Yesterday, Bush had this to say about taxes:
On Tax Day 2004, President Bush told voters in the heartland that his policies are fattening their wallets and that tax cuts he pushed through Congress should be made permanent to fuel the economy."Tax relief today, and not tax relief tomorrow, and we need to do something about it," the president said. (San Francisco Chronicle)
But:
By almost a 2-1 margin, Americans prefer balancing the nation's budget to cutting taxes, according to an Associated Press poll, even though many believe their overall tax burden has risen despite tax cuts over the past three years.About six in 10, 61 percent, chose balancing the budget while 36 percent chose tax cuts when they were asked which was more important, according to a poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos Public Affairs.
As the nation's tax deadline of April 15 approaches, people's lukewarm feeling about tax cuts may be influenced by a belief that recent cuts haven't helped them personally.
Half in the poll, 49 percent, said their overall tax burden - including federal, state and local taxes - had gone up over the past three years. That's almost four times the 13 percent in the poll who said their overall taxes had gone down. (Pittsburg Morning Sun)
And:
A new poll finds that 62 percent of Americans would be willing to give back all of the recent federal tax cuts in exchange for universal health insurance coverage.The poll was commissioned by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that researches health and social issues. It found that 69 percent of Americans would favor capping the tax cuts at $1,000 per person if the remaining federal dollars were earmarked for health insurance coverage. (Bizjournals.com)
Absolute hogwash. This is not the time for cheap politics - we are in a war, however precipitate, and we need to win it. Backstabbing either candidate is childish and irresponsible. Blaming Bush - or Clinton, who had access to the same information - is vapid, and it's wrong.
We were attacked by fanatical Muslims in an unbroken jihad that has been crawling over the world for nearly 1400 years, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people - or more.
We must win the war. To hell with political back-stabbing - it can wait.
Posted by: Marianne on April 16, 2004 03:08 PMThis is not backstabbing, Marianne. The reason that the American public feels that the Bush tax cuts haven't helped them is because they HAVEN'T. These tax cuts (and the sour economy, another Bush creation) have forced state and local governments to increase taxes enough that the tax cut is virtually taken away from the general public to whom it was given. It is my belief that these tax cuts are just another smoke screen by the administration to cover up what they are really doing; which is selling America out to the special interests.
Posted by: Zog on April 16, 2004 05:35 PMYou know what the difference is between a dictator and a leader? One tells you the facts and motivates you to do what needs to be done and the other decides for you like a father who will not be accountable to his children, and punishes whomever disagrees. What do we have now? Who is saying whatever needs to be said to trick us into letting him execute his "plan" for us?
Posted by: Dave on April 20, 2004 08:43 AMThe behaviour of Bush and his administration has totally destroyed my trust in the American political process.
The checks and balances have been replaced by cheques and an abandonment of balanced debate.
If the Bush administration has shown anything, it is how corrupt, and how utterly ethically bankrupt public representatives in the USA have become.
It's no longer "Of the people for the people", it is "Of the few for the less". "The People" in America are just an amorphous statistical universe, to be cynically manipulated and used; as opposed to being informed and heard.
When I saw the Saudi attack against America on 9/11 I felt great sorrow for the American people and their loss.
I am disgusted how my sorrow for America has been abused and berayed. There are still a lot of things I like about America, but they are unreconcilably tainted by Bush and his lying, cheating, and hypocritical cronies, who see 9/11 as their opportunity to line their pockets, and destroy the very foundations of one of the strongest democracies there ever was (notice I use the past tense)
Posted by: unics on August 27, 2004 06:08 AM
