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CAMPAIGN 2004: DOMESTIC POLICY DEBATE

In their words: Bush vs. Kerry

By Jeff Zeleny and Rick Pearson
October 14, 2004

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TEMPE, Ariz. - ON ECONOMIC SECURITY

KERRY: President Bush [is] . . . the only president in 72 years to lose jobs--1.6 million jobs lost. He's the only president to have incomes of families go down for the last three years; the only president to see exports go down; the only president to see the lowest level of business investment in our country as it is today. Now, I'm going to reverse that. . . . We're going to restore the fiscal discipline we had in the 1990s. . . . We start by rolling back George Bush's unaffordable tax cut for the wealthiest people, people earning more than $200,000 a year.

BUSH: Well, his rhetoric doesn't match his record. He's been a senator for 20 years. He voted to increase taxes 98 times. When they tried to reduce taxes, he voted against that 127 times. He talks about being a fiscal conservative, or fiscally sound, but he voted over--he voted 277 times to waive the budget caps, which would have cost the taxpayers $4.2 trillion. He talks about PAYGO [pay-as-you-go]. I'll tell you what PAYGO means, when you're a senator from Massachusetts, when you're a colleague of Ted Kennedy, pay go means: You pay, and he goes ahead and spends.

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ON HEALTH CARE

KERRY: Five million Americans have lost their health insurance in this country. . . . This president has turned his back on the wellness of America. And there is no system. . . . I have a plan to cover all Americans. We're going to make it affordable and accessible. We're going to let everybody buy into the same health-care plan senators and congressmen give themselves.

BUSH: He just said he wants everybody to be able to buy in to the same plan that senators and congressmen get. That costs the government $7,700 per family. If every family in America signed up, like the senator suggested, it would cost us $5 trillion over 10 years. It's an empty promise. It's called bait and switch.

ON SOCIAL SECURITY

BUSH: First, let me make sure that every senior listening today understands that when we're talking about reforming Social Security, that they'll still get their checks. . . . There is a problem for our youngsters, a real problem. . . . I believe that younger workers ought to be allowed to take some of their own money and put it in a personal savings account, because I understand that they need to get better rates of return than the rates of return being given in the current Social Security trust.

KERRY: You just heard the president say that young people ought to be able to take money out of Social Security and put it in their own accounts. Now, my fellow Americans, that's an invitation to disaster. The CBO said very clearly that if you were to adopt the president's plan, there would be a $2 trillion hole in Social Security, because today's workers pay into the system for today's retirees. And the CBO said--that's the Congressional Budget Office; it's bipartisan--they said that there would have to be a cut in benefits of 25 percent to 40 percent.

ON RELIGIOUS FAITH

BUSH: My faith plays a lot--a big part in my life. . . . I pray a lot. . . . I pray for strength. I pray for wisdom. I pray for our troops in harm's way. I pray for my family. I pray for my little girls. But I'm mindful in a free society that people can worship if they want to or not. You're equally an American if you choose to worship an almighty and if you choose not to. . . . That's the great thing about America, is the right to worship the way you see fit.

KERRY: I was taught--I went to a church school and I was taught that the two greatest commandments are: Love the Lord, your God, with all your mind, your body and your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. And frankly, I think we have a lot more loving of our neighbor to do in this country and on this planet. We have a separate and unequal school system in the United States of America. There's one for the people who have, and there's one for the people who don't have. And we're struggling with that today. . . . I think we've got a lot more work to do. And as president, I will always respect everybody's right to practice religion as they choose--or not to practice--because that's part of America.

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Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

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