Subject ==+gt; 2nd Debate Bush Just Doesn't Get It! (Rhetoric vs. Reality) ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД

<<< via P_news >>> From: Subject: ==> 2nd Debate: Bush Just Doesn't Get It! (Rhetoric vs. Reality) ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RHETORIC VS. REALITY GEORGE BUSH JUST DOESN'T GET IT Tonight George Bush proved not only that he's completely lost touch with the lives of Americans, but he also demonstrated again that he can't find the truth. Some highlights: DEFICIT + TAXES RHETORIC: "I don't believe you can grow the deficit down by raising taxes...Give us a balanced budget amendment." REALITY: George Bush has never submitted a balanced budget. George Bush had the second largest tax increase of all time -- a net increase of $125 billion over five years. [Wall Street Journal, 8/12/92] By the Republican method of counting tax increases, George Bush has raised taxes 178 times in only three and a half years -- an average of 51 times a year. [DSG, 9/16/92] Through 1991, Bush has requested $1.1 billion more than Congress has appropriated. Reagan-Bush requested $17.3 billion more than Congress appropriated. [U.S. Hse Cmte on Approp.] Under Bush, the deficit more than doubled -- rising from $153 billion to $333 billion by the end of this year, and the national debt rose 41 percent to $4 trillion -- both record-breaking increases. The debt has quadrupled since Reagan-Bush took office. [U.S. Budget, 1992; CBO] The Clinton/Gore plan would cut the deficit in half over four years. The plan includes $104 billion in tax cuts for the middle-class and the working poor, in addition to those making more than $200,000 each year pay their fair share and closing tax loopholes on foreign corporations. [Putting People First] CRIME AND FEDERAL AID TO POLICE RHETORIC: "We've got more money going out for local police than any previous administration." REALITY: Wrong. In real dollars, the United States spent more money for local law enforcement every year from 1973-1976. [Congressional Research Service, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1990, U.S. Budget FY 1992, 1993] George Bush tried to cut aid to local law enforcement by more than $100 million, or about 20 percent. [New York Times, 3/14/91] This year, he tried to cut law enforcement aid to localities by $117 million, or 16.5 percent. [Senate Judiciary Committee] Under George Bush, violent crime has increased by 25.4 percent, to an all-time record. [FBI, Uniform Crime Index, 9/92] THE WAFFLE HOUSE RHETORIC: "You can't turn the White House into the waffle house..." REALITY: A Bush sampler of flip-flops: * After pledging "no new taxes," Bush signed the second largest tax hike in history -- the 1990 $125 billion tax hike. [Acceptance Speech, 8/18/88; CQ; WSJ, 8/12/92] * After criticizing the trickle-down theory as "voodoo economics" and "economic madness," Bush became a convert. He came to defend the program, saying "It's a very sensible program, which the best economists...in the country support." [Los Angeles Times, 4/11/80; Associated Press, 3/28/80; United Press International, 10/20/80] * After strenously criticizing then-opponent Ronald Reagan for supporting a balanced budget amendment, Bush has made it a standard part of his current economic proposal. [Washington Post, 1/27/79; Agenda for American Renewal] * After proposing and signing the 1989 federal pay raise, Bush recently proposed a 5% pay cut for federal employees earning more than $75,000 annually. [CQ 1990; Acceptance Speech, 8/20/92] * Although Bush once stated: "I happen to think it [Roe v. Wade] was right" he later reversed his position, maintaining that "I think the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade was wrong and should be overturned." The Republican platform on which he is now running would outlaw abortion for any reason. [Rolling Stone, 3/20/80; Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1/23/89] RHETORIC: "My father was an honor, duty and country man, and he said, `Tell the truth.' And I've tried to do that in public life, all through it." REALITY: As President, George Bush has failed to tell the whole truth. Some examples: * Iran-Contra: During the Iowa caucuses in 1988, Bush said, "I sensed that we were sending arms. And I sensed that we were trying to get hostages out. But not arms for hostages." (Associated Press, 1-8-88). But on the Today Show (10-13-92), Katie Couric asked Bush, "You knew about the arms for hostages?" and Bush replied, "Yes, and I've said so all along." Why won't Bush release his testimony to the Tower Commission and Iran-contra Investigators and come clean? * Iraqgate: George Bush has not come clean with the American people about his strong support for Saddam Hussein before the Persian Gulf War. Bush says the U.S. "did not enhance Saddam Hussein's nuclear, biological or chemical weapons capability." The truth is that Bush sent billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer-subsidized loan guarantees to Saddam to build up his military machine. (General Accounting Office Report, "Iraq's Participation in U.S. Agricultural Export Programs," November 1990; Washington Post, July 22, 1992; Los Angeles Times, February 4, 1992 and February 13, 1992). And now we learn his Administration has engaged in a cover-up of the scandal involving the loans to Iraq through the Atlanta branch of BNL. The U.S. District Judge, Marvin Shoob, in the BNL case said, "Certainly either the CIA or the Justice Department or both have misled me." (Los Angeles Times, 10/13/92). EXPORTS RHETORIC: "We've had tough economic times -- but been saved by exports." REALITY: The Council on Competitiveness, a private organization, has concluded: "Growing exports, however, have not been able to shield the U.S. economy from a second annual straight decline in living standards, the ultimate measure of U.S. performance." [Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index, 1992] Under Reagan and Bush, the United States has been transformed from the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor. [Economic Report of the President, Table B-100; Survey of Current Business, June 1992, p. 49] In the secord quarter of this year, the trade deficit soared by 42 percent to $24.4 billion. At this rate, the trade deficit will be more than $70 billion in 1992. [Associated Press, 8/28/92] SOCIAL SECURITY RHETORIC: "I don't want to tax or touch Social Security." REALITY: Although Bush promised not to "mess" with Social Security, Bush has raided the Social Security Trust Fund every year of his presidency: $58.2 billion in 1990, $53.5 billion in FY 1991, $50.2 billion in FY 1992, and a projected $70 billion in FY 1993 -- a total of $231.9 billion. [Office of Management and Budget, 1992] On May 10, 1985, then Vice President Bush cut short a trip in order to cast the tie- breaking vote on the Senate floor to eliminate the 1986 cost-of-living adjustment for all Social Security beneficiaries. [New York Times, 9/11/88] DOWNSIZE THE GOVERNMENT RHETORIC: "I've proposed a 10 percent cut...downsize the government." REALITY: Under George Bush, federal employment has increased. The government now employs 65,803 more people than it did when he took office. Since FY 1989, the Executive branch has grown by more than 6 percent. [U.S. Budgets, FY 1991 and FY 1993] The conservative Cato Institute called Bush "the largest spender to sit in the White House in the past 30 years" -- noting Bush "increased the domestic budget more in 4 years than Carter and Reagan combined did in 12 years." [Cato Institute, 6/19/92]