GORE'S "ONE PERCENT" WHOPPER IS 100 PERCENT BOGUS
If Bill Clinton is a fan of the Big Mac, Al Gore's choice is most definitely
the Whopper. Gore is again on the defensive over his false claims - this
time about a disaster relief trip to Texas that never happened, a Florida
school's problems with overcrowding, his comments about Governor Bush's
experience, and other topics. But the King Whopper of all may have been the
fib the Vice President told about the Bush tax relief plan:
THE WHOPPER SUPREME. . . At several points in the debate, Gore looked a
national TV audience squarely in the eye and uttered a blatant falsehood
about the Bush tax relief plan: "Under Governor Bush's tax cut proposal, he
would spend more money on tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent than all
of the new spending that he proposes for education, health care,
prescription drugs and national defense, all combined."
. .AND THE SECRET SAUCE. But according to the Washington Post and others,
Gore "inflated" the size of the Bush tax cut. (Washington Post, October 4,
2000) Governor Bush sets aside almost twice as much for new spending for
prescription drugs, education and defense ($270 billion over 10 years) as he
does for reducing the top tax rate to 33 percent ($149 billion over 10
years).
MYSTERY MEAT. Governor Bush offers a U.S.-certified Grade-A tax cut, while
Al Gore is just serving up mystery meat: "If mom and dad in a $78,000,
two-kid household both work and put the kids in day care, the Gore plan
gives them a break - but if mom stays home with the kids, forget it. Bush's
plan covers everyone; Gore's covers only 'the right people.'" (Michael
Kelly, Washington Post, 10/05/00)
Americans want a president who will tell the truth - not a politician who
will say anything to get elected.
Excerpted From New York Times (R. Berke's Memo, 10/6/00):
"For years, his political opponents have groused that Vice President Al
Gore has trouble with facts. They pounced on statements he made about his
service in Vietnam, about his record in Congress and even about the price he
has to pay for his dog's arthritis medicine.
On Tuesday, they got even more ammunition: Several of Mr. Gore's comments in
his debate with Gov. George W. Bush set off a fresh outcry over what even
some of his supporters acknowledge is a tendency to embellish anecdotes
about his roles in events..
While many politicians are prone to spice up a story here and there,
Republicans and Democrats say Mr. Gore's shading of the truth has become so
frequent that some politicians are no longer dismissing it as sloppy oratory
from a candidate under the glare of television cameras.
Mr. Gore's most recent troubles began with the first question of the debate.
The moderator, Jim Lehrer of PBS, noted that Mr. Gore had once questioned
whether his opponent had the experience to be president and asked him what
he meant. Mr. Gore denied that he had ever raised questions about Mr. Bush's
qualifications for the presidency. The truth is, he had. In a speech to the
American Society of Newspaper Editors in April, Mr. Gore cited Mr. Bush's
call for a tax cut and posed this question: "Does he have the experience to
be president?"
Then there was Mr. Gore's story of a 15-year-old girl in Sarasota, Fla., who
he said is such a victim of school crowding that she has to stand in class.
The fact is, the girl has a desk, and went without one for only a day. At
another point, Mr. Gore said he had traveled with James Lee Witt, the
director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to inspect fire and
flooding damage in Texas in June 1998. In fact, Mr. Gore went to Texas, but
not with Mr. Witt.
At another point, Mr. Gore said he "took a risk" in asking the former Prime
Minister of Russia, Viktor S. Chernomyrdin, to become personally involved in
negotiating an end to the conflict in Kosovo. In fact, President Boris
Yeltsin of Russia had two weeks early designated Mr. Chernomyrdin as a
special envoy to the Balkans and the diplomatic mission that Mr. Gore
described had been initiated by other top officials in Russia, Europe and
the United States.
People who know Mr. Gore have suggested that he was reared in a political
family where embellishments were part of life. And Mr. Gore spent his
childhood in a way that was intended for use in a press release. His
mother, Pauline, used to tell reporters that she would have dinner with her
son no matter what else was going on. "Nothing lonelier than a meal eaten
alone," she would say. The truth is Mr. Gore was alone a lot.
Whatever the reason, the vice president's tangled recollections have begun
to draw attention because there are so many examples. Another reason is that
they are curiously at odds with his reputation - and the image he is trying
to project - as a politician of great intelligence who is a stickler for the
facts.
Dems are Worried. Several prominent Democrats said privately that they were
worried that Mr. Gore was giving ammunition to his opponents. Indeed, Mr.
Bush and the Republicans have gleefully seized on Mr. Gore's statements.."
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Sincerely,
Jim Nicholson
Chairman
Republican National Committee |
