European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 29, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Andrew Rosenthal both candidates used distortions in debate vice president George Bush and gov. Michael s. Dukakis hurled piles of complicated figures obscure names Tonguc listing acronyms and seemingly irrefutable facts at each other in their debate sunday night. Much of what they said was at least arguable. Some of it was distorted to put themselves in a Good Light or their opponent in a bad Light. And some of in was simply wrong. This is a Lime honoured political technique offering information in the expectation that listeners will not have the resources or the interest to Check them and accept them. Much of the Slippery information in the debate re lated to the Economy and each candidate s ability to manage it. For example Dukakis made much of the 10 Bud gets in a Row that he has balanced As Massachusetts governor. He neglected to mention hat state Law re quires balanced budgets. Bush said spending on education had increased under the Reagan administration. But Overall educational spending has dropped when inflation is taken into account and some kinds of spending have declined outright. It is an equally Lime honoured technique to try to catch your opponent in a misstatement or a distortion and the Dukakis Campaign was the first to strike Back monday producing a five Page document Mark Goodin a spokesman for the Bush Campaign said the Republican Camp was working on its list of Dukakis s errors. But Goodin did Point out what he considered a distortion in the Dukakis Campaign s list of distortions. He insinuates that because the vice president sup ported chemical weapon production therefore he is opposed to doing away with chemical weapons Goodin said. It s like nuclear arms reduction Youdon t negotiate from a position of weakness you negotiate from a position of  that could be debated endlessly. But there were cases when Dukakis was not telling the entire Story or misstated things although an examination of the de Bate transcript indicates that Bush said More that was inaccurate than Dukakis did. Dukakis said for instance that the Federal pro Gram of giving paroles to some prison inmates is one of the most permissive in the  perhaps. But thai description could also apply to the program in Dukakis s own state which has been sus Pended. The Federal program docs not allow furloughs for inmates serving sentences of life without parole such As first degree murderers. The Massachusetts supreme judicial court Rule that such inmates could not be excluded from the fur Lough program and later in 1976, Dukakis refused to sign legislation that would have barred them. Bush talked of How he would provide health insurance for the 37 million americans who cannot Alt Ord it but Cam too much to qualify for medicaid. Jim Fain Lbw by King  he said he would allow people at the lowest end to buy into medicaid and would ensure full enforcement of the catastrophic  Bush was referring to a catastrophic health insurance Bill enacted last May that would cover 32 million elderly or disabled people All of whom arc already eligible Tor medicare. Ii docs nothing for the uninsured. Dukakis made a Clear Appeal to the Middle class by charging that Bush s proposal to Raduec the capital gains tax to is percent in is now the same rate As for an inv Bidual s other income As High As 33 percent would give the wealthy a five year $40 billion lax  economists do not agree on these numbers because no one knows How much people will make Over the Noil five years by Selling Slock and property. When Dukakis said the break would apply to the wealthiest i percent of the people in the United states he overlooked people of More modest Means like those who set Small businesses for retirement income. Bush asked Aboul deficits said we be got to get the democrats in Congress under control. They do All the spending they appropriate every dime and Tell us How to spend every dime. The process is not so one sided. The administration plays an Active role in the spending process and the president is the one who ultimately signs each Bill into Law As Reagan has done for 88 of the 94 spending Bills Congress approved in his terms. For six of the eight years of the Reagan administration moreover the Senate had a Republican  said the government should not be spend ing "s20 billion to s25 billion on agriculture pro  the Democrat controlled Congress also has rejected the administration s attempts to lower the spending. Military issues Are often particularly confusing for voters and there were some misstate mints in this area. Bush took umbrage at the suggestion that he has never met a weapons system he did t  he said he could name a Tew that he opposed. "a-6f, for example diva and i can go on and on he said. Minuteman Iii penetration  the diva is a radar guided anti aircraft gun that was cancelled in 1985 by defense Secretary Caspar a Weinberger because of poor performance. The a-6f is a Navy bomber for which Congress Cut All funds last year Over Cost  for penetration systems Bush appeared to be referring to plans to develop Decoy warheads for an old minuteman missile not a major weapons program. His Yortis thaw in so via voting Public deserves genuine debate in 1992 Michael Dukakis boosted his presidential chances by battling George Bush on slightly better than even terms in their to spectacular sunday night. Under the rigid rules of their joint appearance the Duel is waged with marshmallows at 40 paces much More minuet than mayhem. Follow up questions were precluded and no had to had exchanges were Al Lowed. Both candidates were As reprogrammed As an advanced cruise missile. As n result they tossed off canned an Swers to whatever was asked. There were no knockdowns or serious gaffes. Since Dukakis is lesser known and has been savaged As a tax and spend Liberal he had More to gain than Bush. He obviously had been coached to smite a lot. As a result he looked fairly silly with a Cheshire cat Grin whenever Bush attacked. Nevertheless he scored by being More specific and by demonstrating an even handed thoughtful approach to the is sues raised. He was in the Happy position of being Able to win merely by staying on his feel. Not surprisingly. Bush held the advantage in the discussion of defense and for eign policy. He struck again with his soft on crime charges and the tired business of the pledge of allegiance. Presumably he already has gained As much mileage As can be derived from these frivolities. Dukakis bore Down on  health insurance Aid for children in Pov erty and Bush s proposal for reducing the capital gains tax on wealthy citizens. He made an effective defense of his1 Patriot had he displayed the same fire when the pledge Issue was first raised we might have been spared this inane phase of the Campaign. Unfortunately the business of using journalists As questioners destroys any possibility of genuine debate. Just As someone gets close to dealing in sub stance he subject is switched. This is a protective device Many candidates crave. The Bush negotiators insisted on it this Lime. It guarantees that the forums will be largely superficial. That was the lamentable effect sunday night despite the Best efforts of the panel still in the Blunderbuss fashion of democracy putting the two candidates on a single stage and leaving them in the Klieg lights for 90 minutes affords a better basis of comparison than the other Bric a Brac of Modem campaigning. I n the Richness of mass polling we will be treated now to a plethora of instant expertise on what Little happened sunday night. Probably these will show some Dukakis gains making the race just about even again. Then Well have another debate fairly Well submerged in the world series. Somewhere along the line Well decide which of these two unimpressive gentlemen will Lead the free world the next four years. Since the taxpayers Are fund ing the whole affair there s no reason we should t insist on a genuine debate for Mal for 1992, the opinions expressed in the column Tad cartoons on this Page represent hos of Ibe minors and Ore in no Way to be considered u representing the Yfe of the stars mad stripes or the United states got Crement