Posted on 09/22/2004 12:54:03 PM PDT by areafiftyone
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), citing the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and other trouble spots in the world, raised the possibility Wednesday that a military draft could be reinstated if voters re-elect President Bush (news - web sites).
Kerry said he would not bring back the draft and questioned how fairly it was administered in the past.
Answering a question about the draft that had been posed at a forum with voters, Kerry said: "If George Bush (news - web sites) were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea (news - web sites) and Iran and other places, is it possible? I can't tell you."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon (news - web sites) officials have been asked numerous times whether they thought a draft would be necessary to maintain force levels in Iraq. They have said consistently that they think it is neither necessary nor desirable, since today's military is built on volunteer service and professionalism.
His voice scratchy and breaking from a cold, Kerry called the president's proposal to give workers partly private Social Security (news - web sites) accounts a windfall for financial companies and one that will cut benefits for senior citizens.
"He's driving seniors right out of the middle class," Kerry said in a battleground state rich with voters keenly watching the candidates talk about two pillars of retirement, Social Security and Medicare.
"I will never privatize Social Security, ever," Kerry said, repeating promises not to raise the retirement age or cut benefits.
Kerry's two-day swing through Florida, which began Tuesday, follows deadly hurricanes that nearly halted polling and politicking in the state. Bush made his third campaign-season trip to Florida this week to assess damage caused by Hurricane Ivan. Kerry has been to the state that decided the 2000 election nine times this year.
Kerry opened the town hall-style meeting about government benefits by repeating his charges that the president is divorced from realities in Iraq and ignoring the manhunt for terrorists in Afghanistan (news - web sites). "Osama bin Forgotten," Kerry said.
Noting that the campaign Tuesday night neared Disney's "fantasy land" in Orlando, Fla., Kerry said: "The difference between George Bush and me is that I drove by it. He lives in it."
Returning to seniors' issues, Kerry said Bush made life harder for seniors with a Medicare drug benefit that doesn't let the government bargain for lower costs.
Kerry also cited a study by Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago business professor and informal adviser to the Kerry campaign, to say the president's Social Security proposal will cost seniors.
Bush favors allowing young workers to create voluntary personal savings accounts with some of the money they now pay into the Social Security system, a change he insists will not increase payroll taxes or change benefits for retirees or near retirees.
Goolsbee examined one model that proposes workers set aside a small percentage of their pay in private accounts as a method to adjust Social Security to a rapidly graying population, concluding that fees charged by financial companies could reap them hundreds of billions of dollars and eat 20 percent of the benefits in an account held by a worker making an average salary.
The Bush-Cheney campaign said the study makes assumptions based on policy decisions not yet made and contended that Kerry hasn't explained how he'd meet the challenges posed to Social Security by aging Baby Boomers.
"His record is one of voting for higher taxes on current retirees and ignoring the needs of future retirees," said Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt.
Kerry wants to bolster the retirement program by reducing the deficit and expanding the economy. Some experts say economic growth might be insufficient to cover future benefits because those benefits grow as wages increase.
AS Usual the Democrats attack and are always one attack ahead of the GOP
GOP never learns
Of course he always fails to mention that both the House and Senate bills proposing to reinstate the draft have been put forth by Democrats.
http://www.neoperspectives.com/draft.htm
The Draft Myth
(This excerpt has been posted because of the increasing frequency of the Democratic strategy to fear-monger over the draft. Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards and other Democratic surrogates have now joined the chorus of email forwards and rumors. Democratic groups have even begun running ads on MTV targeting young people (1)!)
On January 7th 2003, African American Representative Charles Rangel (NY) and 14 other Democrats, sponsored legislation attempting to bring back the draft. Rangel said in a statement:
I truly believe that decision-makers who support war would more readily feel the pain of conflict and appreciate the sacrifice of those on the front lines if their children were there, too. I don't make too much of the fact that only four members of the 107th Congress, which voted overwhelmingly in favor of war with Iraq, had children in the military. (70)
This false statement is elaborated on further down. On the same day, Democratic Senator Fritz Collins (SC) introduced similar legislation in the Senate. (2) Republican Senator Chuck Hagel offered similar misleading comments of support for a draft. (3) Both the Senate and House bills have no chance of passing and have not been taken up by their respective committees.
In any case, despite it's origin, fear of the draft has been pushed by media reports and Democrats for political gain, often portraying either the Bush administration or Republicans as secretly driving the proposals and legislation. (69) Secretary Rumsfeld and all administration officials and Republican congressional leaders have all said there is no intention or need to bring back the draft as all services are fulfilling recruiting quotas and reenlistment. Moreover Secretary Rumsfeld has stated:
"We have in the active force about 1.4 million people. And in the Guard and the Reserve and if you include the Individual Ready Reserve, the people who are not training in ready units, we go up to somewhere over 2.3 million people." (65)
"The force is stressed and we’re only sustaining 200,000-plus in the Central Command region out of a total of 2 million. So the question is, well, why is that?" (65)
"We’ve got probably 300,000 military people who are engaged in tasks that could every bit as easily be conducted by civilians." (65)
Rumsfeld explained that the unionized civil servants were so unmanageable that military personal often had to be used. He said these problems were being addressed.
Asked about the draft Rumsfeld replied:
"....goodness no, we’re perfectly capable of increasing the incentives and the inducements to attract people into the armed services." (65)
It is also notable that the military, due to cutbacks in the first Bush and Clinton years, is about one-third smaller than the one that existed just 12 years ago in the Gulf war. For example, the army was cut from 18 to 10 divisions. (73)
People in Palm Beach County are easily misled...
President Bush should call for an immediate end to registration for the Selective Service, just as Reagan did in the 1980 Campaign. He should then point out that members of the Congressional Black Democratic Caucus are the ones who have introduced legislation reviving the draft.
Counter lies with facts.
The military and veterans hate Kerry.
Young people will not enlist if Kerry is president.
Bingo!
The chances of a draft with Kerry in the White House is much greater, especially when the terrorists start coming here.
Desperation alert. Kerry is in huge trouble and if all he can do is lie his way to the election then his internal numbers must be very bad.
Every military draft during the 20th Century was initiated under a Democrat President. Both bills adrift in the House and Senate were sponsored by the Democrats. He's getting desperate. The evidence suggests that if you elect Kerry, there WILL be a draft.
Kerry just gave us more ammunition to knock his a@@ out of the race. Wait for the debates. If President Bush has the gonads, he should ask where Kerry heard this, and then trash him good. Kerry is just giving us more to work him over.
This is kind of good news in my book. Next line is that Bush will take away your social security. This kind of stupid attacks tell me that Kerry is getting desparate.
I am a Board member of the Local Selective Service Board Here in Denver Colorado and I can tell you Unequivocally that this is not true. In fact the exact opposite is true. No funds currently available for training of Board Members nor will there be for the next year or so.
I had just received a letter from the National Board about a month or so ago that stated that "Contrary to published reports, NO re-activation of the Selective Service is planned or contemplated"..
Standard summary #4F:
Yes there are draft proposals, almost all Democrat,
such as HR 163, which is entirely Dem.
They have NOTHING to do with military manpower requirements.
As intended-to-fail proposals, they are straw men set up
so that Kerry+Edwards can promise to oppose them (even
though they probably support them - see below). When do
you need to worry about what Kerry's plans are on an
issue? When he takes a position, any position.
Bush already opposes draft proposals, but don't expect
the legacy media to tell you this. They also won't pass
either the House or the Senate, but Bush wouldn't sign
them if they did.
As serious proposals, "draft" revival proposals have
everything to do with Universal National Service -
stealing two years from every life, then 3, then 4,
and why stop there ...
And National Service has nothing to do with service.
It has everything to do with indoctrination of the slaves.
Which means that if the "progressives" ever get control
again, kiss your liberty goodbye.
From HR 163: "...or a period of civilian service in
furtherance of the national defense and homeland
security, and for other purposes."
"other purposes"
Surely this will come up at the debates. If one of the questionaers does not ask about it then Mr Bush should bring it up himself. Unless Kerry does first. Then GWB can blast him with the facts and put this issue to rest.
I question the timing of this.
Fits nicely with the see-BS -- Viacom -- MTV -- Soros push poll doesn't it.
Let's just assume this is true. SO WHAT! I can't think of anything better for this country and our overweight, bored, body-pierced youth than the draft.
www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=200
this is a better debunker.
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