GW stands for <font color=blue>WRONG!<font color=black>
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Kerry, Turning to Economy, Mocks Bush's Reaction to Data
By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: September 7, 2004
Senator John Kerry, whose campaign has vowed lately to focus more on the nation's economy, said today that President Bush has tried to sugarcoat some clear signs that the country is on the wrong economic path.
"Only George W. Bush could celebrate over a record budget deficit of $422 billion, a loss of 1.6 million jobs, and Medicare premiums that are up by a record 17 percent," Mr. Kerry said today while campaigning in North Carolina. "W stands for wrong, the wrong direction for America."
Mr. Kerry made his statement, invoking Mr. Bush's middle initial, after learning that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had said today that the government's budget deficit will be a record $422 billion dollars for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the highest ever but less than the amount analysts predicted earlier this year.
At his appearance in Greensboro, Mr. Kerry continued to try to focus on domestic issues, even though the war in Iraq was a topic that both candidates continued to return to today. At a rally in Missouri, the president continued to pound away at his message that Mr. Kerry would not be a good leader in a time of war.
"I think this country wants consistent, principled leadership," Mr. Bush said to an audience of well-chosen supporters at a high school in Lee's Summit, Mo., in the Kansas City suburbs. "My opponent has now voted for the war, and against supplying our troops. When he got on in the Democrat primary, he declared himself the antiwar candidate."
Mr. Bush also responded again to criticism Mr. Kerry made on Monday that the president has not brought enough allies to the side of the Americans in the war in Iraq.
"It's also wrong for my opponent to denigrate the contributions of America's allies, who we're standing side-by-side with our men and women in uniform risking their lives for freedom," the president said. "There are over 40 nations in — nearly 40 nations in Afghanistan — some 30 in Iraq."
On Monday, at a rally in Canonsburg, Pa., Mr. Kerry said his goal on the war would be to bring American troops home by the end of his first term.
He also said he could replace most, but not all, American troops with foreign forces by offering new inducements to other countries.
"When they talk about a coalition — that's the phoniest thing I ever heard," Mr. Kerry said of troops now fighting in Iraq. "You've got 500 troops here, 500 troops there, and it's American troops that are 90 percent of the combat casualties, and it's American taxpayers that are paying 90 percent of the cost of the war."
Mr. Bush' running mate, Vice President Dick Cheney, stepped up his criticism of Mr. Kerry's leadership by telling a small audience in Des Moines that if voters choose Mr. Kerry as president, the nation would be vulnerable to another terrorist attack.
"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Mr. Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall style meeting, according to The Associated Press.
The Kerry-Edwards campaign immediately responded, saying the vice president's remarks amounted to "scare tactics."
"Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line today, showing once again that he and George Bush will do anything and say anything to save their jobs," Mr. Edwards said in a statement. "Protecting America from vicious terrorists is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it's an American issue and Dick Cheney and George Bush should know that.
"John Kerry and I will keep America safe, and we will not divide the American people to do it," he said.
But it was the nation's economic health and other domestic issues that both camps most turned to today during a campaign that shows Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry still close in most national polls with less than two months to go before the election.
Mr. Kerry said in his visit to Greensboro that Mr. Bush's policies, including his support of a tax code that encourages jobs to be shipped overseas, were hurting Americans in the pocketbook.
"Because of George Bush's wrong choices, this country is continuing to ship good jobs overseas — jobs with good wages and good benefits," Mr. Kerry said. All across America, companies have shut their doors, putting hardworking people out of a job, leaving entire communities without help or hope. And you know what George W. Bush's choice is? You know it's the wrong one. He's actually encouraging the export of American jobs."
For his part, Mr. Bush said his opponent and his running mate, John Edwards, who was a successful trial lawyer in North Carolina before winning election to the United States Senate, would block lawsuit restrictions that would help generate new jobs.
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nytimes.com |
