is a strategy to win.
Bush claimed Kerry doesn’t understand post 9/11 world, but Bush took his eye off the war on terror and al-Qaeda.
Bush got it wrong – Iraq is a terrorist haven NOW, while it was not before.
Bush says problems with economy not his fault, but he hasn’t lived up to his own promises
Bush says Kerry has supported higher taxes, but Kerry voted or cosponsored over 600 tax cuts, and Cheney supported higher taxes, including on Social Security.
Bush attacked Kerry on the deficit, but Bush has taken us from a 5 trillion surplus to a $3 trillion deficit, and has no plan to pay for his trillions of promises.
Bush attacked Kerry’s health care plan with a charge ABC has called not true.
Bush claimed he’s tripled homeland security funding, but that is false.
THE ECONOMY:
BUSH: Bush Making Excuses on the Economy
REALITY: The Economy is 7 million jobs Short of Bush Administration Prediction. The economy needed to create more than 6 million jobs during the Bush administration just to keep up with population growth. In fact, the 2002 Economic Report of the President projected more than 6 million new jobs between January 2001 and August 2004. Instead, we have lost 900,000 million jobs. As a result, we are more than 7 million jobs short of the prediction which President Bush made after 9/11, the tech bubble, and the recession. (BLS and Economic Report of the President, 2002. Note the Economic Report of the President projected an average of 138.3 million jobs in 2004. That corresponds to roughly 138.7 million jobs in August; the actual jobs total in August was 131.5 million.)
Family Income Has Declined $1,535 Under President Bush. Under President Bush the typical family has seen its inflation-adjusted income decline by $1,535, based on the most recent data showing the change from 2000 to 2003. Under President Clinton the typical family saw its inflation-adjusted income rise by $5,489. (Census Bureau)
TAXES:
BUSH: Kerry Has Voted for Higher Taxes
REALITY: Cheney Voted for the Largest Peacetime Tax Increase in History. As a member of Congress, Cheney voted for the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. Cheney voted for 144 tax and fee increases that became law. Cheney voted to increase Social Security taxes – increasing 11 Social Security taxes in his career. Cheney repeatedly voted against the child-care tax credit, one of only 53 House members to oppose final passage in 1987.
1982: Cheney Supported the Largest Tax Hike in Peacetime History. Cheney voted in favor of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 -- the largest peacetime tax hike in history. The plan hiked taxes by $298 billion (over 5 years) in 1993 constant dollars. (HR 4961, 1982 CQ Almanac, vote #289, 84-H; Wall Street Journal, 10/26/94; FY85-90 Federal Budgets, internal calculations; Tax descriptions from the 1982 Congressional Quarterly Almanac)
1983: Cheney Voted for the Social Security Tax Hike of 1983. In 1983, Cheney voted for the Social Security Amendments of 1983. The legislation taxed Social Security benefits, increased taxes for those who are self-employed and increased Social Security payroll taxes. (1983 CQ Almanac p. 219; vote #43, 18-H; HR 1900; tax descriptions from the 1983 Congressional Quarterly Almanac)
BUSH: We Provided Tax Relief
REALITY: Bush Shifted the Tax Burden Onto The Middle Class. “Since 2001, President Bush’s tax cuts have shifted federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget Office has found.” (Washington Post, “Tax Burden Shifts to the Middle,” 8/13/04)
BUSH: Kerry Will Explode the Deficit
REALITY: Bush Has Failed To Balance a Single Budget: $5.6 Trillion Surplus Replaced With $2.3 Trillion Deficit. The $5.6 trillion ten-year surplus projected in January 2001 is gone, replaced with $2.3 trillion in deficits over the next ten years—a fiscal decline of $7.9 trillion in just three years. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the federal budget deficit will be a record $442 billion in 2004. (CBO, The Budget And Economic Outlook: An Update, 9/04)
Bush is More Irresponsible on the Budget. According to the Washington Post, “The expansive agenda President Bush laid out at the Republican National Convention was missing a price tag, but administration figures show the total is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade… The cost of the new tax breaks and spending outlined by Bush at the GOP convention far eclipses that of the Kerry plan.” This is why Goldman Sachs says that, “on the budget, Senator Kerry is more credible.” (Washington Post, “$3 Trillion Price Tag Left Out as Bush Details His Agenda,” 9/14/2004; Goldman Sachs, “Bush vs. Kerry,” 9/10/2004)
BUSH: Kerry Will Raise Taxes on 900,000 Small Businesses
REALITY: “Undoing Tax Cuts Will Have Little Impact on Small Businesses” according to the Wall Street Journal and “Bush Assertion on Tax Cuts Is at Odds With IRS Data” according to the Washington Post. George Bush uses a misleading definition of small business, a definition that factcheck.org points out would include George Bush himself because “He reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise.” The Wall Street Journal says that, “Few of them (small businesses) make enough money to be affected by Sen. Kerry's proposal to undo the Bush tax cuts on those with incomes above $200,000.” Finally, the Bush charges ignore the 35 million small businesses that pay lower taxes under the Kerry proposals – including tax cuts for small businesses that create jobs, provide health insurance, zero capital gains for startup investments in small businesses, and a 5 percent reduction in the corporate rate. (Wall Street Journal, “Undoing Tax Cuts Will Have Little Impact on Small Businesses,” 4/1/2004; Washington Post, “Bush Assertion on Tax Cuts Is at Odds With IRS Data,” 2/24/2004; factcheck.org, “A Bush-Cheney ad says Kerry would raise taxes for 900,000 ‘small businesses’ and ‘hurt jobs.’ It’s a big exaggeration,” 9/23/2004)
HEALTH CARE:
BUSH: Kerry’s Plan Is Government Run.
REALITY: Bush’s Charge is "Not True … Far From It." PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: "I'm running against a fellah who has got a massive, complicated blueprint to have our government take over the decision-making in health care." . . . TERRY MORAN: (Off Camera) "But, but that's not true. John Kerry's plan does not call for a government takeover of the health care system. Far from it." (ABC News, World News Tonight, 9/13/04)
HOMELAND SECURITY:
BUSH: We’ve Tripled Funding For Homeland Security
REALITY: Homeland Security Spending Did Not Come Close To Tripling Under Bush. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), “Gross budget authority for those functions in that year, excluding supplemental appropriations enacted immediately after September 11, totaled about $17 billion. Adding the supplemental appropriations raises that figure by almost $4 billion, bringing total funding for 2001 to $21 billion. The Congress and the President increased that amount to… an estimated $41 billion for 2004.” These CBO estimates are for the homeland security function, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The Bush administration’s own estimates show that the Department of Homeland Security itself did not even see its budget double: growing from $19.7 billion in FY 2001 to $36.5 billion in FY 2004. (CBO, “Federal Funding for Homeland Security,” 4/30/2004 and OMB, Budget FY 2005, page 178)
FOREIGN POLICY:
BUSH: Claimed He Has a Plan for Victory in Iraq
REALITY: Bush Rushed to War Without a Plan; John Kerry Has a Plan to Win
John Kerry Has a Plan to Win the Peace in Iraq. John Kerry and John Edwards believe the following principles should guide American policy in Iraq right now: internationalize, because others must share the burden; train Iraqis, because they must be responsible for their own security; move forward with reconstruction because that's an important way to stop the spread of terror; and help Iraqis achieve a viable government, because it is up to them to run their own country. (www.johnkerry.com)
Bush Rushed To War With No Plan To Win The Peace. Bush told the country that the administration would “plan carefully” for a war in Iraq. Yet in August 2003, the Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared a secret report assessing the post-war planning for Iraq. The report blamed “setbacks in Iraq on a flawed and rushed war-planning process.” It also said “planners were not given enough time” to plan for reconstruction. A New York Times report found that, “A yearlong State Department study predicted many of the problems that have plagued the American-led occupation of Iraq.” The study was produced by experts on Iraq from various fields, yet “several officials said that many of the findings in the $5 million study were ignored by Pentagon officials” until after the war. (Bush Remarks, 10/7/02; Washington Times, 9/3/03, emphasis added; New York Times, 10/19/03)
Members of the President’s Own Party Criticized Failure to Plan. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN): “Clearly, the administration's planning for the post-conflict phase in Iraq was inadequate.” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): “We weren’t prepared for an occupation. We made a tremendous amount of mistakes. We did essentially go after this in a unilateral way.” (Lugar Op-ed, Washington Post, 5/22/03, emphasis added; CNN, “Inside Politics,” 7/1/04, emphasis added)
BUSH: Claims Iraq is the Main Front in the War on Terror
REALITY: BUSH DIVERTED RESOURCES FROM TRUE THREATS
Failing to go After a Cornered Bin Laden The “Gravest Error” in the War on Terror. “The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.” (Washington Post, 4/17/02)
Special Forces Pulled Away From Hunt of Bin Laden to go to Iraq. “In 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq. Their replacements were troops with expertise in Spanish cultures. The CIA, meanwhile, was stretched badly in its capacity to collect, translate and analyze information coming from Afghanistan.” (USA Today, 3/29/04)
Franks Told Graham That Resources Were Being Diverted To Iraq 14 Months Before The Invasion. In an excerpt read NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Senator Bob Graham said Gen. Tommy Franks told him in February 2002 that “his men and resources were being moved to Iraq, where he felt that our intelligence was shoddy. This admission was coming almost 14 months before the beginning of combat operations in Iraq and only five months after the commencement of combat in Afghanistan.” (AP, 9/5/04)
BUSH: Claimed The Khan Smuggling Network has been Shutdown
FACT: Recent Arrests Show the Network May Be Still Active
Arrests of South African and Germans Show A.Q. Khan Network May Still Be Active. A South African man arrested Thursday is suspected of playing a major role in the nuclear black market that supplied Libya, according to American and foreign officials. According to investigators, who could discuss the matter only on the condition of anonymity, Meyer was doing business with two German businessmen who are also being investigated for their ties to South Africa, Libya and the Khan network. German authorities announced that they had arrested a man suspected of selling high-tech equipment on the nuclear black market, the third German businessman named as a suspect in the past month in an investigation into the trade in several countries . The arrests and charges are part of a global investigation, spearheaded by the International Atomic Energy Agency, that extends to about 20 countries. The probe’s focus is a nuclear technology network run by Pakistan’s top atomic scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. (Washington Post, 9/4/04; 9/24/04)
BUSH: Claimed Kerry Said Iraq was Diversion from War on Terror While Saying There are Terrorists in Iraq
FACT: EXPERTS AGREE IRAQ HAS BECOME HAVEN FOR TERRORISM SINCE OUR INVASION
Musharraf Says War Is More Dangerous: “(The world) is more dangerous (because of the war in Iraq). It is not safer, certainly, not…it has aroused the passions of the Muslims more. This arouses certain sentiments of the Muslim world. And then the response is the latest phenomenon of explosives, remotely controlled bombs and suicide bombings. This phenomenon is extremely dangerous.” (CNN, 9/25/04)
Cofer Black Says Iraq Is A Training Ground For Terrorists. “J. Cofer Black, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, told Congress last week: ‘Iraq is currently serving as a focal point for foreign jihadist fighters, who are united in a common goal with former regime elements, criminals and more established foreign terrorist organization members to conduct attacks against coalition and Iraqi civilian targets. These jihadists view Iraq as a new training ground to build their extremist credentials and hone the skills of the terrorist.’” (New York Times, 4/4/04)
Hagel Says Iraq Is A Terrorist Training Ground. According to Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), the American occupation of Iraq “put in motion a new geographic dispersion (of the terrorists). It’s harder to deal with them because they’re not as contained. Iraq has become a training ground.” (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/30/04)
BUSH: Claimed Kerry Called for a ‘Global Test’ Before Defending America
FACT: BUSH’S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY ENDORSES THE GLOBAL TEST
According to the National Security Strategy published in September 2002, the Bush Administration doctrine states: “We will always proceed deliberately, weighing the consequences of our action. To support preemptive options, we will: coordinate closely with allies to form a common assessment of the most dangerous threats.” (National Security Strategy, 9/02)
Cheney Promoted the Global Test: "I know that he will proceed cautiously and deliberately to consider all possible options to deal with the threat that Iraq, ruled by Saddam Hussein, represents. And I am confident that he will, as he said he would, consult widely with our Congress, with our friends and allies around the world before deciding on a course of action." (Cheney, 8/29/02)
WHAT KERRY ACTUALLY SAID: ...no president through all of American history has ever ceded and nor would I the right to pre-empt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America. But if and when you do it, Jim, you've got to do it in a way that passes the test. That passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing. And you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons. (First Presidential Debate (Miami, FL), 9/30/04)
Paid for by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.
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