Clement: Economy Key To Voters [Backstabbing Bush]

This is a similar article to two posted earlier, but those articles and the Freeper comments mainly focused on Reps. Harold Ford & Clement taliking to Bush about Iraq.

I think this is noteworthy because it reveals the utter shamelessness of Democrats, how one would take advantage of the opportunity of a private conversation with the President to then turn around and attack him.

I am sure Clement's self-serving version of their encounter is entirely accurate and just happens to correspond with a major Dem attack against Bush & his father -- that they are out of touch with the public's economic fears.

If I remember correctly, Bush was nice enough to extend this skunk normal courtesy and gave him a ride back to DC from TN on Air Force One after Bush campaigned for Lamar! a few weeks ago. He must be getting desperate.

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The Democrats have been talking down our economy since Bush was sworn in. They are doing some serious damage, but will not defeat the American people.

They are talking down the economy indeed, but the problem is deeper than that. We are witnessing the unraveling of a bubble of epic proportions. The Clinton economy was just smoke and mirrors, and the corporate earnings were vapor - just like ethics under Clinton - nonexistent.

We are fools to think the dot com and telecom bubble, the credit bubble (and soon, the housing bubble) will go away quickly. This painful unraveling of credit and debt is going to take years to unwind.

Bush deserves what's coming to him if he doesn't see that Greenspan is NOT working for the Republicans' success.

I notice that Clement liked Bush enough to jockey in tight behind him during the little photo op at the White House last week. He is trying to play both sides against the middle....appearing to be "conservative" to the local Republicans with a photo with the President, and bashing him at the same time to the Democrats.

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_1306761,00.html

Clement voting record strays from party norm

By James W. Brosnan brosnanj@shns.com

August 5, 2002

WASHINGTON - Until Nov. 5, Tennessee voters will hear two competing messages about Rep. Bob Clement (D-Tenn.), the Democratic Senate nominee.

Lamar Alexander, the Republican nominee, will say Clement is a liberal who will vote with Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Clement will describe himself as a moderate-conservative and maverick who will often vote against the Democratic majority.

In fact, his voting record over the last 14 years in the House may defy ideological description.

For in- stance, he has not voted with the defi-cit-conscious "blue dogs" like Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.). Clement in 1993 opposed President Clinton's tax plan, credited with balancing the budget, while voting in 2001 for President Bush's tax cut, the one many Democrats blame for the return to defi-cits.

He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada but not to grant most-favored-nation status to China on a permanent trade basis.

He voted for giving President Clinton the right to "fast-track" trade agreements through Congress with no amendments. But on July 27 Clement voted against giving similar powers to President Bush.

For all of 2001, Clement voted with the President on bills 52 percent of the time, a higher percentage than all but 11 other Democrats in the House, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Alexander said, "Fifty-two percent is a failing grade in my book. I think we can do a lot better."

In 2001, Clement voted with the majority of Democrats 74 percent of the time. Of the three other Democrats in the Tennessee delegation, Tanner and Bart Gordon tied at 71 percent, and Harold Ford Jr. voted with his party 89 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Clement has managed to garner positive vote ratings from both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Tennessee AFL-CIO president Jim Neeley said he's been able to "turn around" Clement on some trade votes but not usually on issues opposed strongly by small business.

"In no way, in my opinion, can Bob Clement be painted as a liberal," said Neeley.

"I think most people look at me as a conservative-to-moderate Democrat," said Clement. "But, you know I've always fought for the underdog. I've always fought for human rights.

"I've always fought for fairNess, and I've always felt like that Bob Clement fights for the little guy and to keep the big boys honest."

Here's a look at the Clement record in more detail:

BUDGET / TAXES

Clement said he did not support the 1993 Clinton budget plan, which raised tax rates on upper-income Americans, because there were not enough spending cuts.

"We kept negotiating between President Clinton and myself and, really, Al Gore and myself. I wanted $2 in cuts for every $1 in additional revenue. That did not happen. It came to be $1 for $1. At that particular time it was obvious that the people of Tennessee didn't really feel like we were cutting costs," said Clement.

Clement said he voted for Bush's tax cuts, which reversed much of Clinton's plan, to stimulate the economy, although Clement now believes the cut has not worked.

Robert Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, a group that advocates balanced budgeting, said the Clinton plan proved to be "a good mix for the economy and the budget."

Bixby said Bush's tax cut will wipe out the projected surplus because the assumptions behind the tax cut were wrong.

"We no longer have peace and prosperity, the two big things we were counting on," said Bixby.

Clement was politicking in Tennessee when the House voted to make the tax cut permanent, but Clement said he would have voted for the measure. Still, he would not rule out some modifications to the tax cut in the future if the economy does not turn around.

"What I've always done, whether I was on the public service commission or the TVA board or as a member of Congress, I review all the facts and all the information and make a decision, and I will do that in the future as well," said Clement.

Clement supported a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget and another to give the president the authority to single out line items in an appropriations bill for a veto. But he opposes requiring a two-thirds vote of Congress to raise taxes.

"I don't want us to be irresponsible. I want us to pay our bills. I want us to have a balanced budget. I want us to set priorities, but let us not put ourselves in a straitjacket," said Clement.

CRIME

Clement backs a federal death penalty. He voted against efforts to allow defendants in death penalty cases to use statistical evidence to claim a pattern of racial discrimination. Clement backed the three-day national waiting period for handgun purchases but opposed a ban on assault weapons and would let the law lapse.

"You can take a semi-automatic weapon and turn it into an assault weapon within a matter of minutes," said Clement.

ABORTION

Clement supports keeping abortion legal, but he has voted to outlaw the so-called "partial-birth abortion" procedure.

He opposes federal funding of abortions but has voted to allow U. S. military personnel or their wives to obtain abortions at U.S. military hospitals if they pay for the procedure themselves.

LABOR RIGHTS

Clement voted to require businesses to give family and medical leave to employees and for increases in the minimum wage.

He voted to block a proposed Clinton administration rule to try to prevent ergonomic injuries in the workplace. Clement said there is a problem with such injuries but that he heard from many small-business owners in Tennessee "who were horrified" at the proposed rule.

He voted for increases in the minimum wage.

WELFARE REFORM

Clement voted against the first Republican versions of the welfare reform bill but for the version signed into law by Clinton in 1996. This year, he voted against Bush's proposal to toughen work requirements on remaining welfare recipients.

TRADE

Clement said he generally favors free trade. He said he opposed granting most-favored-nation status to China because of the human rights violations there.

Clement said he supported trade promotion authority, sometimes called "fast track" legislation, under Clinton because "the economy was rolling."

"What's happened since that time under the Bush administration? We're in a recession. Jobs are drying up, and the stock market's going in the tank. Everywhere I go there are plant closings and higher unemployment, and therefore it's not in our best interest to approve fast track," said Clement.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Clement voted to authorize the use of force in the Persian Gulf War and to authorize U.S troops to join the NATO effort against Serbia.

He has voted to ease the embargo on trade with Cuba.

Contact Washington Correspondent James W. Brosnan at (202) 408-2701.

Another reason the economy won't turn around quick enough is that the Republicans aren't serious enough about cutting the size of the government and returning the money back to the people. I think, as a novice economist, that we are in such trouble due to how far in debt the American people are. But, if the government was slashed by just 1/3, which a moderate like Bush will never propose, and everybody who paid taxes got 1/3 back of what they paid last year, I think that the economy would boom. Even if the boom was just a temporary boom, it would raise the consumer confidence index high enough to raise consumer spending to all time highs. We all know that consumer spending is 2/3 of the entire American economy.

Anyways, like I said, I am a novice at economics; so I may be wrong.

A little off topic, but this is always annoying:

"Clement in 1993 opposed President Clinton's tax plan, credited with balancing the budget, while voting in 2001 for President Bush's tax cut, the one many Democrats blame for the return to defi-cits."

Clinton's tax increase had nothing to do w/ balancing the budget. News reports at the time noted that deficits were scheduled to continue years after his tax increase. It wasn't until a GOP Congress was elected that a surplus was achieved.

I hate it when 'reporters' are either too lazy or biased and refer to the 'Clinton' surplus that Bush supposedly 'inherited.' It should be referred to as a conservative GOP surplus.