To: jlallen who wrote (14387 ) 6/7/2002 7:24:21 PM From: E Read Replies (2) | Respond to I believe him. Message 17574926 ...Last August he claimed to have promised not to dip into the Social Security surplus except in case of war or recession. Subsequently, he claimed only to have promised not to run a deficit (even with the help of Social Security surpluses), and he added a third exception: "national emergency." In the last couple of months he's added more detail to this account. Now, as Bush tells it in his speeches, he made the promise "in Chicago." He says he was asked if he would ever run a deficit by "a reporter," although at various points he has identified the questioner as "a fellow," "some guy," "they," "somebody," and "the guy." (As in, "I remember campaigning in Chicago one time, and the guy said, `Would you ever deficit spend?'") When did this Chicago promise occur? Time after time, Bush says only that it happened "during the campaign" or "when I was running for president." Last week, though, he rendered the story thusly: "When I was campaigning here [in Chicago], they said, `Hey, Mr. President, would you ever have a deficit?'" It would, of course, be odd for anybody--let alone a reporter--to have addressed Bush as "Mr. President" during the campaign. The next day Bush recounted the episode as having taken place "in 2002."
