Do you remember "Read my lips"

possible | 2/2/2004 | possible

[possible]

Do you remember "Read my lips"? President George H. W. Bush was, arguably, defeated on the issue of credibility. He promised no new taxes, saying "Read my lips, no new taxes". And he broke the promise.

Although it doesn't involve a promise, President George W. Bush may be creating his own credibility problem. How serious will it get? Will it threaten his reelection? I don't know.

The Medicare prescription drug bill appears to be a classic case of false advertising. The bill was sold to the American people and congress with an advertised price. Now a few short weeeks later, the true price is admitted to be more than $130,000,000,000 higher. The increase in price alone is enough to create 130,000 millionaires!

The only "innocent" explanation I can think of is that some staff person somewhere did an extremely bad job of estimating the cost. Is this what happened? Will the American people believe it?

I suppose I'm old fashioned. I believe in accountability. If an employee of mine made a mistake of comparable magnitude, badly misestimating a contract for a customer, he'd be fired. And I'd be profusely apologizing to my customer.

From all appearances President Bush doesn't realize he has a credibility problem.

[possible]

I'm voting for Bush in November. But this credibility problem and the immigration issue are very painful.

[Peach]

I'm glad you are voting for him. The alternatives are far worse. As well, I thought this chart did a little toward redeeming him regarding spending: Comparison of Bush Budget (FY’04) with Past Budget Averages

	FY’04 Proposal	Post-WWII Average (FY’46 - FY’02)	Clinton Budgets (FY’94 – FY’01)	G.H.W. Bush Budgets (FY’90 - FY’93)	Reagan Budgets (FY’82 - FY’89)
Total Receipts as percent of GDP	17.0%	17.9%	19.4%	17.7%	18.0%
Total outlays as percent of GDP	19.7%	19.5%	19.6%	22.0%	22.3%
Deficit (-)/Surplus as percent of GDP	-2.7%	-1.6%	-0.1%	-4.3%	-4.3%
Annual growth in total receipts (average % change from previous fiscal year, FY96 $)	2.7%	2.9%	4.9%	0.5%	2.5%
Annual growth in total outlays (average % change from previous fiscal year, FY96 $)	2.2%	2.3%	1.5%	1.9%	2.7%
Defense spending as a percent of total outlays	17.5%	35.5%	17.1%	21.7%	26.7%
Non-defense discretionary spending as a percent of total outlays	19.2%	19.4%*	17.6%	16.6%	17.1%
Net interest costs as percent of total outlays	7.9%	10.5%*	13.9%	14.5%	13.2%
Other mandatory spending as a percent of total outlays	55.4%	41.6%*	51.4%	46.2%	42.9%
Debt held by public at end of fiscal year as percent of GDP	36.9%	44.0%	43.0%	46.3%	36.7%
Gross Debt at end of fiscal year as percentof GDP	64.8%	56.2%	63.4%	61.8%	45.4%
* includes only data back to 1962 since the distinction between discretionary and mandatory began only in that year.

 

 

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[Dane]

I'm voting for Bush in November. But this credibility problem and the immigration issue are very painful

Kerry was for an $800 billion drug plan and Kerry is for amnesty, something the Presidents proposal does not have.

Why did you leave Kerry out of your vanity.

[laotzu]

You would fire an employee for this, but vote him into the WhiteHouse?!!

Who's working for whom?

[Huck]

I read that a lot of GOP congressman concerned about spending were complaining about using % of GDP as a basis. You know anything about that?

[Phantom Lord]

Are you surprised by the increase in the cost of the medicare bill for the gimmie generation? If so, you are the only one.

And if it had been Clinton who said "no new taxes" he would have spun his way out of it by saying, "My statement is factual. There are no new taxes. I only increased already existing taxes." And you would have every member of the DNC, liberal press, and every RAT in congress supporting his position.

[Jewels1091]

Bull...if you would listen, the Congressmen said that they knew LIKE ALL GOV PROGRAMS that the price would be different. Some even said that they knew other numbers were going to come out soon. The one set, the one the President used was from the CONGRESS anyway! The new numbers are the ones that came out when Bush's budget office went over the Congressional ones!

[Peach]

I know it's what Wall Street refers to when talking about the deficit.

There is too much domestic spending going on, but a review of this chart shows it's not as bad as we've been led to believe. Who has led us to believe that? The mainstream media!! Beware of their stories.

[Peach]

Fire an employee for what?

[Phantom Lord]

and Kerry is for amnesty, something the Presidents proposal does not have

You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig. Bush's plan is an amnesty any way you look at it. Purposeful exclusion of the word amnesty does not change the fact of what it is. An amnesty!

[Dane]

Who's working for whom?

IMO, you are working for Kerry.

[international american]

At least he is voting the right way....Kerry is as bad as Carter...or worse:)

[possible]

Thanks, Peach. I appreciate the numbers. And I agree that the alternatives are far worse.

My concern is with credibility in the eyes of the American people. I fear President Bush has lost some.

[Dane]

You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig. Bush's plan is an amnesty any way you look at it

Amnesty would include citizenship, which Bush's plan does not offer, although Kerry's does.

[Peach]

If you are thinking of voting Third Party or staying home on election day as a protest day, don't come back here and complain if we have a Democrat president.

A democrat who believes we should give immediate citizenship to illegal aliens.

A democrat who believes we should have socialized health care.

A democrat who believes the war on terror should be waged as a law enforcement matter.

A democrat who will get us back into Kyoto.

A democrat who will have our soldiers submit to the rules of the ICC.

A democrat who will not do anything on the international front UNLESS we have permission from the UN.

A democrat who will make judicial appointments that are so liberal we can expect to see more judges who support the more perverse elements of our society.

A democrat who will permit women to abort their children as the make their way down the birth canal.

Need I go on? So don't stay home. Do you duty. It's a simple duty. If our soldiers can give what they are sacrificing every minute of every day, the least you can do is hold your nose and vote for a man who isn't quite as conservative as you would like him to be.

If we end up with a Democrat president as a result, I do hope people are ashamed of their decision to abdicate their responsibility to vote for the BEST candidate, not the perfect candidate. There is no such thing as the PERFECT candidate.

[possible]

Kerry was for an $800 billion drug plan and Kerry is for amnesty, something the Presidents proposal does not have.

Why did you leave Kerry out of your vanity?

I agree that Kerry is far worse. I want Bush to be reelected. But I'm concerned about the credibility issue. Just maybe if we pay attention to the problem, something will get done about it. I'm not for burying my head in the sand.

[MJY1288]

What is with all these vanity threads lately, isn't there enough BushBashings threads already posted here on FR

[possible]

You would fire an employee for this, but vote him into the WhiteHouse?!!

Who's working for whom?

I'm a political realist. The choices are President Bush or (probaly) President Kerry. Of the two Bush is far better.

[laotzu]

"Fire an employee for what?"

from the posted article:
"If an employee of mine made a mistake of comparable magnitude..he'd be fired."

[Peach]

President BUsh has lost some credibility and his base. If we all write to him and mention this to him, it will get him back on board - maybe. It's the only alternative we have unless we're willing to sit idly by and watch what a Democrat will do to the country.