Everyone run! Kerry's actually giving specifics!

Uh oh. This can't be good:Kerry Unveils Economic Plan

He says he's going to create 10 million jobs.

10 million jobs.

No foundation in reality, and it sounds like this number came out of the one-upmanship in some bull session.

"Let's have Kerry say he'll create 3 million jobs!"
"No, 5 million!"
"10 million! I win!"

There are only about 9 million unemployed people in the US.

My God, if anyone actually believed John Kerry, they should be concerned about the coming worker shortage!

But later, shockingly, Kerry begins sounding like a president:

Kerry said that, 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 money from some of his own campaign promises and existing government programs.

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

Somebody might want to ask him why we should spend yet more money on education (at the federal level) when we already spend more than just about every other country in the world.

Shouldn't we be asking why we aren't getting our money's worth? Or why so many of our dedicated teachers can't pass basic competency tests in the classes that they (supposedly) teach?

But I like the sentiment.

And there's more:

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.

These are serious ideas that someone is putting in Kerry's mouth. Sort of.

And I like this:

restoring "pay as you go" budget rules that require spending and tax cuts to be offset by cuts in other programs or tax increases....

....cutting corporate welfare and using the savings to reduce the deficit.

Does this mean ending farm subsidies to companies like ADM? Since Kerry has always voted for such things, my guess is that he is full of hot air.

Now Kerry faces his next problem: I think a lot of people are going to feel that he is full of shit.

And he has no idea about what we are up against in the world:

In an interview broadcast Wednesday morning, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry defended terrorist Shiite imam Muqtada al-Sadr as a "legitimate voice" in Iraq, despite that fact that he's led an uprising that has killed nearly 20 American GIs in the last two days.

I suppose Osama is a legitimate voice, too.

- posted by total @ 4/08/2004 05:58:00 AM .