Article..Al Gore. The Record on Senior Citizens...
Algore and his surrogates are spending tens of millions of dollars to reinvent Gore and lie about Social Security and Medicare. It's what liberals do when they can't compete in the arena of ideas, so it's necessary once again to set the record straight when it comes to Gore's treatment of America's elderly.
What's Algore's record as an advocate for senior citizens? After eight years in the second highest office in the land, Algore has no record of supporting senior citizens. That's why he's using the voice of a leftist Hollywood has-been to make computerized telephone calls to nursing homes and retirement communities with lies about George Bush's plan to save Social Security.
In fact, far from looking out for senior citizens, Gore has hung them out to dry. Here are six indisputable facts about Algore's record.
First: as a United States senator, Algore supported increasing the age of eligibility from 65 to 67. In other words, for all his talk about our solemn social contract with America's seniors, Algore advocated breaking that solemn contract. Bush has never made such a proposal.
Second: as vice president in 1993, Gore voted to increase taxes, specifically on Social Security recipients. He wanted to take more money from seniors, many of whom depend heavily on Social Security for their sustenance, and he wanted to do this to fund an already bloated federal bureaucracy. Now that surpluses are projected for the next ten years, purportedly totaling $4.6 trillion, Algore still refuses to repeal that tax increase on Social Security recipients.
It is the Republicans who are trying to repeal that tax increase, in the face of Gore's opposition. Now, this is an important and powerful point. If you are a senior citizen and you are listening to reason, you have less disposable income because the guy running for president on the Democratic side cast a tie-breaking vote to raise taxes. We've got surpluses, $4.6 trillion over the next ten years. He has not even opened the idea of repealing that tax increase.
Third: during his eight years as vice president, Gore has never proposed any legislation or plan that would ensure the financial viability of the Social Security system, and candidate Algore still hasn't.
Some of you may find that hard to believe, but, it's true. Over eight years, not one piece of legislation has been proposed, to fix, save or shore up Social Security. And do you know why? So that today would come. He wants it as an issue to hammer Republicans with. He wants it as an issue to scare senior citizens with. Like so many other liberal Democrats, solutions to issues are not what he wants. They want to have a monopoly on issues. They want to own issues but not solutions. They want the issue as campaign aids, but they don't solve the problems.
Fourth: today, Algore's administration is proposing to cut cancer treatment such as chemotherapy in doctors' offices for Medicare patients. If Algore's people are successful, some of our sickest senior citizens will be paying a heavy price for his big-government policies. Yet while he is proposing such a draconian cut, he is campaigning on a platform that calls for expanding Medicare to cover prescription drugs!
This is from a New York Times story dating back to August 6th. Algore has proposed cutting chemotherapy - cancer treatments - in doctors' offices, as part of a Medicare package.
Fifth: as with Social Security, during his eight years as vice president, Gore hasn't proposed a single piece of legislation to ensure the financial viability of Medicare, and candidate Algore hasn't made any proposals, either.
Sixth: on the issue of prescription drugs, for two years the Democrats had monopoly control of the federal government. They controlled the White House and Congress in '93 and '94. During those two years, they never passed a prescription drug program of any kind. Instead, they tried to end America's private health care system and replace it with a massive, bloated government monopoly, which would have eliminated your ability to choose your own doctor, would have eliminated your doctor's freedom to make medical decisions, would have driven up costs and reduced quality and access. It was a total blunder. This was Mrs. Clinton's ill-fated attempt at a national health care program. You've often heard it referred to as the attempt to nationalize one-seventh of the U.S. economys.It also demonstrates Algore's failed approach to a very serious issue.
Everything I've said to you is a fact. It's not my opinion. Everything that I have placed on the record here is in fact the record of Algore on senior citizens. Think about it.
And think about this: What kind of presidential candidate employs Ed Asner to use McCarthy-like tactics to scare America's grandparents, and to pit America's grandparents against their grandchildren? What kind of presidential candidate does that? A presidential candidate not worthy of the office.
rushlimbaugh.com |
