Dole Campaign Press Release - Forbes Opposes Balanced Budget Amendment

Yesterday's campaign drama saw Malcolm "Steve" Forbes behave like the typical politician he claims to disdain by taking to the airwaves with a new ad that tries to explain away his opposition to tough "three strikes and you're out" mandatory life imprisonment laws for repeat violent criminals. But like so many of Forbes' risky ideas, it just didn't add up.

Today Malcolm learns that even if he can't connect very well with average voters, at least he can talk like an average politician hungry for office. In an amazing feat of politician gymnastics, Malcolm today claims he is for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. After opposing the Balanced Budget Amendment for almost two decades, in New Hampshire today he claimed he supports the idea as long as it is linked to a tax cut.

Alas, Malcolm's own words betray him. He has opposed the Balanced Budget Amendment for years -- no if, and, buts or tax cuts. What will he do when reporters ask him about comments such as these:

"You shouldn't sacrifice people's opportunity on the bogus theory of a balanced budget." Malcolm "Steve" Forbes, Common Sense, Fall 1995.

"California Governor Jerry Brown has endorsed the idea of a constitutional amendment to force Washington to balance the federal budget. Such a call may be good politics in the post-Proposition 13 era, but no one should take the idea seriously." Malcolm "Steve" Forbes, editorial, Forbes magazine, 2/5/79.

"It looks like the nation will soon be seriously considering a constitutional amendment that would mandate a balanced budget and curb federal-spending growth. There is little good that can come from this exercise and a whole lot of harm." Malcolm "Steve" Forbes, editorial, Forbes magazine, 4/12/82.

Referring to the Reagan administration's support of a balanced budget, Forbes wrote, "This obsession with deficits has led the Administration to back a harmful, ill-timed tax increase and a Prohibition-like Constitutional amendment." Malcolm "Steve" Forbes, editorial, Forbes magazine, 8/30/82.

"Congress seems ready to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Not since Prohibition has there been a proposal so fraught with danger ... We don't really need a balanced budget amendment." Malcolm "Steve" Forbes, editorial, Forbes magazine, 6/8/92.