Post by bot on Apr 8, 2004 1:58:10 GMT -5
From: Eltanin (eltanin@boxfrog.com)
Subject: Kennedy Likens Bush to Nixon 'Credibility Gap'
View this article only
Newsgroups: soc.culture.israel, alt.politics.republicans, alt.impeach.bush, alt.society.conservatism, alt.politics.democrats.d, alt.politics, soc.culture.iraq, alt.politics.gw-bush
Date: 2004-04-07 13:52:58 PST
Kennedy Likens Bush to Nixon 'Credibility Gap'
Mon Apr 5, 2004 05:44 PM ET
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy on Monday accused
President Bush of having created at home and abroad "the largest
credibility gap" since the Watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon from
the White House 30 years ago.
Kennedy, a key backer of fellow Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's
campaign for the party's presidential nomination, also charged Iraq has
become "George Bush's Vietnam," the war that divided the United States
and helped drive Lyndon Johnson from the presidency.
In addition, Kennedy said, Iraq has "diverted attention from the
administration's deceptions here at home -- especially on the economy,
health care and education."
In delivering perhaps his harshest assessment yet of Bush, Kennedy
described the Republican president as someone who cannot be trusted on
a host of fronts.
Kennedy, the leading liberal on Capitol Hill, renewed his charge that
the administration had misled the American people and Congress into the
Iraq war, straining relations with allies worldwide.
He also accused the administration of having knowingly sold an unsound
tax-cutting economic plan that resulted in the loss of millions of
jobs, a faulty Medicare prescription drug law that will cost far more
than it acknowledged when the measure won final congressional passage
late last year and an education program that Kennedy said Bush has
refused to adequately fund.
"Sadly, this administration has failed to live up to basic standards of
open and candid debate," Kennedy said in a speech at the Brookings
Institution, a Washington think tank.
INVENT 'FACTS'
"They repeatedly invent 'facts' to support their preconceived agenda --
facts which administration officials knew or should have known were not
true," Kennedy said.
The senator said, "As a result, this president has now created the
largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon," who was forced to resign
as president in 1974 as a result of the Watergate scandal that exposed
abuses of power.
Terry Holt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said, "It is obvious
that Sen. Kerry has appointed Sen. Kennedy to be his chief political
hatchetman."
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, took the
floor of his chamber to defend Bush and blast Kennedy.
"We need to focus on rooting out global terrorism by fighting the
terrorists, and not each other," McConnell said. "But ... the political
season is upon us."
In challenging Bush's credibility, Kennedy repeated a central theme of
Kerry's own attacks on the incumbent.
Just months ago, Kennedy helped pump new life into Kerry's then
sputtering campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
Kennedy has since remained a force in Kerry's bid to unseat Bush in the
November elections.
Kennedy went after the Bush administration for pushing what he called
misleading policies, as well as for attacking critics of those
policies.
"Iraq. Jobs. Medicare. Schools," Kennedy said. "Issue after issue.
Mislead. Deceive. Make up the needed facts. Smear the character of any
critic."
"It is undermining our national security, undermining our economy,
undermining our health care ... undermining our very democracy,"
Kennedy said. "We need change. November can't come soon enough."
Subject: Kennedy Likens Bush to Nixon 'Credibility Gap'
View this article only
Newsgroups: soc.culture.israel, alt.politics.republicans, alt.impeach.bush, alt.society.conservatism, alt.politics.democrats.d, alt.politics, soc.culture.iraq, alt.politics.gw-bush
Date: 2004-04-07 13:52:58 PST
Kennedy Likens Bush to Nixon 'Credibility Gap'
Mon Apr 5, 2004 05:44 PM ET
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy on Monday accused
President Bush of having created at home and abroad "the largest
credibility gap" since the Watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon from
the White House 30 years ago.
Kennedy, a key backer of fellow Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's
campaign for the party's presidential nomination, also charged Iraq has
become "George Bush's Vietnam," the war that divided the United States
and helped drive Lyndon Johnson from the presidency.
In addition, Kennedy said, Iraq has "diverted attention from the
administration's deceptions here at home -- especially on the economy,
health care and education."
In delivering perhaps his harshest assessment yet of Bush, Kennedy
described the Republican president as someone who cannot be trusted on
a host of fronts.
Kennedy, the leading liberal on Capitol Hill, renewed his charge that
the administration had misled the American people and Congress into the
Iraq war, straining relations with allies worldwide.
He also accused the administration of having knowingly sold an unsound
tax-cutting economic plan that resulted in the loss of millions of
jobs, a faulty Medicare prescription drug law that will cost far more
than it acknowledged when the measure won final congressional passage
late last year and an education program that Kennedy said Bush has
refused to adequately fund.
"Sadly, this administration has failed to live up to basic standards of
open and candid debate," Kennedy said in a speech at the Brookings
Institution, a Washington think tank.
INVENT 'FACTS'
"They repeatedly invent 'facts' to support their preconceived agenda --
facts which administration officials knew or should have known were not
true," Kennedy said.
The senator said, "As a result, this president has now created the
largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon," who was forced to resign
as president in 1974 as a result of the Watergate scandal that exposed
abuses of power.
Terry Holt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said, "It is obvious
that Sen. Kerry has appointed Sen. Kennedy to be his chief political
hatchetman."
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, took the
floor of his chamber to defend Bush and blast Kennedy.
"We need to focus on rooting out global terrorism by fighting the
terrorists, and not each other," McConnell said. "But ... the political
season is upon us."
In challenging Bush's credibility, Kennedy repeated a central theme of
Kerry's own attacks on the incumbent.
Just months ago, Kennedy helped pump new life into Kerry's then
sputtering campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
Kennedy has since remained a force in Kerry's bid to unseat Bush in the
November elections.
Kennedy went after the Bush administration for pushing what he called
misleading policies, as well as for attacking critics of those
policies.
"Iraq. Jobs. Medicare. Schools," Kennedy said. "Issue after issue.
Mislead. Deceive. Make up the needed facts. Smear the character of any
critic."
"It is undermining our national security, undermining our economy,
undermining our health care ... undermining our very democracy,"
Kennedy said. "We need change. November can't come soon enough."