Cheney's Deception at the Debate

[DLR'sCock]

CHENEY'S MISLEAD: "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11"

THE TRUTH: As the Washington Post reports today, Cheney has repeatedly insinuated and "strongly suggested" that Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks on September 11th.[2] And in its fact check column today, the Boston Globe says "Cheney has consistently asserted strong prewar links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, even after the 9/11 Commission definitively concluded that there had not been a collaborative relationship between the two. In a radio interview in January 2004, Cheney said: 'I think there's overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government.'"[3]

On December 9, 2001, Cheney went on "Meet the Press" to perpetuate the now entirely debunked theory that one of the 9/11 hijackers met with an Iraqi official.[4] He went back on a year ago to describe Iraq as part of ""the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11."[5]

Most recently, Cheney has claimed that Iraq harbored the terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi, and said Zarqawi "is an al Qaeda associate who took refuge in Baghdad, found sanctuary and safe harbor there before we ever launched into Iraq."[6] But yesterday, a report Cheney himself requested found that there is no conclusive evidence to support that claim. An administration official said, "The evidence is that Saddam never gave Zarqawi anything."[7]

CHENEY'S MISLEAD: "900,000 small businesses will be hit" by the Kerry-Edwards plan to roll back tax cuts for people in the top income bracket.

THE TRUTH: As the Washington Post writes this morning: "This is misleading. Under Cheney's definition, a small business is any taxpayer who includes some income from a small business investment, partnership, limited liability corporation or trust. By that definition, every partner at a huge accounting firm or at the largest law firm would represent small businesses. According to IRS data, a tiny fraction of small business "S-corporations" earn enough profits to be in the top two tax brackets. Most are in the bottom two brackets."[8]

CHENEY'S MISLEAD: "We have added 1.7 million jobs to the economy."

THE TRUTH: On November 2nd, George Bush will be the first president in 70 years to lose jobs. There will be about a million fewer jobs than there were when Bush took office -- and about 7 million fewer than Bush's own post-9/11 estimate. Cheney's using fuzzy math: 1.7 million jobs have been added, but millions more have been lost.[9]

CHENEY'S MISLEAD: "The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight."

THE TRUTH: This one-liner was one of Cheney's best zingers of the night, but even it isn't true: Cheney and Edwards have met in public at least twice. They met when Edwards escorted Elizabeth Dole to be sworn in by Cheney as Senator and at the National Prayer Breakfast. At the Breakfast, he even called Edwards out by name, starting his remarks with the words, "Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I are honored to be with you all this morning."[10] You can actually watch video of the two of them shaking hands at www.democrats.org.

If Cheney's willing to flat-out lie about whether or not he's met John Edwards -- a rather objective question -- it's clear he won't be straight with the American people on more important issues.

As Edwards mentioned last night, Cheney's record is pretty scary: "When he was one of 435 members of the United States House, he was one of 10 to vote against Head Start, one of four to vote against banning plastic weapons that can pass through metal detectors. He voted against the Department of Education. He voted against funding for Meals on Wheels for seniors. He voted against a holiday for Martin Luther King. He voted against a resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa." Let's make sure we vote him out on November 2nd.

[DLR'sCock]

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/


http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=100480


HEALTH CARE
Like Taking Coverage From a Baby

On Sept. 30, 2004, the deadline for Congress to act on preserving $1.1 billion in federal funds for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – the program which focuses on insuring the kids of the working poor – was allowed to expire. The money was taken away from the states and returned to the U.S. Treasury. The White House could have stopped these funds from being taken from the states by requesting that Congress extend the time states had to use the funds in the 2005 budget. Over the objections of the National Governors Association and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, the administration decided not to ask for the extension. And according to the watchdog group Families USA, the White House actually "opposes bipartisan legislation that would give the states additional time to use the funds," and conservatives in Congress refused to schedule it for a vote.

$1.1 BILLION GOES A LONG, LONG WAY: According to Families USA, if President Bush hadn't allowed the deadline for states to use SCHIP funds to expire, 750,000 children could have been insured. For example, the state of Ohio would have enough to cover 11,400 kids; Florida could have insured 27,000 kids; and in the state of Texas, more than 44,000 children could have been insured.

KIDS STILL IN NEED: According to the most recent Census data, the number of children living in poverty increased dramatically last year. There were 12.9 million children living in poverty in 2003, 800,000 more than the year before. And that means more kids at risk of losing health insurance; the most recent data show 8.4 million American children remain uninsured.

SLASHING SCHIP: AP reports, "State budget pressures threaten to undo gains in health insurance coverage for children and the poor." State budgets face a projected shortfall of nearly $40 billion going into 2005; the administration's 2005 budget, however, proposed slashing state grants by 3.3 percent. To deal with the crippling budget strain, many states now are folding to pressure to slice health care for the poor. A new study by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation shows between April 2003 and July 2004, nearly half of the states in the U.S. took some measure to make it harder to sign up for or stay in SCHIP. And SCHIP enrollment fell for the first time in 2003, as states instituted "eligibility cuts, capped enrollment and raised premiums." Right now, 4 million children rely on SCHIP for health insurance.

MEDICAID IN TROUBLE: Children make up nearly half of the 52 million people who receive Medicaid. A separate Kaiser Family Foundation study shows every state in the nation is currently planning some measure to cut Medicaid in 2005, "including restricting eligibility and reducing benefits." The president has done little to help and, actually, has proposed making it worse. The state budget crunch has been exacerbated by the expiration of $20 billion in temporary fiscal relief, which was enacted in part to make up for federal tax cuts and the withering economy. (Ten billion dollars of that was directly for Medicaid.) In 2003, the president proposed "block granting" Medicaid, which would end the flexible funding. Without flexible funding, the recent surge in the uninsured would have been much larger; while 5 million more Americans were uninsured in 2003 than in 2000, almost 6 million more Americans were assisted by Medicaid during this period.

MEDICARE LEGISLATION MAKING THINGS WORSE: The Kaiser Family Foundation found state health programs face further strain by the financial burden generated by implementation of the White House Medicare prescription drug benefit. States are facing expensive new administration costs surrounding the new benefit. And three-fourths of all states are worried about a pricey provision that requires states to make payments to the federal government to finance the drug benefit, saying it will "more than offset any potential savings." Today, only three states have reported they have the money allocated to meet these challenges.

DOCTORS AGREE – ADMINISTRATION POLICIES HARM KIDS: Thirty-six leading American pediatricians – including well-known author T. Berry Brazelton and six past presidents of the American Academy of Pediatrics – released a joint statement this week "condemning President George W. Bush's neglect of child health concerns, as well as objecting to other administration policies that are harmful to the wellbeing of children." The statement charges, "The Bush administration's policies are moving us away from effective and longstanding federal commitments that improved the health of children, commitments proudly initiated and supported by previous Republican and Democratic presidents…If not reversed, these ill-advised tax and budget policies will erode decades of hard-won health gains for children, while still leaving unaddressed such critical problems."

DEBATE
Attack, Deceive, Repeat

At last night's debate, Vice President Cheney had a clear strategy: refuse to respond to tough questions, attack Edwards personally and, when necessary, deceive. Instead of taking responsibility for numerous errors in judgment over the last four years, Cheney reiterated his faith in failed policies. Instead of taking responsibility for his own voting record, Cheney engaged in petty attacks. Instead of coming clean with the American people, Cheney continued to play fast and loose with the facts.

CHENEY DECEPTION #1: I'VE NEVER SUGGESTED A LINK BETWEEN IRAQ AND 9/11: Near the beginning of the debate, Cheney said, "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11." That isn't true. On multiple occasions Cheney has suggested a connection, specifically emphasizing contacts between Iraqi officials and Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers. Appearing on Meet the Press on 12/9/01, Cheney said, it's "been pretty well confirmed, that he [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack." (The 9/11 Commission looked into this rumored meeting and found there was no evidence to suggest the meeting occurred. On the date of the supposed meeting, Atta's phone was used numerous times from Florida and there is no evidence Atta ever left the country.) Appearing again on Meet the Press on 9/14/03, Tim Russert mentioned that 69 percent of the public believed there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks. Cheney replied, "I think it's not surprising that people make that connection." (The 9/11 Commission, after months of exhaustive study, found no evidence "indicating Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.")

CHENEY DECEPTION #2: I'VE NEVER MET EDWARDS BEFORE TONIGHT: Cheney later said he was going back to the Halliburton issue but instead of addressing it, delivered a pre-packaged zinger: "I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight." One problem: it's not true. Check out the photo, video and documentary evidence.

CHENEY SAYS WE HAVE DONE "EXACTLY THE RIGHT THING" IN IRAQ: Cheney continued the administration's refusal that there have been any mistakes made in Iraq. He said, "What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the right same course of action." Cheney's comments came the same day former Coalition Provisional Authority administrator Paul Bremer said the U.S. "never had enough troops on the ground."

CHENEY HAS NO RESPONSE TO ERROR IN JUDGMENT AT TORA BORA: Edwards stated that during the invasion of Afghanistan, "we had Osama bin Laden cornered at Tora Bora...This is the man who masterminded the greatest mass murder and terrorist attack in American history. And what did the administration decide to do? They gave the responsibility of capturing or killing...Osama bin Laden, to Afghan warlords, who just a few weeks before had been working with Osama bin Laden." Cheney responded by discussing John Kerry's congressional voting record in the 1970s.

CHENEY HAS NO RESPONSE TO HALLIBURTON CHARGES: Edwards explained that he opposed no-bid contracts for Halliburton because, while Cheney was CEO, Halliburton provided false information to the government (conduct for which the company was later fined millions), did business with Iran and is under investigation for having bribed foreign officials in Nigeria. Cheney said he didn't have time to rebut the charge. So-called fact checkers from the New York Times said that Edwards stretched the truth because there is "no evidence Mr. Cheney has pulled strings on Halliburton's behalf since becoming vice president." But Edwards never made that charge. (Incidentally, there is evidence that Cheney has pulled strings for Halliburton while in office.)

CHENEY REFUSES TO DEFEND HIS VOTING RECORD: Cheney, who spends much of his time on the campaign trail parsing the details of John Kerry's votes stretching back 30 years, refuses to defend his own record. Edwards noted, "he was one of 10 to vote against Head Start, one of four to vote against banning plastic weapons that can pass through metal detectors. He voted against the Department of Education. He voted against funding for Meals on Wheels for seniors. He voted against a holiday for Martin Luther King. He voted against a resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa." Cheney's entire response: "Oh, I think his record speaks for itself and, frankly, it's not very distinguished."




Under the Radar

IRAQ – DUELFER AGREES WITH KAY: An extensive U.S. investigation has found that "Iraq destroyed virtually all its chemical and biological munitions in 1991, a dozen years before President Bush ordered U.S. troops to invade based largely on the alleged threat posed by those weapons." The report, which "raises new questions about how U.S. intelligence agencies and the Bush administration were so far off the mark in their assessment of the Iraqi threat," will be presented Wednesday to a Senate committee by chief U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer. The basic conclusion of the report, compiled by a weapons inspection team that included 1,500 people, "that Iraq had no stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons and a moribund nuclear weapons development effort — strengthens the preliminary findings of Duelfer's predecessor, David Kay, and undercuts the main Bush administration argument for war."

IRAQ – ALLAWI SINGS DIFFERENT TUNE: Just weeks after spreading "verbal sunshine" across the White House Rose Garden, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave a "sobering account" of Iraq's instability in his first speech before the country's interim national assembly. He said the insurgency was a "source of worry for many people" and that the guerrillas represent "a challenge to our will." His tone was a "sharp departure from the more optimistic assessment he gave to the American public on his visit to the United States last month. At his stop in Washington, Dr. Allawi made several sweeping assertions to reporters about the security situation in Iraq, including saying that the only truly unsafe place in the country was the downtown area of Falluja, the largest insurgent stronghold, and that only 3 of 18 provinces had 'pockets of terrorists.'" Administration officials admit Allawi was "coached and aided" in his speech before Congress. Speaking to his countrymen, Allawi's "words reflected a darker take on the state of the war."

ECONOMY – PROFESSORS SEND OPEN LETTER: One hundred sixty-nine tenured and emeriti business school professors from several of the nation's top universities have written an open letter documenting the drastic failure of President Bush's economic policies and asking for a "dramatic reorientation of fiscal policy, including substantial reversals" of tax policy. The letter, addressed to the president, begins, "Nearly every major economic indicator has deteriorated since you took office in January 2001… The data make clear that your policy of slashing taxes – primarily for those at the upper reaches of the income distribution – has not worked. The fiscal reversal that has taken place under your leadership is so extreme that it would have been unimaginable just a few years ago." Bush's second term economic proposals, the professors say, "only promise to exacerbate the crisis by further narrowing the federal revenue base." Click here for American Progress's analysis of the worst fiscal deterioration in the last half century.

SUDAN – BLAIR PUTS PRESSURE ON KHARTOUM: The Guardian reports, "British Prime Minister Tony Blair will today fly to the Sudan to warn the Khartoum government that it must act swiftly to end the atrocities and refugee crisis in its western region of Darfur." Sudanese government-supported militias, mainly the Janjaweed, have killed between 50,000 and 80,000 non-Arabs and displaced over a million Darfurians in a campaign of ethnic cleansing the U.S. has called genocide. The visit is a sign of Mr. Blair's personal commitment to end "the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa since Rwanda." The U.S. government has been vocal in denouncing the violence in Sudan, but, by way of contrast to Prime Minister Blair, President Bush has offered not one public speech on Sudan and made no contingency plans, even as the situation "threatens to become one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters of our times." Click here for more from American Progress's Sudan page.

ENVIRO – BUSH ADMINISTRATION ROLLS BACK RULES PROTECTING WILDLIFE: The Washington Post reports the Bush administration has "set aside Reagan-era rules aimed at protecting wildlife in national forests, rules that environmentalists had used to block logging projects in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. Under a temporary regulation published last week, U.S. Forest Service managers reviewing road-building, logging or other proposals are allowed to waive the 22-year-old requirement that the forests maintain 'viable populations' of fish and wildlife. Instead of having to conduct population counts of representative species, for example, officials now can rely on 'best available science,' a less specific standard, to guide their decisions." In the past, the Bush administration has used the "best available science" to discount global warming, push ineffective abstinence-only education and justify harmful mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, among other things.

[Mezro]

Cheney is a liar. Liars never change.

Mezro...pacemaker?...more like a savefacemaker...

[Angel]

Hmmm... can't wait to see what the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has uncovered on him tonight:

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/dickcheney/

[ELVIS]

Cheney or anyone in the administration have NEVER suggested that Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks on September 11th...

What a stupid thread...

[BigBadBrian]

See, the problem with these is that the damage is done. Everybody heard Cheney but very few will hear the clarifications, weak as they may be. :D

[Guitar Shark]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
See, the problem with these is that the damage is done. Everybody heard Cheney but very few will hear the clarifications, weak as they may be. :D

Sadly, this is true.

[Angel]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Cheney or anyone in the administration have NEVER suggested that Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks on September 11th...

What a stupid thread...

By suggesting that Saddam had close ties to Al Quaeda (sp?) leads people to believe Saddam had SOMETHING to do with the attacks.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2003: Cheney repeats widely discredited report that 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001. - Now, just what message do you think he was trying to give to the masses?

:rolleyes:

[Warham]

Dick Cheney said on Meet The Press 9/14/03:

MR. RUSSERT: So the resistance in Iraq is coming from those who were responsible for 9/11?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: No, I was careful not to say that. With respect to 9/11, 9/11, as I said at the beginning of the show, changed everything.

[Wayne L.]

Bill Clinton lied more times in office during his 8 years in the White House about everything including worthless invasions of countries like Haiti which was only for the Congressional Black Caucus besides the stain on the dress because of his affair with Monica & the far right of the Republican Party never said he lied in public constantly unlike the far left of the Democratic Party with President Bush & VP Cheney.