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Secretary
of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson told delegates from
Missouri Tuesday that last year’s major Medicare prescription
drug bill and the war in Iraq are the two reasons the swing state
should vote for President Bush in November.
 Speaking
at a breakfast in the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan on Day Two of the
Republican National Convention, Thompson said that Sens. John
Kerry, D-Mass., and John Edwards, D-N.C., were responsible for
Democratic efforts to stop the Medicare bill and wouldn’t
make effective leaders in the war on terror.
He also touted
the administration’s efforts at getting antiretroviral drugs
to those infected with HIV in Africa. “George W. Bush has
delivered not only in America, but he’s delivered worldwide.”
But Michael
Golden, the Missouri communications director for the Kerry campaign,
said the issues of health care and the Iraq war are two reasons
why people should vote for Kerry and Edwards.
“Since
George Bush took office four years ago, 96,000 more people in
Missouri have lost their health insurance, and 5 million more
people are uninsured nationwide. His 2005 budget would cut 500,000
kids from the children’s health insurance program.”
Golden said
Thompson himself admitted the nation’s health insurance profile
could be better in an article in the Aug. 27 Wisconsin State Journal.
Recently released
U.S. Census Bureau statistics say the number of people without
health insurance increased by 1.4 million last year to a total
of 45 million. Administration officials attributed the increase
to the economic recession and said the figures did not take into
account an improving job market, according to the Associated Press.
Missouri is
a battleground state that President Bush carried in 2000 by fewer
than 79,000 votes, or 3 percentage points. The state’s 11
electoral votes are in play again this year. Missouri has correctly
predicted the outcome of the presidential race in every election
in the last century but one.
Iraq is a
hotly contested issue in Missouri, and both Republicans and Democrats
believe the war is a liability for the other side.
“They
say we didn’t find the weapons of mass destruction,”
Thompson told the delegates. “Well, I’ll tell you --
Saddam Hussein was a weapon of mass destruction.” Hussein
kept cancer medications locked up in warehouses, Thompson said,
so that he could use the deaths of sick children as a public relations
weapon against the United States.
Golden countered
that while Saddam Hussein was a dangerous man, "there are
a lot of other dangers to be dealt with in the world, especially
on the terrorist front, and launching that preemptive war diverted
resources from what we were doing in Afghanistan.”
Thompson was
introduced by House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, whose son, Matt Blunt,
is running for governor in Missouri. Both parties are hoping get-out-the-vote
efforts will give them the edge in this very close presidential
race.
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By Nick Summers, Online NewsHour
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