European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Read my memo maybe new taxes Charles Osgood Tribune Media service it must have seemed to the candidate a splendid idea at the time. Standing up there on the Rostrum in front of All those delegates to the Republican National convention that August night in new Orleans with ail the waving and cheering and the band music with All those balloons and with All that Star spangled red White and Bluc Bunting and with All those television viewers viewing and radio listeners listening he was Able to get off this great line about what he would say to Congress i f and when Congress Ever dared to try to get him to go along with a tax increase. Why he would just hitch up his pants and head look Mem right in the Eye and let Mem have it a the Congress will push me to raise taxes and ill say no. And  push and ill say no. And  push again and ill say to them a and Here came the Swift deftly aimed sound bite a read my lips. No new taxes Quot it was glorious. An unforgettable moment. That was the problem. Nobody did forget it. It was not an evasion not a deception. Although it was an inspired Peggy Noonan who a wrote it it was president Bush who spoke it and he meant every word too All six words of it. It was a simple and unequivocal expression of his thoughts right then about what head do if he Ever got elected. By the Way his getting elected was anything but a foregone conclusion at the time remm bar the polls All said that gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was on his Way to becoming the next president of the United states. But Here was a Chance for the Republican candidate to define the difference Between the two men. Dukakis could hedge and fudge Alt he wanted to about taxes but Bush was not about to do that. His position on raising taxes or thinking up new ones was that he was against it. In retrospect the statement May have been a bit too ringing a bit too unforgettable. The voters remembered it when they went into the voting Booths in that november. Quot which one was it who said a read my lips no new  was it Michael Dukakis no i done to think so. I think it was George Bush yes it definitely was George  so they voted for Bush and Bush became president. Eighteen Mouths later when he changed his mind or at least his tune there was no noon Ane que quo ability to the words that were used. A it is dear to me that both the size of the deficit problem and the need for a package that can be enacted require All of the following Emi element and mandatory program Reform tax Revenue increases growth incentives discretionary spending  no balloons no confetti in fact no speech. It was a written statement and nobody looked anybody in the Eye. Real names of 5 infamous criminals a pretty boy Quot Floyd Charles Arthur Floyd Quot machine gun Quot Kelly a George Kelly a a Lucky Luciano a Charles Luciano a baby face Quot Nelson George Nelson Quot bugs Quot siegels Benjamin Siegel source world features Syndicate a cats life in ancient Egypt a if harmed owner Given death penalty a trained to Hunt snakes and Birds a retrieved ducks for Hunters a Given elaborate funerals a grieving owners shaved eyebrows source Tow Complete Book of cats 5 former co stars of the three stooges Lucille Ball �?1934 gangster s Moll Lloyd Bridges a1943 Telephone caller Jock Mahoney a Cowboy a hero Quot in 1947 Walter Brennan a train conductor in 1934 Dan Blocker a Zombie in 1957 source Stooge photo Tala Book july 22, 1990 sunday