Due to date changes, the RNC may not get Bush on the ballot in Illinois. The point is probably moot since Illinois is typically Democrat but it would be funny if it happened. (Of course, it won’t happen since the Ill. House Dems don’t want to look too slimy.)
Today’s reason: more exagerrations and not-quite-truths. I’m taking the lazy route today and simply pulling out this article discussing Bush’s attacks against Kerry counting 350 votes for “higher taxes”.
Among the votes the Bush campaign documents count as votes for “higher taxes” are the following:
- A 1985 vote to offset a proposed increase in Medicare premiums by preventing the tax on cigarettes from dropping to 8 cents a pack from 16 cents, as it was scheduled to do. Taxes would have remained at 16 cents a pack.
- A 1986 vote against a non-binding resolution to express the “sense of the Senate” that hazardous-waste “superfund” cleanup shouldn’t be paid for by a broad-based tax on manufacturers, but by some unspecified alternative source. Taxes would have remained the same.
- A 1987 vote against repealing a “windfall profits” tax on oil. Taxes would have remained the same.
- A 1989 vote to sustain a Democratic filibuster against a proposed cut in the capital-gains tax. Taxes would have remained the same.
None of these votes would have resulted in a tax increase, and most of the votes on the Bush lists are like that. Whether they would have resulted in “higher taxes” depends: higher than what? Bush campaign officials argue that in each of the votes they list, Kerry was presented with alternatives and chose the higher of the two. Perhaps the President should have said Kerry voted 350 times for “higher taxes than Republicans prefer.”
I would also add that any voting Republican will show that they have voted for many of these same items AND several tax increases over their history. The only reason Bush can say he hasn’t voted for any tax increases is because he’s never been in a position to vote for things — his political experience has only been executive. He doesn’t really know what it’s like to work votes on a congressional floor at any level.