kerry quote from ny times article printed in my local paper

Cincinnati- Sen. John Kerry on Tuesday said that because of the ballooning federal deficit he would have to scale back some of the domestic proposals he made during the Democratic primary fight and he accused President Bush of misleading the country on everything from federal spending to the war in Iraq.
"If I have to cut back on a program in order to reduce the deficit in half in four years, I will do that," Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told reporters after a rally here on Tuesday. "I will make the tough choices."

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hold your blowtorches, i am not saying do not vote for kerry, i just want to know if this is a concern for you, and what you think of the premise: balance the budget in four years by cutting social spending as opposed to cutting from some where else

I kinda wonder myself. This will get him back on the front page of "flip-flop" daily.

so deep in debt even some social programs are going to have to be scaled back

this is NO SURPRISE to DUers - that's what Raygun did and that's been W's plan (tutored by Grover Norquist)

even if we got out of Iraq at once and cut back on military spending, there would still have to be additional cuts

THAT'S WHY RECENT REPUBLICAN ADMS HAVE BEEN SUCH DISASTERS

democrats who know social programs are important STILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE REPUB MESSSSS

I honestly would like to know

...WHY DO SOME POWERFUL REPUBS HATE AMERICA SO MUCH?????

he is saying he is going to put the whole load on social spending. if yo want to argue that we should cut a little hear and a little there, that seems like it would be a good compromise. kerry has not even gotten to the convention yet and he is admitting that the platform he campaigned on is not going to be a reality. it is not like the deficit just appeared out of no where in the last couple of days.

Kerry has a list of military programs to cut, started with NMD.

Try again

avoiding a spending cap for military spending does not sound like an overall cut.

security includes things such as checking ports, providing firefighters with funds for equipment. the nuclear weapons he wants to get rid of have nothing to do with security. he would get rid of useless weapons systems which have nothing to do with security.

Did you notice how conditional that statement was? Here it is again:

"If I have to cut back on a program in order to reduce the deficit in half in four years, I will do that," Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told reporters after a rally here on Tuesday. "I will make the tough choices."

Now ask yourself, since raising taxes is always a possibility, is it ever true that one HAS TO cut a program to balance the budget?

IOW, "*IF* I HAD TO swallow toads in order to make a living, I would"

But then again, I don't HAVE TO swallow toads to make a living.

late breaking news has the full context with specific things he would cut back on. and he made education and defense an exception to spending caps.

i got this from late breaking news, look at what he mentions he will cut.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/politics-...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat John Kerry said Wednesday if he is elected president he will not let government programs outside of security and education grow beyond the rate of inflation, even if it means cutting some of his own campaign promises and existing government programs.

"When I say a cap on spending, I mean it," Kerry said in a speech prepared for delivery Wednesday. "We will have to make real choices — and that includes priorities of my own."

Kerry said he would freeze the federal travel budget, reduce oil royalty exemptions for drilling on federal lands, cut 100,000 federal government contractors, and cut electricity used by the federal government by 20 percent, among other programs.

Kerry said with the growing deficit, he'll have to "slow down" some of his campaign promises or phase them in over a longer period. He cited proposals for early childhood education and a program that would have provided tuition to students attending state colleges in exchange for two years of national service, although he didn't say how much they would be scaled back.

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