Bush’s ’04 agenda
The
LA Times covers the emerging Bush agenda for his next term:
Bundled within overlapping themes of tax reform and economic
"ownership," they say, are initiatives that would, if enacted, move
the country toward fundamentally different systems of taxation and
social insurance.
Wage income would be taxed at something close to a flat rate instead
of today's graduated rates. Investment income would be largely
tax-free. And individuals would shoulder more of the risk for their
retirement, in return for potentially greater rewards.
"If you tell liberals that we're going to have a flat tax, that's like
putting a cross in front of a vampire: They start cringing," said
Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative
fundraising organization. "By doing these things in little bitty steps
at a time, it's sort of like a slippery slope, but in the right
direction."
"What they're trying to do is a radical transformation of the tax
code," said Peter Orszag, a former economic advisor to President
Clinton and now a senior fellow at the centrist Brookings Institution.
"They're trying to do it in little pieces rather than all at once. The
sum of all those pieces would be a radical change."
Some of the details of Bush’s agenda are:
* Making first-term tax cuts permanent instead of letting them expire
at various points over the next seven years. The cuts include lower
income-tax rates, expanded breaks for married couples and families,
reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains, bigger corporate tax
deductions and a phased-out inheritance tax. Cost: about $1 trillion
over 10 years.
* Allowing workers to divert a portion of their Social Security
payroll taxes to new individual retirement accounts over which they
control the choice of investments. Like 401(k) plans, their future
value would depend on market performance, not government guarantees.
Cost: $1 trillion over 10 years to maintain promised benefits.
* Scaling back the alternative minimum tax, which was instituted to
ensure that wealthy filers wouldn't be able to shelter all of their
income from taxes, but has begun to bite at the middle class because
of income inflation. Cost: perhaps $500 billion over 10 years.
* Creating new vehicles — including lifetime savings accounts and
retirement savings accounts — for reducing future taxes on savings and
investment. Cost: minimal over the first 10 years, but increasingly
large as future earnings are withdrawn.
*
Expanding health-savings accounts, which allow Americans to accumulate
money tax-free for future medical expenses, and creating similar home
ownership tax breaks, such as credits for first-time buyers. Cost:
uncertain.
Kerry refuses to
condemn ads
Sen. John Kerry has refused to condemn negative 527 ads after
President Bush called on him to join him in doing so. In making that
call, Bush called on the swift boat negative ad and all other 527 ads
to be taken off the air.
The Bush call for taking down the 527 ads seems to be related to the
unlimited, unregulated funding of 527s. It is unclear what Bush would
do about regulated 527 organizations such as Iowa Presidential Watch.
The Federal Election Commission refused to rule on whether 527
organizations were regulated after Democrat 527 organizations had
raised millions of dollars to bash Bush. The bulk of 527 ads
(approximately $63 million) have been spent against Bush.
"I thought we were going to, once and for all, get rid of a system
where people could just pour tons of money in and not be held to
account for the advertising," Bush said regarding his signing of the
McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform law.
The banning of 527 organizations would undoubtedly lead to a
Constitutional challenge and in the past the Supreme Court has ruled
such organizations have the right to advertise under the Freedom of
Speech clause.
Kerry has falsely accused Bush of coordinating with the Swift Boat
Veterans for truth despite the hypocritical nature of the enormously
intricate relationships between the Kerry campaign and the 527s
bashing Bush.
"Senator Kerry wants to have it both ways," said White House spokesman
Scott McClellan. "Why has the Kerry campaign been silent for more than
a year, and then actually been fueling some of these very false and
negative attacks that have been airing against the president of the
United States for the last year?"
"When you're basically running on your biography and there are ongoing
attacks that are undermining the credibility of your biography, you
have a really big problem," said an anonymous Kerry Democrat.
Kerry phones Swift Vet
Drudge reports that Sen. John Kerry shortly after former Sen. Bob Dole
criticized Kerry that he called Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant Cdr., USN
(RET):
KERRY: "Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"
BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the
impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our
guys that were killed over there." [Brant had two men killed in
battle.]
KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all
the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking
about all the rest of the veterans."
Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"]
-- man to man -- face to face.
Brant declined the invite, explaining that Kerry was obviously not
prepared to correct the record on exactly what happened during Vietnam
and what happened when Kerry came back.
Brant was skipper of the #96 and # 36 boat and spent time with Kerry
in An Thoi. Kerry and Brant slept in the same quarters, and Brant used
to put Kerry back to bed at night when Kerry was sleepwalking.
In other Swiftee
developments…..
·
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have taken in $1,764,000
in contributions on their website in the last 2 weeks….
·
Kerry admits it is possible that his first purple heart
may have been because of an unintentional self inflicted wound. Kerry
received the purple heart for action on 12/2/68... but wrote in his
journal nine days later that he "hadn’t been shot at yet." This, of
course, means that Kerry should not have received that purple heart. [NOTE:
does that mean that Kerry owes the Navy 7-1/2 more months in Vietnam?
]
·
A company spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble tried to "set
the record straight." It is not Barnes & Noble's fault, she said, but
rather small publisher Regnery Publishing who cut the chain's original
order in half.
"We've been put in the difficult position of having to defend
ourselves over a title we can't seem to get enough copies of from the
publisher," Barnes & Noble chief executive Steve Riggio said in the
statement.
Kerry refuses to sign 180 form
Sen. John Kerry has come under increased pressure to sign the Defense
Department 180 form that allows the public access to his military
records.
Officials with the Kerry campaign, who count his war service as one of
his biggest assets, say they have posted everything in Kerry's Navy
file on his campaign Web site. The campaign said when the Navy sent
Kerry his military file -- it did not include his medical records, but
Kerry had copies in his personal files.
On April 23, the Kerry campaign allowed 19 reporters who were
traveling with him, including one from The Associated Press, to view
the 36-page medical file for about 30 minutes while simultaneously
interviewing his personal physician on a conference call. The
physician wrote a three-page summary of the file that was posted on
the website.
The Kerry campaign would not allow medical reporter present during
that review and denied a request this week for a more substantial
review. Kerry also has refused to release a journal he kept during his
time in Vietnam, although parts were excerpted in Douglas Brinkley's
biography of Kerry, "Tour of Duty."
Hillary at GOP Convention
"Party insiders said that aides to Clinton were engaged in 'intensive
talks' over the weekend with Kerry's representatives about the role
she is expected to play," the New York Post's Fredric U. Dicker
writes.
" 'It will be high profile; she will be one of the responders at the
convention, probably focusing on homeland security issues,' said a
source familiar with the talks. 'I think it's fair to say the Kerry
people realize Mrs. Clinton could be very effective.'
"Another insider said, 'It's ironic that after they snubbed her in
Boston, they now want to use her in New York.' "
MoveOn.org’s NY greeting
The liberal activist organization MoveOn.org will kick off a 10-week,
pro-Kerry ad campaign featuring spots directed by Rob Reiner, Richard
Linklater, Woody Harrelson, John Sayles and Doug Liman, among others.
Comedian Margaret Cho wrote and stars in another ad, while Wildbrain
Animation directed "The Air We Breathe," featuring the voices of
Scarlett Johansson, Kevin Bacon and Ed Asner.
Dishonorable and
dishonest?
Main stream media continues to discredit Swift Boat Veterans and
assist Kerry’s effort to bring the issue to Bush as Kerry’s campaign
is attempting to do. The mantra continues to be Sen. John McCain’s
reaction to the veterans group’s efforts, "It is dishonorable and
dishonest and they need to stop the ads."
The Swiftees have had serious blows landed on them by the Kerry
campaign, which is better staffed and financed than the veterans’ 527
PAC. At the same time, money -- significant money -- has begun to come
into the Swiftees’ website,
www.swiftvets.com .
In Oregon, several pro-Kerry veterans called on a Clackamas County
district attorney's office employee to resign after he appeared in an
ad sponsored by an anti-Kerry group. Alfred French said in the ad and
swore in an affidavit, "I served with John Kerry ... He is lying about
his record." French subsequently acknowledged he relied on the
accounts of other veterans and did not witness Kerry in combat.
Kerry has once again taken the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad (that
sought to discredit Kerry’s war hero status) to the door of President
Bush. Kerry has entreated Bush to discredit the swift boat ad and
called for the ad to be taken off the air. This, even though the group
has moved on to another ad – with a POW theme -- that portrays
Kerry’s anti-war activities.
"Because in the last months they have seen me climbing in America's
understanding that I know how to fight a smarter and more effective
war. That's why they're attacking my credibility. That's why they've
personally gone after me. The president needs to stand up and stop
that. The president needs to have the courage to talk about it," Kerry
said at a Democratic fund-raising event.
Kerry is not only trying to get President Bush to discredit the swift
boat group, which would give credit to Kerry’s credentials, but also
to win the argument that Bush is fighting the war badly and he knows
how to fight it better.
Further proof of Kerry’s desire to bring the issue to President Bush
personally are the two new commercials Kerry is putting on the air.
The two TV ads cover Sen. John McCain criticizing Bush during the 2000
campaign, and an ad stating that Bush is responsible for the
independent 527 ad. (to view the ads go to John Kerry’s
website)
However, President Bush has short-circuited Kerry by asking for all
527s to take their ads off the air.
CBS’s "Face the Nation" probably was the most helpful to the Kerry’s
effort this last Sunday when they interviewed the two Kerry daughters.
Of course the setup was when Sen. Sam Levin [D] was allowed to over
and over again say that the ads were dishonest and dishonorable. Then
one of the two daughters asked the question, "How many wounds do they
need to see to believe?"
The host of the program, Bob Shaffer, allowed no one from the Swift
Boat group to offer a response.
Shaffer then went on to suggest in his closing comments, in essence,
that we need to get on with the bigger issues and quit running on
biography. This was a far cry from the Bob Shaffer who went along with
investigating Democrat National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliff’s
charges that Bush was A.W.O.L. during his national guard service.
The Swift Boat group has also come under attack by the Chicago Tribune
editor who was on the Feb. 28, 1969, mission for which Kerry received
the Silver Star. William Rood, 61, said he decided to break his
silence about the mission because recent reports of Kerry's actions in
that battle are incorrect and darken the reputations of veterans who
served with Kerry.
"The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts
on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has
splashed doubt on all of us," Rood said in a 1,700-word first-person
account published in Sunday's edition of the Tribune. "It's gotten
harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts
we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were
not there."
Kerry also picked up support from Wayne D. Langhofer, who told The
Washington Post he was manning a machine gun in a boat behind Kerry's
and saw firing from both banks of a river as Kerry dived in to rescue
Special Forces soldier James Rassmann, the basis for Kerry's Bronze
Star.
This is a moment of truth for George W. Bush," Edwards said at a
Democratic rally. "We're going to see what kind of man he is and what
kind of leader he is. ... We want to hear three words: Stop these
ads."
Edwards has called Bush’s action condemning the Swiftees’ ad as too
little too late.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are under fire and have a number of
individuals who were there who have hurt the group’s credibility.
However, the mainstream media still refuses to hear the Swiftees’ side
of the account.
Swiftee resigns as volunteer
In another incident demonstrating the lack of political skill of the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, one of the Swiftees who is in the
newest ‘POW’ Swiftee ad is also volunteer for the Bush campaign – and
failed to inform the Bush campaign that he was involved in a 527 PAC.
NOTE: For those who wonder whether this organization is at the
direction of the Bush campaign, this is yet another example of the
fact that Karl Rove is not in charge of these patriots who are
speaking their mind in their own way.
Former POW retired Col. Ken Cordier resigned as a volunteer from the
Bush campaign's veterans' steering committee after it was learned that
he participated in an anti-Kerry ad sponsored by the Swift Boat group.
The ad criticizes Kerry's congressional anti-war testimony in the 1971
alleging U.S. troops engaged in atrocities in Vietnam.
"Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the
advertisement," the Bush campaign said in a statement. "Because of his
involvement (with the group) Col. Cordier will no longer participate
as a volunteer for Bush-Cheney '04."
Three more bishops
On Aug. 4, Atlanta Archbishop John F. Donoghue, Bishop Robert Baker of
Charleston, S.C., and Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, N.C., issued a
pastoral letter telling pro-choice Catholics running for or elected to
public office that they will not be served Holy Communion in any
Catholic Church in their three dioceses.
A sane liberal
Calling himself a "liberal with sanity," former New York Mayor Ed Koch
— a longtime Democrat — said he decided to support President
Bush in the 2004 election because of Bush's stance on Iraq.
"While I don't agree with Bush on any domestic matters, there's only
one matter that's important in this race, and that relates to standing
up to international terrorism, taking it on — and George Bush has
established that he is willing to do that," Mr. Koch said.
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