Dear Gore-Lieberman Supporters:

It is now apparent that the Bush-Cheney ticket has decided to turn this
campaign into a negative one.  George Bush made this clear in his first
debate.  Although the vice-presidential debate was widely hailed as one of
"civility," Dick Cheney's actions and words in Waterloo, Iowa, today make it
clear that the personal character attacks on Vice-President Gore, rather
than on the problems of this country, have begun in earnest.  The AP is
reporting that a likely negative attack strategy is in the offing.  If the
Republican ticket is insistent on focusing on what they call "the character
issue," then perhaps the Republicans should answer these very substantive
questions that go directly to the character of its candidates:
 

1.  Why did George Bush mislead the American people in the first debate
by saying Gore's math was "fuzzy" when Gore challenged his spending programs
and proposed tax cuts?  Gore's numbers, as every observer has pointed out,
were correct.  Bush either lied or he cannot add.  Bush's proposed tax cut
would award 43 percent of tax reductions to the wealthiest 1 percent of
taxpayers.  According to the Treasury Department, this group provides only
20 percent of the tax revenue.  Even if a massive tax cut were justified in
present circumstances, and it is not, what is the justification for such a
"rich people's bonus" if it is not, as said the New York Times, "to comfort
the already comfortable"?
 

2.  How can the Republican ticket truthfully contend that the Democrats
are engaging in "class warfare" when it is the Republicans who, through
their risky massive tax cut scheme, punish those in the middle class and
below by demanding that the very wealthy take a disproportionate share of
the budget surplus?    How can Bush and Cheney honestly say their proposals
seek to benefit all Americans when, in fact, the tax cut they propose for
the wealthiest 1 percent ($690 billion) is more than twice as much as their
proposed outlay for national defense, education and healthcare combined
($250 billion)?  When vice-president Gore pointed this out, Bush again said
his numbers were "fuzzy."  But, as the conservative Dallas Morning News
noted: "Mr. Gore was correct."  Bush and Cheney are not being truthful with
the American people.
 

3.  Why was George Bush untruthful with the American people in the first
debate when he said of the vice-president that "this man has outspent me"?
The truth is, Bush has spent twice as much as Mr. Gore.
 

4.  Why did Bush say in the first debate that under his prescription
drug plan an elderly couple who earn $25,000 and cannot afford their drug
bill could expect immediate help under his plan when such a statement is
untrue?  They would get no such help.  And why, when the vice-president
challenged him on this, did he again mislead the people by saying Gore
engaged in more "fuzzy math."
 

5.  Why did Bush indicate he would not try to thwart the FDA's approval
of RU-486 when only weeks before he said he would?
 

6.  Why did Dick Cheney say to the American people that the multiple
millions he was given by his former employer, Halliburton, came with
absolutely no help from the government when, in fact, Halliburton's
increased profits are directly tied to a large increase in the number of
government contracts the company received, with Cheney's help, during the
last several years?  Does he also believe that low unemployment and low
interest rates have had no business effect?  Dick Cheney was dishonest.
 

7.  Why is it more appropriate, according to Cheney, to drill for oil in
the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, which he supports, than in Cheney's
Wyoming, which he fought?  Dick Cheney is hypocritical.
 

8.  Does Cheney really think his previous government service had no
effect on his securing his job with Halliburton in the first place?
 

9.  Why is it permissible for Cheney to move his voting residence to
Wyoming to secure a political advantage regarding the electoral college
requirements of the Constitution when others who engage in comparable
activity are indicted?
 

10. Why won't George Bush truthfully answer the question where he would
get an extra $1 trillion to pay for his Social Security privatization plan?
He says it will come from "the surplus."  That's untrue because he has
already proposed programs and tax cuts that have taken up this amount.
 

11. Why will George Bush not answer the question of why he went AWOL for
an entire year from the Air National Guard, and why did he ignore orders to
report for duty?  See http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2000/09/27/index.html
And is it true that he was suspended and grounded from flying?  If so, why?
 

12. Why is the use of government power bad when it seeks to help
millions of citizens, but okay when used to feather your own nest, as Bush
did when he secured a tax increase and utilized the condemnation procedures
to take people's land in order to financially advantage himself through the
Ballpark at Arlington?  Is it true, as one economist has said, that "the
largest welfare recipient in Texas is George W. Bush"?
 

Questions of character?  You bet.  Lots of them.  I bet some of you can
think of more, tack them on, and forward this to a friend who may be undecided.