LYING ABOUT MEDICARE

AT THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION, Bob Dole pledged to cut income taxes by 15 percent, balance the budget, and leave Social Security and Medicare untouched. Tough-minded reporters believed none of it and shared their skepticism with a national television audience. Two weeks later, the Democrats met in convention and, to put it simply, lied through their teeth about their plans for Medicare. They accused Republicans, in Al Gore’s words, of wanting to “give health-insurance rip-off artists a license to change Medicare, to let this program for our seniors wither on the vine. That’s why they want to replace Bill Clinton. But we won’t let them.”