Tonight's Debate: More Tough QuestionsAmerican Progress
Bush has been preparing for tonight's townhall-style debate for the entire campaign. At 19 "Ask pResident Bush" events, he has fielded probing questions from an audience which – his handlers insist – has not been prescreened. Some examples: "I was wondering if you would permit me the honor of giving our Commander-in-Chief (sic) a real Navy salute?" "I was just wondering what your favorite book is, because I'd like to read it?" "I was wondering if I could take a picture with you?"
Tonight's questions, however, are more likely to focus on jobs, Iraq, healthcare, taxes and education.
Here is your pre-debate primer on what Bush will say and what you should know.
FACT – BUSH'S JOBS RECORD IS AN EMBARRASSMENT: Bush will say "the economy is strong and getting stronger." But the economy added a paltry 96,000 jobs in September, once again failing even to keep up with population growth. Since Bush took office in January 2001, the economy has shed about 585,000 jobs. Bush is a lock to become the first pResident since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs over a four-year term.
[Poor Herbert Hoover - to be forever compared to that junta puppet! What an ignominious end! I've been to the Hoover Presidential Museum 8 times, and there is much to admire about the President from Iowa.]
FACT – THE DUELFER REPORT UNDERMINES A KEY RATIONALE FOR WAR: Bush will say that the recently released report by chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles A. Duelfer bolstered his rationale for war. Yesterday, Bush said the Duelfer report proved Saddam Hussein "retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction ...and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies." That claim is highly misleading. The Duelfer report establishes that Saddam "did not produce or possess any weapons of mass destruction for more than a decade before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year." Moreover, Duelfer found "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do so."
FACT – BUSH'S TAX CUTS WERE A MASSIVE GIVEAWAY TO THE RICH: Bush will say that his tax cuts "left more money in the hands of American workers so they could save, spend, invest, and help drive this economy forward." In fact, Bush's tax cuts overwhelmingly benefited the very wealthy. For example, Americans with incomes averaging $1.2 million per year have received a tax cut of $78,460. By contrast, households in the middle 20 percent, with incomes averaging $57,000 per year, have received an average cut of $1,090. One-third of all the benefits went to the top 1 percent of all earners. Meanwhile, "9.2 million working families in the United States – one out of every four – earn wages that are so low they are barely able to survive financially."
FACT – BUSH CREATED A $5.2 TRILLION TAX GAP: Bush will say, "it is the job of a pResident to confront problems, not pass them on to future Presidents and future generations." Yet, in four years, Bush "has turned a $5.6 trillion surplus into $5.2 trillion deficit." His tax cuts are a big part of the problem. For example, even as corporate profits have soared 40 percent over the last four years, tax revenue from corporations has decreased. For more on the deterioration of America's fiscal situation, read this report by America Progress's Scott Lilly, mentioned in today's New York Times.
FACT – TORT REFORM WILL NOT SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE HEALTH CARE COSTS: Bush will say that the way to make health care more affordable is "by doing something about these frivolous lawsuits that are running good doctors out of business and running your costs up." But the non-partisan CBO has found that even legislation dramatically limiting the ability of patients to recover damages when their doctor commits malpractice would lower heath costs by one-half of one percent.
FACT – BUSH LEFT THE FUNDING FOR HIS EDUCATION PROGRAM BEHIND: Bush will stress the success of the No Child Left Behind program. Keep this in mind: 1) Bush underfunded the program by $9.4 billion, 2) Due to funding shortages 11 states will get less federal education money this year than they did last year, and 3) Because the Bush administration has "failed to give adequate guidance to help states comply with the goals of NCLB," twenty-four states have still not completed plans to fully comply with the law.
Vanishing State Budgets: Iowa's Response to the 2001-2004 State Fiscal Crisis
