Coastal Post Online
MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
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(415)868-0502(fax) - P.O. Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924
September, 2004
Bush Tries To Hide Growing Poverty
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Anticipating the release of devastating new poverty and health care statistics,
the Bush administration today took the extraordinary step today of trying to
bury the numbers. Specifically, the Administration had its top political
appointee at the Census Bureau release the numbers a month earlier than usual,
during the August congressional recess when many reporters and Americans take
their summer vacations. The rescheduling of the announcement also means that
the bad numbers will not come out in September immediately after the Republican
National Convention, when they have traditionally been released.
With the President's economic and health care agenda leaving
millions behind, the Associated Press reports, "the statistics today show
the number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year,
while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million."[1]
This is not the first time the White House and Republicans
have gone to great lengths to hide damning information. As CBS News reported,
President Bush released his military service records late on a Friday night on
the eve of a three day weekend in order to make sure the story about his poor
attendance was seen by as few people as possible.[2]
In Congress, GOP leaders regularly pass the most controversial
bills in the middle of the night. Those included bills to slash veterans
benefits and health/education funding, as well as spending $87 billion on war
in Iraq and passing the President's Medicare bill.[3]
Sources:
1. "Ranks of Poverty, Uninsured Rose in 2003," The Guardian, 8/26/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1322174&l=52127.
2. "Bush's Records: All In The Timing," CBS News, 2/15/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1322174&l=52128.
3. "Under The Cover Of Darkness," TomPaine.com,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1322174&l=52129.
Visit www.Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion.