Wouldn't you think just one of our candidates would have the sense to

[loudnclear]

point out that what Dems really mean by Federal spending.
I am sick and tired of the opposition being allowed to label the Dems as big tax and spend party. We should be proud to wear the label so long as we can define what we are taxing and why and what we are spending Federal money for.

First of all, no Presidents have made the government "bigger" than the last four Republican Presidents...check the records. But their "bigness" meant Federal spending for subsidies to large corporations, and huge tax loopholes for the wealthy upper 1% of the country, plumb Federal jobs for their political supporters and contributors, unnecessary military hardware and toilet seats and hammers of $600 dollars, huge Federal contracts that employed illegal immigrants to the exclusion of American workers. When Republicans complain about BIG government they mean, any kind of aid to the poor, underserved, minorities, women, children, and who they consider to be the underclass. They mean Federal spending on welfare, unemployment, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, Head Start, Pell Grants, etc. We need to define the words the opposition uses in our own terms. Otherwise we lose the battle because people are too ignorant or too lazy to search out information on their own.

Yes, we may be guilty of "tax and spend" and here is why...that's what our message should be. We need to define what the opposition means in stark contrast to what we mean by the same terms.

The biggest "spender" of all time is turning out to be GW Bush!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

1. Kerry has been saying that.

[loudnclear]

2. Where, when ?

I haven't heard him say it. They all are staying away from the tax issue because they have allowed the administration to frame the issue first.

[ShimokitaJer]

3. Perhaps in your fevered imagination

What Kerry has been saying is that Dean's insistence on eliminating the middle class tax cuts is irresponsible and that we don't need that money. At the same time, Dean has been saying you can't promise social spending as all the candidates are and not have a way to fund it.

In other words:

Kerry: "Keep Bush's tax cuts for the middle class!"
Dean: "Eliminate all the tax cuts and use that money for health care"