AngelV
06 Apr 2004, 08:19 AM
http://www.brookings.edu/rios/data/sources/image/df8c35a4ac1bff3d296b06390a1415cb.jpg
(Yours truly took that photo)
Kennedy Accuses Bush of 'Credibility Gap' (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53051-2004Apr5.html)
GOP Leaders Defend President as Senator Attacks Him on Foreign, Domestic Issues
By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 6, 2004; Page A04
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), broadening his criticism of President Bush from foreign policy to domestic issues, accused Bush yesterday of having "created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon" on education, health and jobs, as well as the war in Iraq.
"He has broken the basic bond of trust with the American people," Kennedy said at the Brookings Institution in a speech that was clearly aimed at challenging Bush's credibility with voters, especially by comparing him with Nixon, who resigned as president in disgrace as a result of the Watergate scandal 30 years ago.
In response, Senate Republican leaders defended Bush's credibility, and the Bush-Cheney campaign accused Kennedy of serving as the "hatchet man" for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "Issuing personal attacks against the president is just another way of saying they have no agenda to lead America," said Terry Holt, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign.
Kennedy, one of Bush's most vocal critics on Capitol Hill and a prominent Kerry backer, has made a series of speeches criticizing Bush's foreign policy and continued the attack yesterday, charging that Iraq was "George Bush's Vietnam."
In his speech, which was among his most sharply worded critiques of Bush, Kennedy also linked Iraq to domestic concerns, saying the war "diverted attention from the administration's deceptions here at home -- especially on the economy, health care and education." On domestic as well as foreign policy, "saying whatever it takes to prevail has become standard operating procedure in the Bush White House," he said. "In this administration, truth is the first casualty of policy."
Kennedy accused the administration of trying to "backdate" the recent recession to blame President Bill Clinton. He condemned the administration for focusing on tax cuts for the wealthy as budget deficits deepened and for letting supplemental unemployment benefits expire.
On health care, he said the administration hid its own updated price tag for the Medicare prescription drug benefit that Congress passed last year, which indicated the program would cost far more than Congress believed. The bill itself was "a triumph of right-wing ideology masking as moderate reform," Kennedy said, adding that the administration "misused" millions of dollars in Medicare money to promote it in commercials and mailings.
As for education, Kennedy said Bush reneged on promises of adequate funding to carry out accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind law passed with Kennedy's help in 2001. The current Bush budget "leaves over 4.6 million children behind" by excluding funding to cover their needs, he said.
Responding to Kennedy's speech, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said Bush's "credibility is strong" and challenged Kennedy's contention that Bush has shortchanged health care and education. Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Kennedy's charges "completely outrageous" and said, "Americans would be much better served if the senator from Massachusetts would remember who the enemy is."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
(Yours truly took that photo)
Kennedy Accuses Bush of 'Credibility Gap' (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53051-2004Apr5.html)
GOP Leaders Defend President as Senator Attacks Him on Foreign, Domestic Issues
By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 6, 2004; Page A04
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), broadening his criticism of President Bush from foreign policy to domestic issues, accused Bush yesterday of having "created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon" on education, health and jobs, as well as the war in Iraq.
"He has broken the basic bond of trust with the American people," Kennedy said at the Brookings Institution in a speech that was clearly aimed at challenging Bush's credibility with voters, especially by comparing him with Nixon, who resigned as president in disgrace as a result of the Watergate scandal 30 years ago.
In response, Senate Republican leaders defended Bush's credibility, and the Bush-Cheney campaign accused Kennedy of serving as the "hatchet man" for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "Issuing personal attacks against the president is just another way of saying they have no agenda to lead America," said Terry Holt, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign.
Kennedy, one of Bush's most vocal critics on Capitol Hill and a prominent Kerry backer, has made a series of speeches criticizing Bush's foreign policy and continued the attack yesterday, charging that Iraq was "George Bush's Vietnam."
In his speech, which was among his most sharply worded critiques of Bush, Kennedy also linked Iraq to domestic concerns, saying the war "diverted attention from the administration's deceptions here at home -- especially on the economy, health care and education." On domestic as well as foreign policy, "saying whatever it takes to prevail has become standard operating procedure in the Bush White House," he said. "In this administration, truth is the first casualty of policy."
Kennedy accused the administration of trying to "backdate" the recent recession to blame President Bill Clinton. He condemned the administration for focusing on tax cuts for the wealthy as budget deficits deepened and for letting supplemental unemployment benefits expire.
On health care, he said the administration hid its own updated price tag for the Medicare prescription drug benefit that Congress passed last year, which indicated the program would cost far more than Congress believed. The bill itself was "a triumph of right-wing ideology masking as moderate reform," Kennedy said, adding that the administration "misused" millions of dollars in Medicare money to promote it in commercials and mailings.
As for education, Kennedy said Bush reneged on promises of adequate funding to carry out accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind law passed with Kennedy's help in 2001. The current Bush budget "leaves over 4.6 million children behind" by excluding funding to cover their needs, he said.
Responding to Kennedy's speech, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said Bush's "credibility is strong" and challenged Kennedy's contention that Bush has shortchanged health care and education. Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Kennedy's charges "completely outrageous" and said, "Americans would be much better served if the senator from Massachusetts would remember who the enemy is."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company