Kerry Displays Ability to Read Minds

[CarolinaTiger 0]

Kerry goes Mystic

well, i guess its over. kerry has figured out how to read W's mind.

[Tigermike 3,044]

Who is this speaking here? Is it the war hero Kerry? The anti war hero Kerry? Or Senator Kerry, who has not voted or been to any committee meetings in the past year? I'm sorry, I get them confused.

[TexasTiger 12,969]

Kerry goes Mystic

well, i guess its over. kerry has figured out how to read W's mind.

Maybe he's learned a few things from watching the Chimp:

Posted on Thu, Sep. 09, 2004

Kerry's `hidden' tax plan would hurt the economy, Bush says

BY GROMER JEFFERS JR.

The Dallas Morning News

COLMAR, Pa. - (KRT) - President Bush accused rival John Kerry on Thursday of having a "hidden" tax plan that would hurt the nation's economy and small businesses.

"One of my opponent's key economic advisers is saying that he wouldn't give the details on how they would raise spending and lower the deficit until after the election," Bush told a large crowd at Byers' Choice, a company that makes holiday trinkets. "Well, if they want to hold back information until the people vote, you can bet it won't be good news for the taxpayers. But Americans will reject the hidden Kerry tax plan."

Kerry has proposed eliminating tax breaks for those earning more than $200,000 a year but has not called for an increase in other personal tax rates.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/special_packages/election2004/9622438.htm

Not that you would notice such things when the shoe is on the other foot. Hypocrisy won't allow that, will it?

[TitanTiger 20,504]

Actually, Kerry is accusing Bush of having some secret plan that Bush hasn't said anything about...thus the mindreading comment. Kerry on the other hand does claim to have definite plans on spending programs and deficit reduction but won't reveal them until after the election. Not the same thing.

[TexasTiger 12,969]

Actually, Kerry is accusing Bush of having some secret plan that Bush hasn't said anything about...thus the mindreading comment. Kerry on the other hand does claim to have definite plans on spending programs and deficit reduction but won't reveal them until after the election. Not the same thing.

What has he claimed he isn't revealing until after the election? Got a link?

[TitanTiger 20,504]

I thought it was pretty much common knowledge. Reporter's have asked for specifics on his plans to reduce the deficit and fund his programs and they've been told those plans will come in more detail after the election.

[Tigermike 3,044]

I thought it was pretty much common knowledge. Reporter's have asked for specifics on his plans to reduce the deficit and fund his programs and they've been told those plans will come in more detail after the election.

In other words, Kerry is saying, "Elect me and then I will tell you what I plan to do"!

[TexasTiger 12,969]

I thought it was pretty much common knowledge. Reporter's have asked for specifics on his plans to reduce the deficit and fund his programs and they've been told those plans will come in more detail after the election.

In other words, no link?

[TexasTiger 12,969]

I thought it was pretty much common knowledge.  Reporter's have asked for specifics on his plans to reduce the deficit and fund his programs and they've been told those plans will come in more detail after the election.

In other words, no link?

While you're looking for that link, chew on this one. Bush's answer is to be the most brazenly hypocritical politician in history. This is what you guys think passes as great leadership.

$3 Trillion Price Tag Left Out As Bush Details His Agenda

By Mike Allen

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, September 14, 2004; Page A01

The expansive agenda President Bush laid out at the Republican National Convention was missing a price tag, but administration figures show the total is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade.

A staple of Bush's stump speech is his claim that his Democratic challenger, John F. Kerry, has proposed $2 trillion in long-term spending, a figure the Massachusetts senator's campaign calls exaggerated. But the cost of the new tax breaks and spending outlined by Bush at the GOP convention far eclipses that of the Kerry plan.

Bush's pledge to make permanent his tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010 or before, would reduce government revenue by about $1 trillion over 10 years, according to administration estimates. His proposed changes in Social Security to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds could cost the government $2 trillion over the coming decade, according to the calculations of independent domestic policy experts.

And Bush's agenda has many costs the administration has not publicly estimated. For instance, Bush said in his speech that he would continue to try to stabilize Iraq and wage war on terrorism. The war in Iraq alone costs $4 billion a month, but the president's annual budget does not reflect that cost.

Bush's platform highlights the challenge for both presidential candidates in trying to lure voters with attractive government initiatives at a time of mounting budget deficits. This year's federal budget deficit will reach a record $422 billion, and the government is expected to accumulate $2.3 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported last week.

The president has had little to say about the deficit as he barnstorms across the country, which has prompted Democrats and some conservative groups to say Bush refuses to admit there will not be enough money in government coffers to pay for many of his plans.

Although a majority of voters say they are concerned about the deficit, most view Kerry as only marginally better able to deal with it than Bush, according to polls. And Bush often invokes the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in justifying the mounting governmental red ink. The president's aides, ever cognizant of his father's failure to articulate a convincing vision, said it was crucial for Bush to offer an ambitious new plan for the coming four years, despite the surge in government borrowing.

Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said the new proposals "are affordable, and the president remains committed to cutting the budget deficit in half over the next five years," although last week's CBO report indicates that goal may not be attainable.

The White House has declined to provide a full and detailed accounting of the cost of the new agenda. The administration last week provided a partial listing of the previously unannounced proposals, including "opportunity zones," that totaled $74 billion in spending over the next 10 years. But there was no mention of the cost of additional tax cuts and the creation of Social Security private accounts. Discussing his agenda during an "Ask the President" campaign forum in Portsmouth, Ohio, Bush said Friday that he has "explained how we're going to pay for it, and my opponent can't explain it because he doesn't want to tell you he's going to have to tax you."

Some fiscal conservatives who are dismayed by the return of budget deficits found little to cheer in the president's convention speech. Stephen Moore, president of the conservative Club for Growth, said that Bush's Social Security plan was money well spent by saving the system in the long run, but he added that Bush "has banked his presidency on the idea that people don't really care about the deficit, and he may be right."

"He's a big-government Republican, and there's no longer even the pretense that he's for smaller government," Moore said.

Kerry cited the deficit figures as fresh evidence that Bush's tax cuts were reckless and that he is taking the country in "the wrong direction."

The administration has been secretive about the cost of the war and the likely impact that the bulging defense budget and continuing cost of tax cuts will have on domestic spending next year. The White House put government agencies on notice this month that if Bush is reelected, his budget for 2006 may include $2.3 billion in spending cuts from virtually all domestic programs not mandated by law, including education, homeland security and others central to Bush's campaign.

But Bush has had little to say about belt-tightening and sacrifice on the campaign trail. Nor has he explained how he would reconcile all his new spending plans with the mounting deficit.

Jason Furman, Kerry's economic policy director, said that Bush "wants to hide the true costs of his plan" and that taxpayers "would be shocked" to find out what he was really advocating.

"The Bush team has gotten a lot of traction with the point that the Kerry numbers and rhetoric don't add up," said Kevin A. Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "It behooves them now to demonstrate that theirs do."

In his acceptance speech in Madison Square Garden on Sept. 2, the president called for the expansion of health savings accounts, which provide tax breaks for families and small businesses; creation of new tax-preferred retirement savings accounts; and creation of lifetime savings accounts, which allow tax-free savings for tuition, retirement or even everyday expenses.

The "Agenda for America" also includes increasing testing and accountability measures for high schools and opportunity zones to cut regulations and steer federal grants, loans and other aid to counties that have lost manufacturing and textile jobs -- a clear appeal to swing states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Bush has also promised to "ensure every poor county in America has a community or rural health center" and "double the number of people served by our principal job training program and increase funding for our community colleges."

A number of Bush's initiatives could have a big price tag. An estimate from the Social Security actuary's office, included in the 2001 report of a Social Security commission appointed by Bush, put the cost of adding private accounts to the government retirement program at $1.5 trillion over 10 years. With inflation, the figure would now be about $2 trillion. Much of the expense comes from continuing to pay most retirees at current benefit levels, at the same time that some payroll taxes are being diverted to the stock and bond market.

Although advocates of partial privatization contend that the transition can be financed without cutting benefits or raising taxes, the estimates mean the president's agenda could cost even more than the Bush projections of Kerry's proposal. Hassett, the AEI economist, said private accounts would lower the long-term cost of Social Security. "If you pay a few trillion in transition costs over a decade, then maybe the system doesn't go bankrupt," he said.

Bush also called for making permanent his tax cuts, which the administration has estimated at $936.2 billion to $989.75 billion over 10 years. The tax cuts include elimination of the inheritance tax, reductions in the top four income tax rates, an increase in the child tax credit, reduction in the marriage penalty, and cuts to the capital gains and dividend tax rates.

Robert Greenstein of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities put the figure for extending the tax cuts at $2 trillion over 10 years and said other tax breaks Bush mentioned in his speech -- mostly related to health care -- would likely cost $50 billion to $100 billion over the next decade.

Another expensive part of Bush's agenda is the expansion of health savings accounts and creation of lifetime and retirement savings accounts. The new accounts are designed to have minimal cost in the first 10 years but have very large costs in the long run because they provide tax breaks when the money is withdrawn rather than up front.

The Congressional Research Service has estimated those two types of accounts would eventually cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year.

Peter R. Orszag, a senior fellow in economic policy at the Brookings Institution, said a conservative estimate for the cost of Bush's permanent tax cuts and Social Security accounts would be about $4 trillion over 10 years. But Bush's agenda was vague and did not include details of how he would add Social Security accounts.

"It's hard to cost out rhetoric," Orszag said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Sep13.html

[TitanTiger 20,504]

Ahem.

Kerry's Economic Remedy Won't Be Revealed Before Election

By Nathan Burchfiel

CNSNews.com Correspondent

July 30, 2004

(CNSNews.com)  - A top economic advisor to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said the public won't hear Kerry's financial plans until after he's elected - if he's elected.

In the Aug. 2 cover story of "Business Week," former Clinton administration treasury secretary Robert Rubin said, "I don't think you can make proposals to try to dig out of this hole until you've gotten elected ... If you start to put out proposals now, they would be vigorously attacked and they would in effect become tainted so they couldn't be used."...

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Pa...L20040730d.html

In other words, "trust us, we have a plan and it's GRRREEEAAATT!"

[TexasTiger 12,969]

Ahem.

Kerry's Economic Remedy Won't Be Revealed Before Election

By Nathan Burchfiel

CNSNews.com Correspondent

July 30, 2004

(CNSNews.com)  - A top economic advisor to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said the public won't hear Kerry's financial plans until after he's elected - if he's elected.

In the Aug. 2 cover story of "Business Week," former Clinton administration treasury secretary Robert Rubin said, "I don't think you can make proposals to try to dig out of this hole until you've gotten elected ... If you start to put out proposals now, they would be vigorously attacked and they would in effect become tainted so they couldn't be used."...

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Pa...L20040730d.html

In other words, "trust us, we have a plan and it's GRRREEEAAATT!"

The actual quote:

Q: Kerry has said he would roll back the tax cuts on the wealthy to pay for his spending programs. But if he wants to fix the deficit problem, won't he have to raise other taxes as well?

A: I don't think you can make proposals to try to dig out of this hole until you've gotten elected and until you've organized effectively across both parties and both houses. If you start to put out proposals now, they would be vigorously attacked, and they would in effect become tainted so they couldn't be used.

http://www.businessweekasia.com/magazine/content/04_31/b3894006_mz001.htm

You ignored the thrust of my previous post, understandably, I guess.

Bush squandered the surplus, created the largest deficit in history, has expanded government and plans to spend even a trillion more than Kerry and instead of rolling back tax cuts on the top 2%, wants to make the tax cuts permanent. What is his "secret plan"? Sell us to the Saudis? I know Cheney wants us to sell all of our assets on Ebay.

[TitanTiger 20,504]

It has been pointed out, by numerous economists, that rolling back the tax cuts on those making over $200,000 (which is what Kerry actually said) would not come even close to paying for the things that Kerry wants to do and pay down the deficit. Next.

[TexasTiger 12,969]

It has been pointed out, by numerous economists, that rolling back the tax cuts on those making over $200,000 (which is what Kerry actually said) would not come even close to paying for the things that Kerry wants to do and pay down the deficit. Next.

Dodge and deflect. Next is Bush's secret plan. What is it?

[TitanTiger 20,504]

That's not dodging at all. It's explaining things to someone who apparently never reads the news.

Kerry says he has all these plans and he'll pay for them by reconfiscating money from those making over $200K. That won't pay for all he's proposed plus pay down the deficit. His campaign says his plan for all that won't be revealed until after the election.

How'd that ball feel as it whizzed past your ear, Dodger?

[TexasTiger 12,969]

That's not dodging at all. It's explaining things to someone who apparently never reads the news.

Kerry says he has all these plans and he'll pay for them by reconfiscating money from those making over $200K. That won't pay for all he's proposed plus pay down the deficit. His campaign says his plan for all that won't be revealed until after the election.

How'd that ball feel as it whizzed past your ear, Dodger?

This is beneath you Titan. Kerry's plan doesn't add up. Kerry has no magic bullet for Iraq. Bush f#cked both of them up. So what's his plan? Why does only one candidate have to have a fantastic plan? How can one candidate attack another guys plan when he has none of his own?

You can insult me all night if thats all you've got, but as someone who appears to be the smartest conservative on this board, I know you understand what I'm saying.

[TitanTiger 20,504]

You walked into this discussion about Kerry making up some nonsense about a secret plan Bush has for troops. Then you tried to make a comparison between his pure speculation and the clearly stated intent of Kerry not to release economic plans that detail how he's going to accomplish all his initiatives and pay down the deficit. I didn't bring that up, you did. Now you've moved completely away from his secret troop plan comments and are asking about Bush's economic plan? Sorry, I'm getting confused by this game of leapfrog.

Back to the original topic: how can Kerry read Bush's mind and know he has a "secret" plan regarding troop deployment that he's hiding from the nation?

[TexasTiger 12,969]

You walked into this discussion about Kerry making up some nonsense about a secret plan Bush has for troops. Then you tried to make a comparison between his pure speculation and the clearly stated intent of Kerry not to release economic plans that detail how he's going to accomplish all his initiatives and pay down the deficit. I didn't bring that up, you did. Now you've moved completely away from his secret troop plan comments and are asking about Bush's economic plan? Sorry, I'm getting confused by this game of leapfrog.

Back to the original topic: how can Kerry read Bush's mind and know he has a "secret" plan regarding troop deployment that he's hiding from the nation?

Disappointing, but you've given me your best answer, I guess.

[TitanTiger 20,504]

I guess.

[TexasTiger 12,969]

You walked into this discussion about Kerry making up some nonsense about a secret plan Bush has for troops. Then you tried to make a comparison between his pure speculation and the clearly stated intent of Kerry not to release economic plans that detail how he's going to accomplish all his initiatives and pay down the deficit. I didn't bring that up, you did. Now you've moved completely away from his secret troop plan comments and are asking about Bush's economic plan? Sorry, I'm getting confused by this game of leapfrog.

Back to the original topic: how can Kerry read Bush's mind and know he has a "secret" plan regarding troop deployment that he's hiding from the nation?

Well, you've accused me of not reading the news. I won't do the same, but I will point you to a source other than the right wing rags you seem to focus on so much. Don't worry it's Bloomberg- business, Republican, etc. Kerry has a source of information that is not mind reading. Bush on the other hand, can't point to any source about a secret plan to actually raise taxes, pure speculation on his part-- I know you don't think hypocrisy is important in relation to Republicans-- redundant yes, but still important. Just another point on which you're wrong.

Murtha said Pentagon officials told him that ``at the beginning of November, the Bush administration plans to call up large numbers of the military Guard and Reserves, to include plans that they previously had put off to call up the Individual Ready Reserve.'' Murtha didn't name the officials or provide details.

The Pentagon announced in July that it intended to call back to duty about 5,600 Individual Ready Reserve members, discharged military personnel who haven't served at least eight years of active duty.

Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment on Murtha's or Kerry's remarks.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=1...W1c1NE&refer=us

[TitanTiger 20,504]

If this is even true, early November...how is that hiding it until after the election as John Kerry claims that it is?

[TexasTiger 12,969]

If this is even true, early November...how is that hiding it until after the election as John Kerry claims that it is?

November 3rd is early November. So's the 4th, 5th, 6th and so on for few more days.

[AUloggerhead 2,246]

You can insult me all night if thats all you've got, but as someone who appears to be the smartest conservative on this board, I know you understand what I'm saying.

I don't have a dog in this fight, ... honest. But Tex, you just claimed to be the smartest conservative on this board. And then you followed it up with "I know you understand what I'm saying!" (personal pronouns/modifying phrases & stuff) Thanks for the laugh. Beat the Corndogs. WDE

[TexasTiger 12,969]

You can insult me all night if thats all you've got, but as someone who appears to be the smartest conservative on this board, I know you understand what I'm saying.

I don't have a dog in this fight, ... honest. But Tex, you just claimed to be the smartest conservative on this board. And then you followed it up with "I know you understand what I'm saying!" (personal pronouns/modifying phrases & stuff) Thanks for the laugh. Beat the Corndogs. WDE

Well, I do appear to be one of the few fiscal conservatives.

[DKW 86 7,433]

You can insult me all night if thats all you've got, but as someone who appears to be the smartest conservative on this board, I know you understand what I'm saying.

I don't have a dog in this fight, ... honest. But Tex, you just claimed to be the smartest conservative on this board. And then you followed it up with "I know you understand what I'm saying!" (personal pronouns/modifying phrases & stuff) Thanks for the laugh. Beat the Corndogs. WDE

Well, I do appear to be one of the few fiscal conservatives.

I am as fiscal conservative as you can get (Go Dave Ramsey!) It is the one issue I am very upset with Bush on. However with Dem history on this I really dont have any place to go. Where is Phil Gramm et al at right now?

[TexasTiger 12,969]

You can insult me all night if thats all you've got, but as someone who appears to be the smartest conservative on this board, I know you understand what I'm saying.

I don't have a dog in this fight, ... honest. But Tex, you just claimed to be the smartest conservative on this board. And then you followed it up with "I know you understand what I'm saying!" (personal pronouns/modifying phrases & stuff) Thanks for the laugh. Beat the Corndogs. WDE

Well, I do appear to be one of the few fiscal conservatives.

I am as fiscal conservative as you can get (Go Dave Ramsey!) It is the one issue I am very upset with Bush on. However with Dem history on this I really dont have any place to go. Where is Phil Gramm et al at right now?

Dem history or Republican myth? Look at the actual history. Hate Clinton all you want, his was the most fiscally responsible administration in 35 years. Look at the actual facts, not the hype.