It's the credibility, stupid- Kerry has it, Bush doesn't attack is working

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare15sep15.story
THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Kerry Says President Hid Truth on Medicare Costs
Democrat tells seniors White House concealed details of fees. Edwards likens Bush to Ken Lay.
By Michael Finnegan and Janet Hook
Times Staff Writers

September 15, 2004

MILWAUKEE — Sen. John F. Kerry broadened his effort to undercut President Bush's credibility on Tuesday by accusing the administration of "hiding the truth" about rising out-of-pocket costs that older Americans pay for Medicare.

Surrounded by senior citizens at a campaign forum, the Democratic nominee for president said the administration tried to conceal records that showed the growing burden of Medicare premiums and related costs.

"This administration can't tell you the truth about healthcare," Kerry told the crowd.

Joining the attack on Bush's trustworthiness was Kerry's running mate, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Campaigning in Oregon, he seized on a report that Bush's second-term agenda would cost $3 trillion over 10 years — far above the price of Kerry's plans.

"He's making proposals that are in the trillions of dollars in cost, for which he has no idea how he's going to pay," said Edwards, who likened Bush to indicted former Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay.

"You know, I think he believes that he's Ken Lay, and America is his Enron," Edwards said.<snip>

[papau]

1. Lockhart said questioning Bush honesty and character is working.

"Lockhart said internal campaign polls indicate that Kerry's latest attack strategy — an attempt to drive up Bush's negative poll ratings by questioning his honesty and character — is working.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/09/15/kerry_says_bush_hides_medicare_fees/

Kerry says Bush hides Medicare fees
By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff | September 15, 2004

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry yesterday told senior citizens and workers in Toledo and Milwaukee, two vote-rich cities in battleground states, that President Bush had ''tried to hide the truth" about rising medical and drug costs, charging that the White House had doctored a Medicare trustees' report to cover up increases in out-of-pocket health care expenses for the elderly.

The Massachusetts senator also attacked Bush's war policy in Iraq yesterday -- a day when at least 47 Iraqis were killed by a suicide bomber as they waited at a Baghdad police station. Kerry called the war ''a mess growing greater and greater on the ground each day." He blamed US policy for making ''elections harder to hold" there because growing swaths of Iraq are ''held by terrorists and jihadists and insurgents."

Starting the 49th day before the election, Kerry spoke before dozens of senior citizens at the St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care in Milwaukee, using a large chart to show that a report on rising Medicare costs had been left out of a 2004 administration report, even though it had been included in previous years.

''Guess what -- this year, election year 2004, and just like they tried to hide the truth from the American people about the real cost of Medicare, just like they intimidated and bullied a worker in the Medicare program not to tell Congress and the American people the real cost, this year they play games with the American people again," Kerry said.<snip>