CBS News | Kerry Takes A Shot At Bush

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry said Tuesday that President Bush has used the threat of war in Iraq to distract attention from the nation's economic problems, and he promised to make those issues the centerpiece of his campaign.

"They sat down in August and made a conscious decision to bring that up and to dominate the discussion with Iraq," the Massachusetts senator said in a speech to the City Club of Cleveland.

In his address, Kerry proposed tax cuts now for the middle class, while criticizing the Bush administration's tax policy.

"The largest cost of the Bush tax giveaway will not be borne by any of us here today — it will be paid for by our children," Kerry said. "We're borrowing from Social Security and Medicare to put money in our pockets today — and sticking our children with the bill."

To focus tax relief on lower- and middle-income workers, Kerry proposed "a payroll tax holiday" on the first $10,000 of income, meaning no Social Security tax could be collected on that amount.

Nice solid proposals, he has been waffling on foreign policy.