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Kerry warns middle class against Bush
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-18 09:17
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry accused President Bush on Sunday of planning a
surprise second-term attempt to privatize Social Security, and forecast a
"disaster for America's middle class." Republican party chairman Ed Gillespie
called the charge "just flat inaccurate."
The clash erupted as Kerry and his running mate both appealed to Florida
voters to cast their ballots as early as Monday under the state's early voting
program. "There's no reason to wait until November the 2nd," vice presidential
candidate John Edwards said in the state that settled the last race for the
White House.
Democratic presidential nominee
John Kerry (L-R) gestures into the crowd as he takes the stage with U.S.
Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) and Grace Nelson, wife of U.S. Senator Bill
Nelson (D-FL), at campaign rally in Pembroke Pines, Florida October 17,
2004.[Reuters] | Little more than two weeks before
Election Day, the latest polls made the campaign a close one, seemingly tilting
Bush's way despite debates that bolstered his Democratic rival's standing.
"God, there's so many polls," lamented the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush
of Florida. "I mean, it's like you could just be obsessed with focusing on that
rather than the reason to support somebody," he said on ABC's "This Week."
After a campaign that has exposed deep differences between the two candidates
over the war on terrorism, Iraq, the economy and more, Kerry and Bush hoped not.
And the issue of Social Security gave the two sides fresh fodder for
disagreement.
"I'll tell you what. I will never privatize Social Security. I'll never cut
the benefits and I won't raise the retirement age," Kerry told an audience in
Pembroke Pines, Fla.
The Massachusetts senator seized on a New York Times Magazine story to attack
Bush. The article quoted the president telling supporters that "privatizing
Social Security" would be high on his second-term agenda.
Bush took time off from campaigning during the day, leaving it to his
surrogates to counterattack.
"John Kerry's misleading senior scare tactics are just another example of a
candidate who will say anything to get elected," said spokesman Steve Schmidt.
"No matter how false his accusations or how contradictory they are with his
record of repeatedly voting for higher taxes on Social Security."
Bush spent the day at the White House, emerging to attend church services and
go for a bike ride.
He is scheduled to make what aides billed as a major speech on terrorism
Monday in New Jersey, where millions live within sight of the terrorist-scarred
lower Manhattan skyline.
With the White House as his campaign backdrop, the president-candidate also
was signing a $33 billion measure for homeland security.
Increasingly, Republicans and Democrats alike were focusing on voter
mobilization efforts in a dozen or so states that remain competitive.
Not surprisingly, Florida got special emphasis as Democrats sought to avenge
the bitterly disputed recount that propelled Bush to the presidency in 2000.
"You've got to start voting tomorrow," Kerry told his audience in Pembroke
Pines, underscoring the appeal Edwards had made in a Daytona Beach church a few
hours earlier.
Gov. Bush said the White House was considering a policy change that could
affect the state and possibly appeal to voters of Haitian descent. The
administration is considering a temporary halt in the deportation of Haitians
fleeing their country because of recent severe hurricane damage, he said. Kerry
called for the step to be taken last week.
Kerry talked about Social Security first from the pulpit of the Mt. Olivet
Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio.
He called privatization Bush's "January surprise," and said it may be good
for "the wealthiest people and the well connected in America, but it's a
disaster for America's middle class."
Citing estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, Kerry said Bush's plan
would mean "benefit cuts for seniors of between 25 percent and 45 percent.
That's up to $500 less for food, for clothing, for the occasional gift for a
grandchild." He vowed anew not to cut benefits or raise the retirement age if
elected.
Bush has long advocated overhauling Social Security to allow younger workers
the choice of putting a portion of their payroll taxes into private accounts.
Aides have said current Social Security beneficiaries and those approaching
the age of eligibility would not be required to accept any changes in the
current system.
But implicit in any such modification is the need either to replace or offset
the money that will begin flowing to private accounts rather than traditional
Social Security. Estimates run into the trillions of dollars over several years.
Purely in political terms, Republican survey data long ago discovered that
voters recoil at the use of the word "privatize" in connection with either
Social Security or Medicare.
Gillespie said the account of Bush's remarks was a "secondhand report and it
is just flat inaccurate." Appearing on CNN's "Late Edition," he also said it was
based on "hearsay." Gillespie said he often attends events such as the one
cited, but added he couldn't be certain whether he had been at the one featured
in the story.
As is their custom, the nation's newspapers began choosing sides in the
presidential race on their editorial pages. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The
Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star urged readers to pick Kerry. The Grand
Rapids (Mich.) Press, The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram and The Canton (Ohio)
Repository called for Bush's re-election.
The Tampa Tribune in Florida, which has backed every Republican candidate
except Barry Goldwater in the past half-century, said it would not issue an
endorsement.
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