Fiscal responsibility

Los Angeles Times

Here's one thing John F. Kerry and George W. Bush have in common: neither is sufficiently concerned about those growing federal deficits and their threat to the economy. Where is Ross Perot when we need him?

Both candidates say they have a plan to halve the deficit over the next four years. But as exasperated moderator Charles Gibson pointed out in last Friday's debate, it's hard to see how Bush or Kerry would get us from here to there.

Bush deserves being singled out for getting us into this mess. He should be condemned for sticking with ambitious tax cuts that were billed as a rebate of those surpluses. The Kerry campaign has not capitalized on Bush's financial mismanagement as forcefully as it should, mainly because it has allowed its own wish list to get in the way of a pledge of fiscal responsibility. ...