Bush and Kerry spar over health, social security

By The Washington Post and The Associated Press

GERALD HERBERT / AP Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., reacts to the crowd as he arrives to deliver a speech yesterday at the Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre, Penn.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — President Bush pivoted sharply to domestic issues yesterday, parrying Sen. John Kerry's charges that he had bungled the flu-vaccine program and would undermine Social Security in a second term.

Kerry, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., likened the incumbent to Depression-era President Hoover and accused Bush of becoming "the first president to launch an all-out assault on Social Security."

"On Nov. 2, Social Security is on the ballot," Kerry said. Blaming Bush's tax cuts for reducing reserves that could help the retirement program, he said the election is "a choice between one candidate who will save Social Security and another who will undermine it."

Here in Florida, a crucial state with a high proportion of senior-citizen voters, Bush made efforts to reassure voters that he would not allow cuts in government payments for retirees.

Urging his audiences to "reject the politics of fear" at the ballot box, Bush said seniors will continue to get their checks, he said, "no matter what they [Democrats] try to tell you." And the program is "in pretty good shape" for the baby boomers, he added.

"To make sure Social Security is around when our children grow up, we must allow younger workers to save some of their own payroll taxes in a personal savings account that earns better interest ... an account the government cannot take away," Bush said.

The two men also dueled over this season's shortage of influenza vaccines. "If you can't get flu vaccines to Americans, how are you going to protect them against bioterrorism?" Kerry said in an interview aired yesterday on National Public Radio. "If you can't get flu vaccines to Americans, what kind of health care program are you running?"

Bush said that his administration was doing all it could about the vaccine. "I know there are some here who are worried about the flu season," he said at a rally of several thousand supporters at a baseball stadium. "I want to assure them that our government is doing everything possible to help older Americans and children get their shots, despite the major manufacturing defect that caused this problem."

The shortage was caused by manufacturing problems at one of two suppliers. Kerry has tried to link the crisis to an overall problem with health-care coverage and has charged that Bush ignored warnings that could have prevented the shortage. Bush has tied the chronic vaccine problem to the fear of excessive medical-liability lawsuits.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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