Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Bush, McCain stump for Social Security proposal By JENNIFER LOVEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — President Bush and Sen. John McCain put on another showing Tuesday of their good-cop, bad-cop routine on Social Security, trying to prod Democrats into cooperating with rather than opposing the president’s drive to create private accounts within the system. Bush emphasized the positive, continuing to assure current and near-retirees their benefits would not change under his plan and promising that credit would be duly shared if Washington politicians can come together to fix Social Security’s long-term fiscal ills. “Bring your ideas forward, please,” the president told a mostly darkened auditorium here. “If we’re going to solve this problem, it’s not going to be a Republican idea or a Democratic idea. It’s going to be an American idea.” McCain, after speaking glowingly of “the pride I feel in this president,” had a less conciliatory message for Democrats in Congress, whom he accused of being obstructionist and shortsighted. “Some of our friends who are opposing this idea say, 'Oh, you don’t have to worry until 2042.’ We wait until 2042 when we stop paying people Social Security? That’s not what this is all about,” he said. “Please urge our Democrat friends to come to the table and sit with us and do this for the greater good of the United States of America. ... This issue isn’t shouldn’t have anything to do with partisan politics.” He also aimed some of his “straight talk” at AARP, the powerful lobby for older citizens that opposes Bush’s plan to allow younger workers to divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into personal accounts that could be invested in the stock market in trade for reduced guaranteed benefits. The group is running television and radio ads during the two week Easter break while members of Congress are back in their home districts. “I want to say to our friends in AARP ... come to the table with us we not only have an obligation to seniors, we have an obligation to future generations,” McCain said. The Arizona Republican, Bush’s one-time presidential rival who has become a big booster of his Social Security plans, also played the heavy as he accompanied the president on Monday to the senator’s home state and Colorado and tried to help sell a skeptical public on the private accounts idea. McCain had been scheduled to drop off Bush’s itinerary after those events, but it all went so well that he scratched that and came to Albuquerque as well. The original reason for the Albuquerque stop was. to give a boost to New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee that will have a hand in any Social Security changes. Vice President Dick Cheney was doing his part, hosting town hall meetings Monday and Tuesday in Bakersfield, Calif., and Reno, Nev. Bush has started pairing his “conversation” events before large crowds with visits to senior centers to try to reassure retirees gathered in small groups about their benefits. He did so again on Tuesday, stopping at the Bear Canyon Senior Center where a few dozen seniors were having breakfast. By Tuesday afternoon, Bush was to be back at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, with meetings scheduled there for Wednesday with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. He was to remain in Texas for an Easter break until March 28. ■ CRIME Continued from page 1 Garrett said that, when school is in session, there tends to be an increase in incident reports but that the increase doesn’t necessarily imply that students are targets. Instead, he said, the crimes could be attributed to the denser area population, though “students do, however, present fairly unique targets based on their activities.” He offered students a few words of advice. “Don’t take drinks from strangers, and if someone offers to buy you a drink, accompany them to the bar and let the bartender be the one to hand it to you,” he said. “Also, I feel money spent on a cab is money well-spent, as opposed to walking alone in isolated areas. Don’t make yourself available to be preyed upon, or put yourself in a situation where you can be taken advantage of.” Garrett said the most important thing for students to remember is to report crimes committed around Columbia, helping police pinpoint problem areas and effectively concentrate their force. Many students fail to distinguish between campus and city police departments, though, and some don’t realize there are separate police forces at all. “The only way I can tell that we have two is that campus police have garnet-colored cars. For the most part they’re all the same to me,” said Heather Benton, a first year French and history student. Second-year journalism student Lindsey Jefferson said she feels safer around campus but that she’s always careful when she goes out. “Hearing about some of this stuff makes you want to be more aware when you’re out, whether you’re in a group or not,” she said, “but I try to be aware of my surroundings, and I never go anywhere by myself.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@givm.sc. edu ■ CAMPUS Continued from page 1 academic and living space for its students —‘a 24-hour task. “People overlook the fact that the university never really shuts down,” McKinney said. “This is a living and learning environment that can’t shut down.” Although McKinney said Facility Services is working diligently and the USC faculty is great about maintaining the campus, certain obstacles are near impossible to overcome. “Maintenance is a huge issue for us, and we try to do very diligent work,” McKinney said. “But we try to do so under very limited funding, which is a challenge for the university.” Demarest said steam ; condensation had built up in the science center, and a resulting leak traveled through the floor and damaged ceilings tiles of the floor below. Excluding the ceiling tiles, he said, he had no knowledge of any monetary damages to the building — but cited the ongoing renovation as protection against future maintenance issues. “We have had trouble with the Jones building before,” McKinney said, adding that the science center needed more attention than most buildings because of the delicate nature of experiments conducted there. Other maintenance incidents this year have included a wastewater flood in Maxcy College and burst pipes at West Quad. Comments on this stmy? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu ' I ■ ■ ■ LSAT higher - test scores ™ guaranteed - or your money back Attend all required classes or make-up sessions, complete all scheduled tests, and do your homework. If your score doesn't improve on test day from your Kaplan diagnostic or a prior official test score, you can choose to repeat our program for free or get a full refund of your tuition” It's that simple. 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