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

To: calgal who wrote (543007)	2/20/2004 12:17:10 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Kerry and Jane Robert Novak (archive) February 19, 2004 \| Print \| Send WASHINGTON -- A 34-year-old flier lists speakers for an anti-Vietnam War rally at Valley Forge State Park, Pa., Sept. 7, 1970. Included were two of that era's most notorious leftist agitators, the Rev. James Bevel and Mark Lane, plus actress Jane Fonda, a symbol of extreme opposition to the war. Leading off the list was a less familiar name: John Kerry. So much for the contention by Kerry supporters that his connection with "Hanoi Jane" (so called for her later visit to the enemy capital in time of war) was accidental juxtaposition in a photograph. In fact, Navy Lt. Kerry returned from heroic wartime service to help lead the radical Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), whose diatribes against flag and country are shocking from the distance of three decades. Does this reflect on Kerry's qualifications for the presidency? Perhaps no more than George W. Bush's record in attending National Guard drills in 1972. When Democrats made President Bush's past part of the 2004 campaign, Sen. Kerry's past became fair game. Relentless attention to the Bush record has helped the president's political decline, while the Kerry record has been largely ignored. Kerry now keeps his distance from Jane Fonda, expressing disapproval of her adventures in Hanoi. Rep. Charles Rangel on CNN's "Crossfire" Feb. 12 minimized a photo showing Kerry three rows away from Fonda at an anti-war rally: "There was some distance between Jane Fonda . . . and there was a guy that looked like it was Kerry that was a part of the crowd." He added to me: "I just hope that you wouldn't just identify me with your politics just because I took a picture with you." Actually, Kerry and Fonda both were among war resisters with the most extreme positions in criticizing U.S. participation in the war. Kerry, as the New England representative, attended a VVAW executive committee meeting Sept. 11, 1970. Minutes show plans to picket the National Guard Association convention in New York, to sponsor "war crimes testimony" at the U.N. and to coordinate with Jane Fonda's speaking tour. A later VVAW staff meeting decided to bar the American flag from the organization's offices. A VVAW flier of their period claims "American soldiers" commit atrocities "every day" against "the Vietnamese simply because they are 'Gooks.'" Kerry bought into the VVAW mantra that war crimes were not isolated in Vietnam. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan," U.S. troops committed unspeakable atrocities while they "ravaged the countryside." Returning to Kerry's youthful indiscretions is valid only because of the inordinate attention on young Bush in the same period. Kerry's strategists never planned to go down this path, which inadvertently was opened when leftist moviemaker Michael Moore called Bush a "deserter" for allegedly missing National Guard drills. That triggered a feeding frenzy for Democratic politicians, helped along at first by Kerry. In 2000, Kerry leaped on the National Guard issue, comparing the Republican candidate unfavorably with "those of us who were in the military." Four years later, Kerry was less direct, linking Bush's Guard service to people who "went to Canada" or "opposed the war." Kerry's surrogate, former Sen. Max Cleland (recently named by President Bush to the Export-Import Bank board) asserted "we need somebody who felt the sting of battle, not someone who didn't." Kerry has since backed away from the National Guard question and ordered his surrogates to do the same, but that does not cover such irrepressible Democrats as Charlie Rangel. In 1992 when Bill Clinton's non-service was under attack, the congressman from Harlem brushed off his own heroic Korean War record as a way "to get off the street because times were rough." On NBC's "Meet the Press" last Sunday he sang a different song. "I've served in combat," he said, adding that "those who haven't shared it ought to give a lot of space to those that have been there." Once again, Rangel suggested that Kerry did not even know Jane Fonda. Documents show they shared the same platform and the same wing of the anti-war movement. That is surely as valid as investigating how many National Guard drills Bush attended. ©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

To: calgal who wrote (543007)	2/20/2004 12:17:21 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush Defends Tax Cuts, Pushes for Permanence Thursday, February 19, 2004 URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111959,00.html WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday pressed his election-year complaints against "tax raisers and spenders in Washington," arguing that failure to make administration-backed tax cuts permanent would raise taxpayers' bills by billions. "When you hear people say, 'Oh, let's just let the tax cuts (search) expire,' it's a tax increase," Bush said in an event at the White House to promote his economic record. "It's a code word for, 'I'm raising your taxes,' to increase the amount of money we have to spend here in Washington on new programs, on programs that meet a particular political desire of the appropriators." Though Bush did not mention them, all the Democratic presidential candidates advocate repealing at least some of the reductions passed during Bush's presidency. All the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are to vanish by 2011. Expiring at the end of this year are some of the most popular: most of the increase in the child tax credit to $1,000, an expansion of the bottom 10 percent tax bracket that lowered taxes for virtually every worker, and some changes lessening the marriage penalty (search), which causes some couples to pay more than they would as two single individuals. Bush promoted the benefits of the cuts passed over the past three years, saying they will give Americans a total of $50 billion in higher refunds and lower tax payments once taxes are filed for 2003. The president said allowing the expanded bracket, marriage penalty relief and higher child tax credit (search) to disappear will cost people $28 billion in 2005. That comes to an average of $915 more for a family of four earning $40,000, the president said. "I'm ready to continue to lead on tax relief," he said of Congress. "They need to follow." Bush promoted his economic stewardship at time when he has been under fire over the politically sensitive issue of jobs. On Wednesday, the White House backed away from a prediction made only nine days earlier that the economy would add 2.6 million new jobs this year. Last week, Bush was forced to try to calm criticism over the assertion by a top economic aide that "outsourcing" American jobs overseas was good for the U.S. economy in the long run. Democrats have relentlessly attacked Bush on the 2.2 million jobs lost during his presidency. The decade-long cost of extending the 2001 and 2003 individual tax cuts is estimated at $1 trillion. But even in the face of deficits estimated to reach a record $521 billion this year, Bush said "there's plenty of money in Washington" to pay for making the cuts permanent. As he spoke, five taxpayers who had met with the president before the event stood behind him. "See, there's a human dimension to all the talk about numbers," Bush said as he recited facts about each. "And it's important for the people here in Washington to think about the people whose lives will be affected if they don't act." The setup was a departure from his most recent economic events, in which the White House orchestrates public "conversations" for citizens to tell personal stories that compliment the president's policy agenda. Sometimes, though, they are too slow. For instance, while at a Tampa, Fla., window and door manufacturer on Monday, the president jumped in to point out that one employee, Noemi Gonzalez, would pay $1,200 more next year in taxes if the cuts are not made permanent. "And that's not right," he said, before stopping himself and turning the floor back to Gonzalez. "And she said -- I'm putting words in your mouth."