TREATMENT OF OUR TROOPS

"Any time we put our troops into harm's way, you must have the best training, the best equipment, the best possible pay."

- President George W. Bush, 10/9/03

"The administration announced that on Oct. 1 it wants to roll back recent modest increases in monthly imminent-danger pay (from $225 to $150) and family-separation allowance (from $250 to $100) for troops getting shot at in combat zones."

- Army Times, 6/30/03

"When Bush taunted gunmen in Iraq, many GIs must have nervously tugged at their obsolete flak jackets. For many GIs, Iraq appears to be a strictly BYOB war -- Bring Your Own Bulletproofs. The shortages [of protective gear] come down to money and priorities. Gen. Richard B. Myers confirmed last week that it would be December before there were enough plates for all of our people in Iraq."

- Op-Ed, Dallas Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 10/5/03

WMD IN IRAQ

"Since the liberation of Iraq, our investigators have found evidence of a clandestine network of biological laboratories."

- President George W. Bush, 10/9/03

"We have not yet been able to corroborate the existence of a mobile biological weapons production effort…Technical limitations would prevent any of these processes from being ideally suited to these trailers."

- Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03

U.S. ECONOMY

"Last month this economy exceeded expectations and added net new jobs."

- President George W. Bush, 10/9/03

The White House Council of Economic Advisors set expectations when President Bush proposed his economic stimulus package. The council said his economic policies would create 344,000 new jobs per month – not the paltry 57,000 jobs that were created. All told, Bush has overseen the loss of almost 3 million jobs – the worst record since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression.

- Economic Policy Institute

"I came to this office to confront problems directly and forcefully, not to pass them on to other Presidents and other generations."

- President George W. Bush, 10/9/03

"When the Treasury Department tallies up final figures later this month, it is expected to show a federal budget deficit between $370 billion and $380 billion for 2003," one of the biggest debts passed onto another generation in American history.

- Wall Street Journal, 10/9/03

"I proposed and signed these [tax] measures to help individuals and help families."

- President George W. Bush, 10/9/03

The most recent CBS News/New York Times poll shows that "despite three tax cuts in as many years, only 19 percent [of Americans surveyed] said Bush's policies made their taxes go down. Forty-seven percent noticed no effect, while 29 percent perceived that their taxes have gone up."

- Washington Post, 10/7/03

"Almost half of all American taxpayers will get less than $100 this year and next from President Bush’s most recent tax plan. In 2005, three-quarters of taxpayers will get less than $100, and in 2006 and later years almost nine out of ten will get less than $100."

- Citizens for Tax Justice, 5/30/03