Gephardt Assails Dean Record on Medicare

[Karmadillo]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3139707,00.html

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt delivered a stinging criticism of rival Howard Dean Friday, likening him to Republican Newt Gingrich and linking Dean to past GOP policies to overhaul a bedrock program for seniors.

Intent on cutting Dean's advantage in Iowa - as well as energizing his own campaign - Gephardt used a speech to a union audience to assail Dean's past comments on Medicare and Social Security and tie him to one of the Democrats' political boogeymen - former House Speaker Gingrich, R-Ga.

``Howard Dean actually agreed with the Gingrich Republicans,'' said Gephardt, the Missouri congressman and former House Democratic leader who battled with Gingrich in the 1990s.

``It was in this period when Gingrich said Republicans wouldn't immediately kill Medicare. Instead, they would let it wither on the vine,'' Gephardt said. ``And it was also during this time that Howard Dean, as chairman of the National Governors Association, was supporting Republican efforts to scale back Medicare.''

In December 1995, Dean, then Vermont governor, advocated making government-run, fee-for-service Medicare a wholly managed health care program, saying savings from the switch could be used to help Medicare recipients pay for prescription drugs. Dean acknowledged that balancing the budget would mean making some unpopular decisions, including changing Medicare.

more...

[clar]

1. Dupe

This is being thrashed out in a coupla other threads

[Karmadillo]

3. Didn't see any in LBN when I posted.

Sorry if I overlooked them.

[GainesT1958]

2. Hmmm...Gephardt "actually agreed" with BUSH Republicans...

And blindly supported Dub's lie-based war-turned quagmire!

At least Dr. Dean agreed with Sen. Byrd on that crucial vote--why didn't Gephardt have the good sense to go along with the dean of the Congress? :mad:

The more they attack Dean and slur his words, the more it'll backfire on them...don't believe it? Look at "Brutus" Lieberman!

B-)

[Karmadillo]

4. Dean's response

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=137-09122003

MANCHESTER, N.H., Sept. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Democratic presidential candidate Gov. Howard Dean, M.D., issued the following statement this afternoon:

"I consider Dick Gephardt -- a man I campaigned for 16 years ago -- a friend of mine. But I am deeply saddened that he has chosen to resort to the politics of the past by engaging in name-calling, guilt by association and scare tactics.

"It is a sad day for Dick Gephardt when he compares ANY democratic candidate running for President to Newt Gingrich and his divisive policies. No Democrat in the presidential race bears any resemblance to Newt Gingrich on any major issue. And for Dick Gephardt to suggest otherwise is simply beyond the pale.

"It is the politics of the past, and attacks like these, that have caused so many people to opt out of the political process. My campaign is about bringing those people back in, by offering a positive vision of the future, real solutions to America's problems, and by restoring a politics of meaning and a sense of community in political discourse."

[David Zephyr]

5. Gephardt and Lieberman! What a Pair of Losers!

Dick Gephardt is now sinking to the level of Joe Lieberman in frantic, desperate attacks against Dean which only reveals how green with envy they both are.

This will not help Dick Gephardt one bit. It's sort of sad watching him end up this way.

Sharpton and Kucinch have both given him the ridicule he deserves for posing with Bush in the Rose Garden after the Iraq War Resolution passed with Gephardt's shepherding it through the House.

[trapper914]

6. Not exactly what Gingrich said.

God, I can't believe I'm defending Gingrich, but this "Medicare withering on the vine" thing gets misquoted. I heard the actual tape from which this came, and I hate to say it, but it was pretty innocuous. (Sorry, I don't have a link or anything to back this up, and I'm embarrassed to say I heard the tape on Hannity.)

Now, since Gingrich didn't actually enodorsing allowing Medicare to die, I'm not sure how much Gephardt's Dean reference means.