Ted Kennedy at the Brookings Institution

The content of Senator Kennedy's speech from April 5th, concerning a string of Bush Administration deceptions on a host of domestic issues was largely overshadowed by his statement, at the opening of his remarks, that "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam, and this country needs a new President."

However, I'd briefly like to point out some interesting examples of Bush administration deceptions and lies that I don't think are widely known and that Kennedy points out in his speech.

On Secretary Chao and the question of overtime pay:

Labor Secretary Chao has even denied what is written plainly in the Department's own proposal - that it will take overtime pay away from veterans.

In a letter to Speaker Hastert, she wrote, "I want to assure you that military personnel and veterans are not affected by these proposed rules by virtue of their military duties or training." But it says in the regulation - right there in black and white - if you have "training in the armed forces," your employer can deny you overtime pay.

On Tommy Thompson and the Medicare drug bill:

On June 11th of last year, one day after the bill was unveiled in the Senate, Richard Foster, the chief actuary of the Medicare program and the official responsible for the Administration's estimate calculated that the bill would cost 551 billion dollars. He was told by Tom Scully, the head of Medicare, that he would be fired if he gave that estimate to Congress...
On September 25, 2003, during the heat of the debate, Secretary Thompson said that "the 400 billion dollar price is what the Administration is working off and remains behind."

On No Child Left Behind:

In 2002, less than a month after signing the bill into law with great fanfare, President Bush quietly proposed to cut funds for the No Child Left Behind Act by 90 million dollars. His next education budget, in 2003, cut funding for the reforms by far more - 1.2 billion dollars. Believing his political ticket already had been adequately punched on education, President Bush tried to drop over half a million children from after-school programs.

A hatchet man for the Kerry campaign, indeed.