Oh, you're probably right...I just have a few confusing details
to clear up from my severe case of amnesia.
MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUT: Clinton Speak #1..it is the economy stupid, his
tax policy is about to kill the golden goose.
"We will lower the tax burden on middle class Americans by asking the very wealthy to pay their fair share. Middle class taxpayers will have a choice between a children's tax credit or a significant reduction in their income tax rate."
Putting People First, September 1992.
"From New Hampshire forward, for reasons that absolutely mystified me, the press thought the most important issue in the race was the middle
class tax cut. I never did meet any voter who thought that."
January 14, 1993.
SIZE OF THE DEFICIT: - Clinton Speak #2...integrity counts, you have
to lay out the REAL facts to the American people so we can make informed choices.
"I can't [avoid raising taxes on the middle class] because the deficit has increased so much, beyond my earlier estimates..."
February 17, 1993.
"[S]enior Administration officials, including Bentsen and Panetta, concede that the professed shock at higher deficit estimates issued after the election was largely feigned. Moreover, the new Clinton team issued initial budget projections soon after taking office that put absolutely the worst face possible on the deficit outlook, manipulating data to reinforce the impression that Bush had left Clinton with a fiscal nightmare."
Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1994, p. D1.
CORPORATE TAX RATES: Clinton Speak #3
"I don't think we should raise corporate tax rates, [but I think we should give corporations more incentives to invest in this country]."
July 13, 1992.
President Clinton's original plan would have raised the top marginal rate for corporate income taxes to 36 percent, but Congress would only agree to raise it to 35 percent (the current rate is 34 percent).
P.L. 103-66, Clinton's Tax and Spend Plan.
Clinton speak #3...
"We will link China's trading privileges to its human rights record and its conduct on trade and weapon sales."
August 13, 1992.
"I am moving, therefore, to delink human rights from the annual extension of most-favored nation trading status for China."
May 26, 1994.
Clinton speak #4...trash the character of your opponent and then do
the very same thing.
HAITIAN REFUGEES:
"I am appalled by the decision of the Bush administration to pick up fleeing Haitians on the high seas and forcibly return them to Haiti before considering their claim to political asylum.... If I were President, I would -- in the absence of clear and compelling evidence that they weren't political refugees -- give them temporary asylum until we restored the elected government of Haiti."
May 27, 1992.
"For Haitians who do seek to leave Haiti, boat departure is a terrible and dangerous choice.... For this reason, the practice of returning those who fled Haiti by boat will continue, for the time being, after I become President. Those who do leave Haiti...by boat will be stopped and directly returned by the United States Coast Guard."
January 14, 1993.
Clinton speak #5..the Neville Chamberlain of the 90's
"I think we should act. We should lead. The United States should lead."
April 23, 1993.
"I cannot unilaterally lift the arms embargo [on Bosnia].... Our allies decided that they weren't prepared to go that far this time."
June 15, 1993.
"The United Nations controls what happens in Bosnia."
Clinton speak #6...I convince you to give me your son's and daughters
for a cause, and once I get them I do what I damn please with them.
MISSION IN SOMALIA:
"The ultimate goal is to make sure that the United Nations can fulfill its mission there and continue to work with the Somalis toward nation
building."
June 16, 1993.
"The U.S. military mission is not now nor was it ever one of 'nation building.'"
October 13, 1993.
Clinton speak #7...those massive cuts in government, now you see them
now you don't
"We will reduce the White House staff by 25 percent..."
Putting People First, September 1992.
"What the cuts [to White House staff] have become, instead, is a struggle to make the numbers come out right, a study in creative definitions of what constitutes the White House staff, and a flurry of pink slips sent to career workers...Figures provided by the White House...show increases in spending on the White House office staff, the vice president's staff, the Office of Administration, the Domestic policy office and the National Security Council...The Office of Management and Budget and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, show slight increases as well. Where the major saving occurs is in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, where $76 million in its 'forfeiture fund' has been reduced to $28 million, and staff--all career workers in the anti-drug field--has been reduced from 112 to 25 for a total savings of nearly $60 million."
Washington Post, September 30, 1993, p. A1.
Clinton speak #8 ..I didn't inhale
DRUG WAR:
"[President Bush] hasn't fought a real war on crime and drugs. I will."
July 16, 1992.
"I never thought I'd miss Nancy Reagan. There can't be a rating [on the Clinton drug policy] when there hasn't been a performance."
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), April 24, 1993.
Clinton reduced funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (drug czar) to $5.8 million (FY 1993 funding level was $103 million).
Budget of the United States Government for FY 1994, p. A-222. |
