Campaigns Playing Fast and Loose With Facts and Numbers

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/whitehouse/la-na-outlook15mar15,1,6747073.column?coll=la-news-politics-white_house

(free registration or try www.bugmenot.com )

It was amateur hour all around when President Bush's reelection campaign released an ad last week accusing John F. Kerry of planning to raise taxes by $900 billion if he won the White House. The Bush campaign's justification for the charge was specious. The Kerry campaign's response was misleading. And the vast press corps covering the campaign almost entirely failed to illuminate the holes in each side's arguments.

If this is what Americans can anticipate over the next eight months, it's time to reach for the remote control.

Let's start with the logic of the claim in the Bush ad that Kerry, within his first 100 days, will "raise taxes by at least $900 billion" to "pay for new government spending."

In a conference call with reporters and campaign documents supporting the ad, Bush officials couldn't point to any Kerry statement endorsing a $900-billion tax increase.

...more...

Kerry should highlight his tax increases -- who they fall on, or rather fall on once again.

The thing about health coverage reform: it's needed.

F**K the Media! They're largely responsible for the Bushistas rise to power!

If they had done their job from the outset, we wouldn't be in this mess now!

Although I've "technically" saw Bush's ad on a news report but not as a regular ad. I actually saw Kerry's response Friday night and have yet to see Bush's "tax increase" ad.