Kerry Campaign: After A Week Off, Bush Previews Convention

Ignores His Record of Undermining the Middle Class, Goes on Attack

Published: August 26, 2004

Kerry-Edwards 2004 Campaign Spokesperson Phil Singer said in response to Bush's speech today:

"Listening to George Bush's stump speech is right up there with hearing his campaign trying to mislead America into thinking that it has nothing to do with the discredited, false smear campaign being mounted against John Kerry. The new census numbers out today contradict almost everything George Bush touted on the campaign trail today. If this is him road testing material for the convention, he should go back to the ranch and start over."

BUSH SAYS THERE'S MORE WORK TO DO ON HEALTH CARE, BUT...

-- DOESN'T MENTION THAT NEW REPORT SHOWS UNINSURED UP UNDER BUSH.

New Census data shows families are falling further behind. According to today's Census numbers, 1.4 million more people lost health insurance in 2003. Under George Bush 5.2 million Americans have lost health insurance, bringing the total uninsured to 45 million. (www.census.gov)

-- BUSH HEALTH CARE AGENDA DOESN'T HELP MIDDLE CLASS.

Health Care Premiums Increased By $2,630 - While Bush Did Nothing. In the United States, the total family premium for health insurance has increased by $2,630 to $9,068. The employee portion of the premium increased by 49 percent. (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Health Experts Said Bush Exaggerating Health Care Promises. Instead of real solutions, the Bush campaign has provided false claims its health plan would expand coverage for an additional 10 million people. They have provided no documentation of this misleading promise and, in fact, the Bush Administration's own Treasury Department contradicts this claim. According to the Washington Post, "Health experts inside and out of the administration say many of the assertions Bush makes about his first-term health care record and his health proposals for a second term are exaggerated, incomplete or contrary to widely accepted analyses." (Washington Post, 8/22/04)

Even the Bush Administration Disputes the Bush Campaign's Claim. The Bush campaign claims that its plan would cover 10 million people, but "Projections by the Congressional Budget Office, the Treasury Department, academics and the campaign's Web site suggest that under the best circumstances, Bush's plans for health care would extend coverage to no more than 6 million people over the next decade and possibly as few as 2 million." (Washington Post, 8/22/04)

BUSH SAYS THERE MORE WORK TO DO TO SPUR ECONOMY, BUT...

-- DOESN'T MENTION NEW REPORT SHOWS INCOME DOWN UNDER BUSH Income Numbers Now. According to a new report for the U.S. Census, the typical family has seen its income decline $1,511 under George Bush - declining for three straight years. ( http://www.census.gov )

-- BUSH ECONOMIC AGENDA HAS SENT JOBS OVERSEAS Under Bush, 1.8 million private sector jobs lost; the worst President since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression. Under President Bush the American economy has lost 1.8 million private- sector jobs, the first job-loss President since Herbert Hoover. By contrast, by this point in President Clinton's first term the economy had created 10.2 million private sector jobs. The American economy has lost 2.7 million manufacturing jobs under President Bush, about one in six jobs lost. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

The Bush Administration Has Defended Tax Breaks For Companies That Ship Jobs Overseas And Called Efforts To Reduce Them "Stupid." Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas said that Kerry's proposal to end tax breaks for companies that shift jobs overseas: "It's a tax system that's calculated to drive manufacturers offshore, rather than to keep (them) here... It's the single stupidest idea since the Smoot-Hawley tariffs in terms of penalizing our manufacturing sector." (National Journal's Congress Daily, 4/13/04)

BUSH SAYS THERE'S MORE TO DO ON TAXES, BUT...

-- DOESN'T MENTION THAT HE SHIFTED TAX BURDEN TO MIDDLE CLASS

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Reported That Bush's Tax Cuts Shifted The Burden Onto The Middle Class. The Washington Post reported, "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, 8/13/04)

-- BUSH'S PLAN WILL IMPOSE 60 percent SALES TAX ON FAMILIES

Bush Has Refused to Rule Out a National Sales Tax After Expressing Support for It. In response to a question during a campaign event about instituting a national sales tax, Bush said it was an "interesting idea" that "we ought to explore seriously." When asked about the exchange on Larry King, Bush refused to rule it out, restating that it was, "an interesting idea." (Bush in Niceville, FL, 8/126/04; CNN, "Larry King," 8/15/04)

Independent Study Finds National Retail Sales Tax Would Have to be 60 percent to Cover All Federal Taxes. Brookings Economist William Gale writes, "To replace all federal taxes on a revenue- neutral basis over the next 10 years would require a sales tax rate of about 60 percent." (William Gale, "A Note on the Required Tax Rate in a National Retail Sales Tax," 8/12/04)

BUSH SAID WE MUST MAKE SURE TROOPS HAVE BODY ARMOR, BUT...

-- DOESN'T MENTION THAT HE SENT TROOPS WITHOUT ARMOR

Administration Admitted They Sent Troops Without Body Armor. "CHENEY: Well the facts are that at the outset of the campaign there was only one factory producing the latest, newest state-of- the-art body armor. There are now 6--they are up and running. I believe the chief of staff of the army, and the vice chief, vice chairman, joint chiefs have testified recently that all of our troops in Iraq are now properly equipped with the newest body armor. So the main problem had been just the sheer capacity to produce these items early on." (FOX, 3/17/2004)

Military Expert Didn't See Why Armor Wasn't Taken Care Of. "(Reporter Wolf) BLITZER: When you were there, General Shepperd, and you met with men and women on the ground in the military, what were they saying to you?

SHEPPERD: Well, they were saying that we are short on on the up- armored Humvees, we're short of the proper body armor. Everybody had flack jackets and some body armor, but not the new body armor. They showed us the schedule, and said it was going to be done. They was short at that time, I believe, around 1,400 up- armored Humvees that were coming into the country, and the body armor was on schedule. So these shortage will drastically come down, but it does leave you wondering why couldn't we have done this before the war, and we simply didn't." (CNN, 3/14/04)

-- THREATENED TO VETO $87 BILLION BILL

White House Threatened to Veto $87 Billion. "The White House threatened Tuesday to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq. After declining to threaten a veto last week before the Senate voted to lend up to $10 billion to Iraq, the White House surprised many people on Capitol Hill with its warning...Last week, without using the word "veto," Mr. Bush called on a series of wavering lawmakers and made it clear that he would not appreciate a vote for a loan. The statement on Tuesday, after eight Republican senators defied him last week and helped form a majority in favor of a $10 billion loan, was the strongest threat to date. "If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders." (Firestone, New York Times, 10/22/03)

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