THERE HE GOES AGAIN....

"[R]ight out of the box, the vice president began hedging the truth." --Boston Globe.

"At the first opportunity, he lied." --New York Post

That most erudite of Democrats, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once noted, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts." Apparently, based on his debate performance last Tuesday night, Albert Gore has decided there is "no controlling legal authority" concerning facts.

Gore repeatedly took credit for the economy. Bush missed a grand opportunity to pick up a tried and true line from Ronald Reagan: "There he goes again. Albert, you didn't invent the economy." Gore said that the country had a triple dip recession in 1992, but the current economic expansion began, by all reputable economic estimates, in March 1991, almost two years before he took office.

Fact: Even Gore's own budget office (June 28, 1999 OMB Mid-Session Review) states, "The economic expansion that began in April 1991...."

Gore said that he would balance the budget.

Fact: The nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste estimates that Gore's total spending in the first five years of his administration totals $2.2 trillion (three times Bush's $712 billion.) The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, in the same period, the general revenue and Social Security surpluses will be a total of $1.4 trillion. Gore's "balanced budget" creates more deficit spending than Mr. Bush proposes in total new spending.

Gore said that he wants to cut taxes for middle class families.

Fact: In 1992, the Clinton-Gore campaign said it "includes $104 billion in tax cuts over four years for the middle class, the working poor, and corporations that make smart investments to create jobs." But after taking office, Gore cast the tie breaking vote on the largest tax increase in U.S. history, including $115 billion in higher personal income taxes, $31 billion in higher gasoline taxes, $25 billion in higher taxes on Social Security benefits, and $29 billion in more Medicare taxes. (Congressional Budget Office)

Gore said that Governor Bush spends more on the wealthiest 1% of Americans than on education, health care, drugs, and defense combined.

Fact: The largest percentage cuts in Mr. Bush's tax plan go to those with the lowest incomes: A family of four making $35,000 would get a 100% cut in their income tax, about $1,500. A family of four making $50,000 would get a 50% cut in their income tax, about $2,000. A family of four making $75,000 would get a 25% cut in their income tax, about $2,500. Under the Bush plan, "the wealthiest 1%" actually pay a larger percentage of total taxes than they do now. The share of income taxes paid by people making over $100,000 will rise to 64.1% from 61.9%. The bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the Bush tax plan will save taxpayers $1.3 trillion over 2001-10, about 25% of the $4.6 trillion estimated surplus under current tax rates.

Gore said, "I have actually not questioned Bush's experience. I have questioned his proposals."

Fact: In a recent New York Times article, Gore said of Bush, "Does he have the experience to be president?"

Gore crowed that he fought for welfare reform.

Fact: Bill Clinton, Al Gore smiling at his side, vetoed welfare reform not once, but twice. After public opinion swung in favor of welfare reform, Clinton-Gore signed it into law only then to provide all manner of "exemptions." Gore had no role at all in welfare reform!

Gore said that he would take on big oil companies.

Fact: Al Gore has a long personal and financial history with Occidental Petroleum, the same company that was involved in the Love Canal contamination, which Gore once claimed to have led the fight to clean up.

Gore said that he wants to free the U.S. from "Big Oil" and OPEC.

Fact: Dependence on foreign oil increased under Clinton-Gore, with imports up 34% since 1992, while U.S. production, due in large measure to absurd Clintonista environmental and land management regulations, has decreased 18% -- to the lowest level since 1954.

Gore said that Mr. Bush's budget takes $1 trillion out of Social Security.

Fact: Economic Security 2000 (ES 2000) found that "Gore's accounting defies credibility. From 2015 to 2037, there's a missing $4.3 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund, because the money has been spent and is a debt, an IOU. Then, from 2038 to 2054, there's a missing $6.069 trillion."

Gore said that passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill would be his first act as President. Bush hit back hard: "You know, this man has no credibility on the issue. As a matter of fact, [Gore] said he cosponsored the McCain-Feingold campaign fund-raising bill, but he wasn't in the Senate with Senator Feingold. ... I am not going to lay down my arms in the middle of a campaign for somebody who has got no credibility on the issue."

Fact: Gore has collected more campaign donations from lobbyists than any other presidential candidate. "The problem with pandering, as Vice President Gore is fast learning, is that once you start, it's hard to kick the habit," says Dana Milbank, senior editor of liberal New Republic. Short of credibility on the issue of campaign finance reform, Gore took a page from Clinton's denials, and tried to divert the issue into one of "character assassination." "I think it's better to spend time attacking America's problems than attacking people personally. I think we need to build our country up instead of tearing somebody else down." Obviously, Gore feels exposed on this issue, and Bush needs to hammer him!

And a footnote on McCain-Feingold: In March, Gore promised, "I would -- my first act as President -- will be to resubmit the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to the Senate." Of course, that was a different audience.

Gore said that he has always fought for campaign finance reform.

Fact: We checked, and Gore did not mention campaign finance reform in his 1992 speech to the Democratic National Convention or his 1996 speech to the Democratic National Convention, nor in his 1999 speech announcing his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. And, for the record, John McCain said Gore's fund-raising tactics constituted "incredible abuses of the institutions of government and every ethical standard."

Other Gory "facts"...

Gore said he worked with President Reagan in support of his defense plans in the 1980s. Even the most nescient political observer knows this claim is a lie.

After being complimented by Mr. Bush for the job the Federal Emergency Management Agency did responding to wildfires in west Texas, Gore claimed that he had personally come to Texas with FEMA director James Witt to visit the stricken areas. Bush looked a bit puzzled by Gore's response -- for good reason.

Fact: Gore did visit the region in the period of time the fires were burning, but not with FEMA helping people out. He was there to attend a fund-raiser at the home of the former head of the Texas trial lawyers -- and for the rest of that story, see "The most ethical administration" above!

On the education issue, Gore, a dedicated water boy for the NEA, argued that some of the "surplus" Mr. Bush was "spending on the richest 1%" should go to schools such as a Sarasota, Florida, high school where a father showed him a picture of his daughter standing in her science class because the room was so overcrowded she had no place to sit.

Fact: The principal of that school, Daniel Kennedy, reports, "It would have been good if the facts had been checked before [Gore] was encouraged to use that information in a national debate. The picture he was referring to was taken maybe the first or second day of school...when we were in the process of leveling classes. And, she did have an opportunity to use a lab stool, which was also available in the classroom. But we were refurbishing that classroom and in the back of that picture, if you look carefully, you can see probably about $100,000 worth of new lab equipment that was waiting to be unpacked, which is one of the reasons the room looked as crowded. ... We have 2,480 students on a practically brand-new campus. In my opinion, it's one of the top high schools in the nation right now. We don't have any portable classrooms. All of our students are in regular classes and we have 900 computers, 600 Internet sites."

Finally, as for the price of prescription medication and the hot-button Medicare issue, there was the saga of Mrs. Winifred Skinner, the 79-year-old widow who picks up cans so she can afford to pay for food after she pays $250 a month for her prescriptions.

Fact: Our friend Scott Hogenson, executive editor of CNS, contacted Mrs. Skinner and found that she does not want federal assistance. "No, no, I don't want the taxpayers to pay for my medicine. I'm a proud person and I want to earn it and I want to do it on my own. I don't accept charity, and I don't get food stamps. I qualify, but I don't get them because I don't want the taxpayers to support me." Sounds like Mrs. Skinner has hitched her wagon to the wrong mascot!

But Gore-Lieberman's media sycophants have already created an Algorista folk hero out of little Ms. Winifred, regardless of the facts. "She's no child, but she belongs on a poster about high drug costs," proclaims Gore mouthpiece Dan Rather.

Gore said that Mrs. Winifred drove her Winnebago RV 1,300 miles from her hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, to Boston for the debate. Those RV's get about 7 miles per gallon, while empty cans bring about 5 cents. Her round trip will cost about 13,000 cans. Hope she does not expect Gore to pick up the tab. He doesn't pay a dime more to take care of slum tenants than HILLARY! drops in tips for single mom waitresses!

But, in the end we like lambs to the slaughter stupid and complacent about reality and facts that govern our daily lives.