Word: gephardt
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...next few weeks will tell if Bush closed the sale - the numbers in Congress, and the low wattage of Dick Gephardt's response afterward, say he'll probably get most of what he wants. After Tuesday night, and that Goldilocks moment, he'll be able to claim due credit for getting...
...mayor of Philly and the black-Hispanic couple (twofer!) of West Chester, Pa. (Why all the fawning over the Keystone State?) He saluted the ailing Democratic congressman Joe Moakley. He quoted JFK and threw a bouquet to self-styled deal maker, Louisiana senator John Breaux. By comparison, poor Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle seemed niggling and churlish in their Democratic response. Although you have to feel sorry for them: the faux library of a House office is no match for the live action drama from the chamber floor. It was all there: the dramedy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton...
...When Gephardt joined in, it was to underscore what the Democrats see as the irresponsibility inherent in Bush's plan. "If what the President said tonight sounded too good to be true," he warned, "it probably is." He went on to paint a grim picture of all the programs that would suffer if the surplus were gobbled up by a tax break: Medicare, prescription benefits, higher minimum wage and improved public schools...
...Tuesday night, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt learned that lesson the hard way, batting clean-up for the Democrats after the President's first (and enthusiastically received) address to Congress. It was a thankless job: After all the nearly euphoric backslapping that met the President's speech, it fell to the Democrats to make a case for boring old frugality...
...numbers and common sense go, the Democrats' response was solid. But in terms of political dexterity or public relations acumen, it was a bust. Daschle and Gephardt's dour response to Bush's ebullient address to Congress should serve as a stark reminder to Democrats still trying to decipher Gore's loss to Bush: Most Americans don't need or want to be reminded that life is hard, money is tight and things could be better. The gloom and doom implicit the Democrats' message may, in fact, be more realistic than the goofily optimistic tone Bush likes...