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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JakeStraw who wrote (477345)	10/17/2003 12:30:29 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Dean: Big deficit suits GOP's plans By Susan Page and Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean accused Republicans on Thursday of running up the federal budget deficit so they can undermine the fiscal underpinnings of Medicare and Social Security. By Tim Dillon, USA TODAY "I think their principal motivation is to undo the pillars of the New Deal, particularly Medicare and Social Security, by making the budget deficit so big that those programs can't be sustained," he said at a lunch with USA TODAY and the Gannett News Service. (Related: Video of interview) Republican spokeswoman Christine Iverson said fighting terrorism has fueled the deficit and called Dean's remark "disturbing." (Related stories: Excerpts from Dean interview \| Dean on Bush) In an economic plan he released Thursday, Dean made balancing the federal budget a top priority. He argued that fiscal discipline would help create jobs and restore cuts in government aid. But he didn't list specifics on how he'd balance the budget. He reiterated his call to repeal all of President Bush's tax cuts and didn't offer future cuts for anyone. "We can't afford them," he said. Democrat Walter Mondale's promise in 1984 to raise taxes torpedoed his presidential bid. "We'll be debating whether I'm going to raise taxes or restore fairness," Dean conceded. Dean, the last major Democratic candidate to release an economic plan, proposed a two-year, $100 billion "Fund to Restore America" that he said would add more than 1 million jobs. Aid would be used by states and cities for homeland security and other needs. The former Vermont governor dismissed criticism that he lacks foreign policy experience. He noted that he opposed the war with Iraq at a time his major Democratic rivals were supporting it. "Whatever their credentials are, they made the wrong judgment and I was able to make the right judgment." Dean suggested his sound judgment extended to his long support for the Boston Red Sox over his native New York Yankees. The issue is of some moment in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary. Right on the Red Sox, right on Iraq? "I'm insufferably right," he said, laughing. "The motto of my campaign is: 'I told you so.' "