The Democrats are fighting back. In a Democratic National Committee fundraising letter from General Chair Christopher J. Dodd, “loyal Democrats” are told that they must do three things to save America from “the conservative, hard-line, right-wingers on Capitol Hill.” First, they must respond to questions in an enclosed “1996 Presidential Poll.” Second, they must send the completed “1996 Presidential Poll” back to the DNC. And finally, they must send in a check to help rebuild the party “at the grass roots level” in order to thwart “Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole’s extremist agenda.”
The letter also included a favored Orwellian tac-tic-the Big Lie. Those who received the DNC letter were warned that if the Republican agenda were to be enacted, the popular educational program Head Start would be eliminated. Not cut back, not trimmed — eliminated.
In fact, the Republican plan currently calls for $ 3.397 billion in spending on Head Start for the coming fiscal year. To be sure, that is $ 137 million less than last year (last year’s money, by the way, was not even fully spent — the program could not find enough teachers, administrators, and students to spend it on), and it is $ 537 million less than President Clinton wants spent on Head Start for the coming fiscal year, but it does not follow that $ 3.397 billion equals the elimination of Head Start. Unless, of course, you are writing a fundraising letter for the DNC.
