Dole Campaign Press Release - Review of Clinton's Notable Rhetorical Excesses

"'I am the only President' Clinton said. 'who knew something about agriculture when I got there." it was an odd assertion from a man who has never really worked with his hands. And it was all the more brazen because numerous Presidents grow up on farms, or in farm communities, or farmed themselves as adults." Carl Cannon, Weekly Standard, 10/2/95

ON BOB DOLE'S RECORD

"At the annual White House correspondents' dinner, Clinton also needled Bob Dole, who was then bottling up Clinton's 'stimulus' package, by asserting that Dole had written a letter asking for $23 million in federal funds to convert a Kansas senior center to a boathouse. Actually, the amount of dollars Dole requested for the project was zero." Cannon, Weekly Standard, 10/2/95

ON CUTTING GOVERNMENT

"Clinton brags that the federal civilian workforce 'is the smallest it's been since John Kennedy.' True. But the drop mostly reflects the end of the Cold War -- and not the 'reinventing government' program. Since January 1993, the work force has declined by about 240,000; of that about two-third came from the Defense Department The non-defense work force (almost 1.2 million) is nearly 40 percent higher than in 1963, when Kennedy died." Robert Samuelson, Washington Post, 9/25/96

ON CUTTING GOVERNMENT

"CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the president if, in a spirit of bi- partisanship, he was prepared to stop the misleading and demagogic practice of calling the GOP efforts to limit the growth of entitlements 'cuts' in entitlements, His back up, Mr. Clinton challenged the bearded Mr. Blitzer: 'Let me say this, are you prepared to stop it? Are you prepared to stop it? ... When I came to Washington I was amazed when I proposed budgets, that that was language that was used. The press I used it. We all learned to use if from the press."' Editorial, Washington Times, 5/9/96

ON FAMILY LEAVE

"Clinton's 12 million figure is a huge exaggeration... Perhaps 1.5 million to 3 million people used the law between early 1994 and mid- 1995, according to surveys by a government commission. The effect was small because most large and medium-sized firms already had maternity and sick leave policies before the law." Samuelson, Washington Post, 9/25/56

ON MEDICARE

"In mid-September, he went even further: For two years, I said the Medicare trust fund was in trouble. and Mr. Gingrich and others mocked me and denied it was in trouble.' This is very nearly the opposite of the truth: Gingrich, trying to taunt the administration into presenting its own plan for controlling Medicare spending, has been reminding people that Clinton's own Medicare commission warned of impending disaster."' Cannon, Weekly Standard, 10/2/95

ON THE OLYMPICS

"Clinton said he met a Croatian who 'thanked me for what our country has done for Croatia.' ... He said he met a Palestinian athlete who noted that this was the first time his people had competed in the Olympics. Finally, he said 'a man from Ireland came up to me, almost with tears in his eyes.' Clinton did not comment on the remarkable coincidence of having three chances meetings during his 30- minute walk with people offering specific comments on administration foreign policy." Washington Post, 6/20/96

ON 10,000 COPS

"Only 20,000 police have been financed under the Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, says the Justice Department. The goal is 100,000 by the year 2000. . .. In practice, the law probably will temporary subsidize police who would have been hired anyway " Samuelson, Washington Post, 9/25196

ON RAISINS

"Clinton has a taste for categorical statements: He has claimed that no other president has had the regard for the First Amendment that he does, that no occupant of the White House has gotten press as bad as his, and even during a September trip to California, that he has he has eaten more raisins 'than any president who ever held this office."' Cannon, Weekly Standard, 10/2/95

ON SOUTHERN ROOTS

"President Clinton, in Houston the other day campaigning for rejection, noted: 'And I know I'd spent more time in Texas than he anyone else running over the last 40 years.' Except for George Bush, Lloyd Bentsen, John Connally, Phil Gramm, Ross Perot and Lyndon Johnson." Washington Times, 10/2/96

ON THE 1993 BUDGET BATTLE

"'The difference between us and the other side.' Clinton said, 'is that we asked them for their spending cuts and,we're stilling waiting." This was news to Rep. John Kasich of the budget committee. Kasich had submitted to the White House a line-by-line Republican counterproposal identifying $430 billion in spending cuts and received a signed letter from Clinton thanking him for his input." cannon, Weekly Standard, 10/2/95

ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

"White House aides used the same explanation for a speech last March in which Clinton related some dubious statistics on violence against women. He said-it violent crime is committed against a woman in this country every 12 seconds. Press Secretary Mike McCurry retracted that before the day was up. Also, the President claimed that up to 4 million American wives are the victims of domestic violence each year, a number that statistician David Murray told Ann Devroy of the Washington Post is probably 'five times too high. "Cannon, Weekly Standard, 10/2/95

"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual." Thomas Jefferson