<<All of this lying has got to stop, >>
Starting where?
I was there with James Lee Witt...oh, wait....
In the Presidential debate on October 3, 2000, Governor George W. Bush gave credit to the Federal Emergency Management Service (FEMA) for their work in Texas during fires and floods in Parker County. Vice President Al Gore said he had traveled to see the damage with FEMA director James Lee Witt, "I was down there when the fires broke up." Carl Cameron, of Fox News first reported that Gore had not, in fact, been to Texas with Witt to look at the damage in Parker County. Gore WAS in Texas, but FEMA officials said Witt never went to Texas to deal with the 1998 fires.
I was part of those discussions! Really!
At a Sept. 22 press conference, Gore stated "I've been a part of the discussions on the strategic reserve since the days when it was first established." However, President Ford established the Strategic Petroleum Reserves when he signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) on December 22, 1975 — two years before Al Gore became a congressman
(Source: Washington Post, Sept. 24 2000)
(note: it was actually 13 months, not 2 years as the Post states)
Now, technically, 1975 was when it was declared U.S. policy to establish a reserve, but the reserve was not established (sites purchased or built, etc) until 1977, when Gore was in Congress. However, isn't this yet another case of "fuzzy wording"? Gore phrases the initial statement to give the impression that he was somehow responsible or "part of something" from the outset, but leaves wiggle room so that he can later justify the statement. And isn't saying he was part of "discussions on the strategic reserve" meant tp leave the impression that he was was part of the planning process, prior to the sites being purchased, etc? Decide for yourself.
A dog's health care costs less than my mother-in-law's!
Vice President Al Gore, reaching for a personal example to illustrate the breathtaking costs of some prescription drugs, told seniors in Florida last month that his mother-in-law pays nearly three times as much for the same arthritis medicine used for his ailing dog, Shiloh. "That's pretty bad when you have got to pretend to be a dog or a cat to get a price break" he stated. Gore's mother-in-law does pay more for her medication, but the generic brand of the drug, which 85% of Americans now use as a cheaper alternative, costs half as much, or one and a half times what it costs for the pooch - not three times. In addition, given the complexities of the marketplace, and the steps people take to get a better deal, it can work the other way around: Pets "pretending" to be humans. The Gore campaign also admitted that it lifted those costs not from his family's bills, but from a House Democratic study, and that Gore misused even those numbers: They represent the manufacturer's price to wholesalers, not the retail price of the brand-name product.
Drug costs often cost more for humans, though, because they are more heavily regulated. Jeff Trewhett, the spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America, said the higher costs for the human version of patented drugs is justified because the research, development, and approval costs can surpass $500 million per drug. But once the drug is approved for humans, the cost to test and approve it for animals is minimal, he said. Interestingly enough, Gore is proposing more regulations on on top of what we have now. Our food also costs 3 times as much as the dog's... will Gore say that we have to pretend to be dogs to get affordable food?
(Source: "Gore misstates facts in drug-cost pitch" Boston Globe, 9/18/2000 )
Gore and the Internet
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet" Gore said when asked to cite accomplishments that separate him from another Democratic presidential hopeful, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN on March 9, 1999.
Gore supported technological advances related to the advancement of the Internet, but to say that HE took the initiative in creating the Internet is a bit much.
(Sources: Transcript: cnn.com
wired.com
(Note: Lots of people seem to enjoy e-mailing me, professing that my information about Gore saying he "invented" the Internet is wrong, that he did support things which helped get the Internet moving, etc etc. First, I know he never said he "invented" the Internet. Please notice the quote above. Second, saying that he took the initiative in CREATING the Internet is still a funny statement since the Internet was already created and being used (ex: file copying via the UUCP protocol and e-mail) by the time he was elected to Congress. One can't take the "initiative" to "create" something which is already created.)
Mary and Joseph were homeless??
"Speaking from my own religious tradition in this Christmas season, 2,000 years ago a homeless woman gave birth to a homeless child in a manger because the inn was full."
Hello! Mary and Joseph were not homeless!
(Sources: Press Conference at HUD, 12/22/97; George Will column, Sunday May 17 1998)
James who?
In his first appearance in a nationally televised candidates forum, Gore was asked to name a past US president from whom he drew personal inspiration. He replied that he especially admired another "dark horse" candidate, and a product of his home state, the great "president James Knox". The only problem is that the history books show that nobody named Knox ever occupied the White House.
(Source: Chicago Tribune of 7/24/87; The British Sunday Times; Michael Medved of KVI radio (570 AM based in Seattle).
Al Gore, when asked about his illegal fundraising activities that took place in a Buddhist temple: "I didn't realize I was in a Buddhist temple."
Stretching the truth again....
"I was the author of that proposal. I wrote that....That is something for which I have been the principal proponent for a long time."
Al Gore in a Time Interview, on the EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT (EITC). Now, this is interesting, since the EITC became law in 1975, a year BEFORE Gore was elected to Congress.
(Source: Time Magazine November 1, 1999 Vol. 154 No. 18)
At a special summit meeting in Washington, Vice President Al Gore delivered a speech in which he decried hunger in America. Declaring that ``All is not right with America,'' Gore announced that there are ``millions of Americans ... who are simply not getting enough to eat'' because they cannot ``figure out how to make ends meet, how to get food on the table.'' What's more, chronic hunger routinely causes children to lay awake at night, tormented by a ``sore pain.'' This problem is ``appalling,'' a ``tragedy,'' a ``blight on our nation's soul.'' Gore concluded, ``We cannot stand by and let people in this nation starve.'' Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman likewise determined that one in three children ``live in families that do constant battle with hunger'' and are ``at constant risk of malnutrition and the lifetime of chronic illness that can accompany it.''
But the Centers for Disease Control's ``National Health and Nutrition Survey'' has found no significant nutritional deficiency in any segment of the nation's population. Another CDC report notes that life expectancy is at an all-time high, with infant mortality at a corresponding low point---considerably less than half what it was in 1970. Even the poorest Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than middle-class Europeans. The CDC also notes that obesity isa growing concern, its rate having roughly doubled among children and increased to 35 percent for American adults---up from 25 percent. Other federal statistics consistently establish the prevalence of obesity among poorer Americans. Chronic malnutrition is statistically almost undetectable, and is correlated not so much with poverty but with alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness, and child abuse.
The study that prompted the hunger summit---what Gore called ``the first-ever baseline study of the scope of hunger in America''---was a joint project of the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. However, the authors of the study did not claim it measured hunger per se, since by their estimation, measurements of the ``physical sensation caused by a lack of food'' do not provide ``sensitive indicators'' of any problem as it is ``primarily experienced in the U.S. context.'' Instead, a sample of American households was asked 58 questions designed to measure ``characteristic affective states''---anxiety and uncertainty---involving food budgets and consumption. At any point in the past 12 months, did you have time to restock the refrigerator before running out of essential goods? Did you ever eat ``less than you felt you should,'' or a low-cost meal for purposes of economy? Bolstering reports of budget anxiety was the fact that the survey was administered from April 16 through April 22, right after tax time. Not surprisingly, the report concluded that there are 11.9 million ``food insecure'' households in the United States, comprising a whopping 34.7 million citizens living with ``resource-constrained hunger''---about one in seven Americans.
Gore once claimed that he and his wife Tipper were the real-life models for the Ivy League couple in Erich Segal's Love Story, an assertion the author felt obliged to correct.
(this one may jsut show stupidity not a lie)
While touring Monticello during an important photo opportunity in 1992 as vice president-elect, Gore asked the guide about all the white marble busts that lined the walls. ``Who are these people?'' he asked. Somewhat taken aback, the guide hesitated, then identified George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson... |
