Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Sunday, 11 Oct 1992 22:21:16 CDT
From: <U56503@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.bush
Subject: ==> Rhetoric Vs. Reality--The First Debate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Information in the public interest which does not imply that it
is the opinion of UIC.  Contact 75300.3115@compuserve.com for
further information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 October 11, 1992

                       RHETORIC VS. REALITY
                         THE FIRST DEBATE

                     THE BUSH ECONOMIC RECORD

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "My economic program is the kind of
 change we want."

 REALITY: His economic program is more of the same. He's proposed the
 same trickle-down economics of the past -- a 1 percent tax break and
 a capital gains tax break which will give millionaires $108,000 and
 people making $20-30,000 only $111. [Citizens for Tax Justice, based
 on Department of Treasury figures.]

               "MOST RESPECTED ECONOMY IN THE WORLD"

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "We're the most respected economy in the
 world. We've been caught up in a global slowdown."

 REALITY: After George Bush visited Japan last year, Prime Minister
 Miyazawa said he felt dojo -- "sympathy" or "compassion" -- for the
 United States of America. [Washington Post, 1/29/92] Under the
 Republicans, U.S. productivity has grown at roughly 1 percent,
 compared to 2.8 percent for Japan. [State of Working America, p. 422]
 Since 1980, the United States has been transformed from the world's
 largest creditor to the world's largest debtor. [Economic Report of
 the President, Table B-100; Survey of Current Business, June 1992, p.
 49] The Commerce Department says the United States is losing to Japan
 in developing 10 out of 12 critical technologies and gaining in none.
 [Commerce Department, Emerging Technologies, Spring 1990]

                         THE MISERY INDEX

 RHETORIC: George Bush said "...the misery index went right through
 the roof."

 REALITY: Under George Bush, the misery index has increased from 9.4
 to 10.4 percent in September. In the same time period, Arkansas'
 index declined by almost one-fifth. [United Press International,
 10/9/92, Bureau of Labor Statistics]
 DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE U.S.

 RHETORIC: "I think it's wrong to demonstrate against your own
 country. I just find it impossible to understand how an American can
 demonstrate against his own country"

 REALITY: President Bush didn't always feel this way. During the
 Vietnam War he supported people's right to demonstrate against the
 U.S. [Houston Chronicle, 10/15/69] In his 1991 State of the Union,
 Bush said, "Democracy brings the undeniable value of thoughtful
 dissent, and we've heard some dissenting voices here at home...But
 the fact that all voices have the right to speak out is one of the
 reasons we've been united in purpose and principle for 200 years."
 [New York Times, 1/30/91]

                        CLINTON TAX PACKAGE

 RHETORIC: George Bush said: "Taxing people over $200,000 will not
 raise $150 billion."

 REALITY: This charge is based on the false assumption that the only
 increase in revenue comes from raising the individual income tax
 rate. In fact, the Clinton plan raises billions from other sources,
 including $58 billion from closing corporate tax loopholes. [Putting
 People First, pp.31- 33]  When this charge was made in a Bush
 advertisement, the Wall Street Journal said, "The problem is that Mr.
 Clinton has proposed to cut taxes for the sort of workers featured in
 the ad." [WSJ, 10/2/92] The Los Angeles Times has said that the Bush
 campaign has offered a "questionable analyses of Clinton's tax
 proposals that come dangerously close to misrepresentation, as well
 as hypothetical assumptions.." [LA Times, 10/2/92]

                           TAX AND SPEND

 RHETORIC: George Bush said: "I agree with what he's [Perot] talking
 about in trying to get this spending down....I disagree with the tax
 and spend philosophy..."

 REALITY: On taxes. George "Read My Lips" Bush gave us the second
 biggest tax increase in American history. He has consistently raised
 taxes on the middle class.   The conservative Cato Institute called
 Bush "the largest spender to sit in the White House in the past 30
 years" and noted that Bush "increased the domestic budget more in
 four years than Carter and Reagan combined did in 12 years." [Cato
 Institute, 6/19/92] Bush actually requested more spending than
 Congress has appropriated. Through 1991, Bush requested 1.1 billion
 more than Congress appropriated, and Reagan-Bush requested $17.3
 billion more than Congress appropriated. [House Committee on
 Appropriations]

                           JOB TRAINING

 RHETORIC: George Bush said: "Look at the job retraining programs that
 we're proposing."

 REALITY: Okay. George Bush took 1,346 days to propose a job training
 program that was largely a compilation of the government's 60
 existing programs. [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 1/18/92] And he's
 given no specifics on how he proposes to pay for his new plan. Bush
 proposed eliminating Trade Adjustment Assistance in his last three
 budgets. TAA helps retrain workers displaced from their jobs by
 foreign competition. In his 1993 budget, Bush proposed cutting the
 Job Corps by 5 percent below the FY 1992 appropriations level and
 freezing assistance to dislocated workers. [U.S. House Budget
 Committee, 2/90]

                               JOBS

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "The Agenda for American Renewal...it
 makes sense...it's sensible...it creates jobs."

 REALITY: George Bush has created no new private sector jobs during
 his Administration. [Bureau of Labor Statistics] "If the program
 announced today is any good," Mr. Bush said, "Why did it take the
 Carter Administration three and a half years to come up with it?"
 [New York Times, 8/30/80]


                               CHINA

 RHETORIC:  George Bush said, "We are the ones that worked out the
 prison labor deal... I am the one that said let's keep the MFN
 because you see China moving toward a free market economy."

 REALITY:  George Bush pressured China on prison labor and access to
 its markets only at the urging of the US Congress.  After the
 slaughter in Tiananmen Square, President Bush sent secret emissaries
 to toast the Beijing leadership.  Yet China's government still denies
 its people their human rights, and still transfers nuclear technology
 to radical regimes.  And we still have a trade deficit with China of
 $15 billion, second only to Japan.  [WP, 5/16/92; WP 2/22/91,
 Financial Times 9/2/92]

                            JAMES BAKER

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "...I'm going to say to Jim Baker when
 this campaign is over, `You do in domestic affairs what you've done
 in foreign affairs."

 REALITY: Asked by Larry King what role James Baker would play in a
 second Bush Administration, George Bush said: "I mean, I would think
 he'd want to go back there [to the State Department], and I'd want
 him there."


                          SMALL BUSINESS

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "We've got the plan announced for what we
 can do for small business."

 REALITY: Let's hope it's something different than the record. Under
 George Bush, the number of new business incorporations has declined
 at a 3.3 percent annual rate, the first decline since 1945
 [Congressional Joint Economic Committee] Under George Bush, the
 number of personal bankruptcies filed exceeds net new jobs created by
 a 2.4-1 margin. [Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts]

                           STOCK MARKET

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "There was a moment there, fear that he
 [Clinton] might win, and the markets went down like that [whoooosh]."

 REALITY: The day after Bush addressed the Republican National
 Convention, the Dow Jones Industrial average sank 50.79 points, to a
 four-month low of 3,254.10. It was the second biggest drop for the
 average in 1992. [Associated Press, 8/22/92]


                           FAMILY VALUES

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "We need to strengthen family. [sic] "

 REALITY: George Bush has twice vetoed the Family and Medical Leave
 Act, which would allow parents to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave to
 care for sick relatives or newborns.       In January of this year,
 Bush proposed a tax exemption of $500 per child but he reneged on his
 proposal one month later. A top aide said that "was a proposal for
 [the] New Hampshire [primary]; this is the real proposal." [The
 Washington Post, 2/12/92]


                           DEADBEAT DADS

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "Those [single parent] mothers need help
 and one way to do it is to get these deadbeat fathers to pay their
 obligations to these mothers."

 REALITY: In his Midsession Review, George Bush named selected options
 that would cut $2 billion in child support enforcement funds.
 [Midsession Budget Review] Ironically, the Republicans have yet to
 return the $400,00 contribution from Michael Kojima -- who sat with
 Bush at a May Republican fundraiser -- although he owed $100,000 in
 child support. [LA Times, 5/8/92; United Press International,
 10/10/92]


                               DRUGS

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "I do believe there's some fairly good
 news [on drugs] out there."


 REALITY: Three years after George Bush declared "this scourge will
 stop" and after $30 billion expended, more than 3 million Americans
 use cocaine or heroin or both every week. That's a record high.
 [Senate Judiciary Committee, 1/92] Under George Bush, there are fewer
 agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency than there are members of U.S.
 Army military bands. [John Lawn, DEA Director, 3/22/90]


                           CIVIL RIGHTS

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "I've tried to use the White House as the
 bully pulpit, speaking out against discrimination. We passed two very
 forward looking civil rights bills."

 REALITY: Bush vetoed the Civil Rights Acts of 1990, only the second
 time a President has vetoed a civil rights act this century.
 [Washington Post, 10/23/90] Bush also opposed the landmark Civil
 Rights Act of 1964. [Dallas Morning News, 9/12/63]


                               AIDS

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "We have increased funding for AIDS;
 we've doubled it."

 REALITY: Although Bush claims to have allocated $4.3 billion to AIDS
 research in 1992, he includes Medicare/Medicaid funds being spent for
 AIDS treatment in this figure. In fact, only $2 billion will be spent
 on AIDS research -- less than half of Bush's claim. [Bush 8/19/92;
 Wall Street Journal, April 22, 1992] During this 90-minute debate, it
 is estimated that 300 people worldwide will be infected with the AIDS
 virus. [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/21/92]


                          SOCIAL SECURITY

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "I'm the President who stood up and said
 don't mess with Social Security and I'm not going to and we haven't
 and we are not going to go after the Social Security recipient."

 REALITY: On May 10, 1985, then Vice President Bush cut short a trip
 in order to cast the tie- breaking vote on the Senate floor to
 eliminate the 1986 cost-of-living adjustment for all Social Security
 beneficiaries. [New York Times, 9/11/85] In a 1980 debate, George
 Bush said that Social Security "has become largely a welfare program
 or a side benefit to it." [Associated Press, 2/23/80]


                        MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

 RHETORIC: George Bush said, "He failed to take on something else: the
 malpractice suit people."

 REALITY: Apparently, Mr. Bush hasn't read the Clinton health care
 plan. "Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms should be made
 available in every state, which can effectively and humanely address
 and resolve these legal challenges." [January, 1992] Arkansas has the
 lowest medical malpractice rates in the nation. [Wall Street Journal,
 9/8/92] Tort suits actually dropped 10 percent in Arkansas between
 1987 and 1990.
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush