10. The middle 95 percent, I mean. In the final debate Bush said that “Most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans.” In truth 53 percent of the tax cuts went to the most affluent 10 percent. The bottom 60 percent got 13.7 percent of the tax cut.
9. Going straight to Pell. John Kerry accused the Bush administration of cutting Pell Grants. In truth, Pell Grants increased by 1.3 million under Bush, and spending for Pell Grants increased by nearly 60 percent. The maximum grant has also risen from $3,300 to $4,050.
8. Who’s your Osama? Kerry claimed that Bush said, “I don’t really think about (bin Laden) very much. I’m not that concerned.” Bush denied making that statement. Truth is, Bush did make that statement during a March 13, 2002, press conference.
7. Too good to be true. Bush claimed that Kerry said he would have troops out of Iraq in six months. Kerry supporters wish he had said such a thing, but alas, Kerry isn’t Dean.
6. When all else fails, just make stuff up. Kerry said the New York subway had to be closed during the Republican Convention, which was news to the New York Transit Authority.
5. Saddam still hasn’t disarmed. Bush said he abandoned the UN inspections process because “Saddam Hussein had no intention of disarming.” How dare Saddam not disarm the weapons he didn’t have.
4. When all else fails, take credit for what you didn’t do. Bush claimed that he increased spending for countering nuclear proliferation “by 35 percent.” Well, he actually proposed a 13-percent cut; Congress is responsible for the increases. Bush did a similar thing with the Department of Homeland Security, which he didn’t support for nine months before (excuse the expression) flip-flopping.
3. Kerry’s questionable accounting. There is one thing the debates taught us about Kerry: He ain’t good with numbers. He claimed the administration spent hundreds of millions on bunker-busting nuclear weapons. Actually, less than $35 million has been spent but $500 million was set aside for future spending, though it has not been approved by Congress. Kerry said Bush lost our $5.6 trillion surplus. That number is based on a dubious 10-year projected surplus; the actual surplus in 2000 was $236 billion.
2. Bush’s soul-crushing optimism. All through the debates Bush has refused to say one negative word about the situation in Iraq, except to acknowledge over and over again that, “It is hard work.” Being that optimistic requires hard work but it also requires a great deal of distortion.
Bush mentioned that, “We’re spending reconstruction money,” but Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage testified that only $1.2 billion of the $18 billion appropriated had been spent. And billions of dollars earmarked for the reconstruction are either unaccounted for or inadequately accounted for, according to a new U.N. audit.
Bush had a “read my lips” moment when he declared that elections in Iraq would occur in January, when even Rumsfeld has suggested that it would be imperfect at best. Speaking of imperfect elections, Bush said that “10 million registered to vote in Afghanistan.” Right, except for the fact that there was widespread multiple registration of voters, according to Human Rights Watch.
1. Cheney screws up worse than Bush! As you heard here first (if you first missed it everywhere else) Cheney mistakenly endorsed www.factcheck.com during the vice presidential debate, a Web site that was transferring people to an anti-Bush Web site. Cheney meant to say www.factcheck.org, which, by the way, is our primary source for this article.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]