Kerry spread lies in debate
 

My favorite parts of the debate were the fibs.

Kerry says the war is costing $200 billion. It's $120 billion Mr. Kerry. Oh and by the way, you were the one telling Tim Russert on Meet the Press to spend more. Of course you voted against spending more.

Then there was Kerry making up the fact that Bush hadn't put sanctions on Iran. Yes Mr. Kerry sanctions were there. Clinton put them there and Bush renewed them. There can be no further sanctions. Bush has been working to pressure Iran with the world.

-Rudey
--I'll post them as I see them

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Sep30.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/....ap/index.html

I don't think either candidate has a monopoly on stretching the truth . . . It's politics.

And perhaps you'd like to point out a lie? I've pointed out a couple.

-Rudey

Re: Kerry spread lies in debate
 

And the General Shinseki reference, with the claim that the General was fired over asking for more troops for Iraq.

-- 10 million registered voters in Afghanistan
- "the enemy attacked us" on 9/11 - referring to Saddam (hard to say whether or not that was an attempt to lie or just a slip-up, but he's done it enough times now that you could make a case either way)
- Bush said that Iraq now has 100,000 of its own troops ready to protect the country, but that number is actually less than 55,000
- Poland was one of the countries involved in the original ground invasion of Iraq -- they weren't involved until later

As the articles pointed out, the $200 billion for the war is more "stretching the truth" than fiction, since although there hasn't been $200 billion spent, there's been $200 billion approved for spending on the war and anybody in their right mind knows that we'll have spent at least that much by the time we're done.

At any rate, I don't think either candidate made any mistakes to be too concerned about. They're politicians, they're human, mistakes and exaggerations are a part of the game.

I think that's a fair comment. There's a lot of stress in this situation and perfection is elusive.

10 million registered voters. This is not a lie. There may be some errors in the registration system, but what number would you give??

The enemy attacked us. He slipped up on a word. Just like when John Kerry said he was for proliferation when discussing nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction

Bush said that were were 100,000 Iraqis trained. You are throwing some number out there. 55,000?? There are 90,000 in the police force alone. Nobody said all these Iraqis are the best experts or thoroughly finished with training.

Bush wasn't lying about Poland. The fact of the matter is that Kerry has continually attacked the coalition and said he would be able to have one even though not one country has indicated they would join under Kerry. The sad thing is that our current coalition is constantly insulted by Kerry and that was the issue here.

-Rudey

"But Bush also made an error when he corrected Kerry to say he forgot to mention Poland supplied forces when the invasion began. Kerry said there were three countries —Great Britain, Australia and the United States — and Bush said, "actually he forgot Poland."

Poland later supplied troops, and actually commanded a zone of Iraq. But they were not part of the original ground invasion. And although Bush said there are 30 countries in the coalition, he neglected to say that about a half dozen countries have withdrawn their troops in recent months."

Link to Article

Again that was a slipup but the message was clear. Kerry has continued to attack members of our current coalition while not being able to offer any news on what magic spells he is going to create to make other countries join our coalition.

-Rudey

What about the countries that have withdrawn their troops? Bush hasn't done a very good job of convincing them to stay.

You can't be nitpicky about the things Kerry says but then explain away Bush's comments (lies some would say ;) ) as slip-ups.

Do you often just copy and paste from the web? What countries were in the coalition and which withdrew? And what did Bush say?

The difference is that I sincerely believe that Bush is not a great speaker. I don't fault people for things they cannot control. That's why I didn't care that Kerry said he was for proliferation. I knew it didn't matter and really that he wasn't. I don't fault Kerry for voting for the war or saying he wishes the coalition was bigger. But I can fault him for attacking the current coalition members and saying he can magically make other countries join our coalition. Since Kerry has followed France in disliking Poland I am somewhat upset. Poland is still part of the coalition even if it wasn't there in the first minute of the first hour of the war.

-Rudey