Republicans Are Wimps!
Republicans are afraid of a debate on Social Security. An open debate that is, GOP boards up the 'town hall':

This month, Republican leaders say they are chucking the open town-hall format. They plan to visit newspaper editorial boards and talk to constituents at Rotary Club lunches, senior citizen centers, chambers of commerce meetings and local businesses. In those settings, "there isn't an opportunity for it to disintegrate into something that's less desirable," says Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

Republican leaders are urging their party's lawmakers to take the spotlight off themselves by convening panels of experts from the Social Security Administration, conservative think tanks, local colleges and like-minded interest groups to answer questions about the federal retirement program.

The shift in venues and formats, Santorum says, is aimed at producing "more of an erudite discussion" about Social Security's problems and possible solutions.

Let me see how I can put this. Republicans like say Democrats are elitist. Don't know how to talk to the regular guy like they do. Well the Republican Senators and Representatives went back to their districts a few weeks back and had "town hall" meetings with their constituents, aka regular people, and got their asses handed to them. So now they say that the need to have an educated discussion about Social Security. What a bunch of rich chikenshit elitists! Their plan is bad and the people know it do they instead want to send out their well paid liars from their Mellon-Scaife financed think tanks to tell us what a bunch of dumbasses we are for not accepting their shitty plan. Excuse the expletives please. These Republicans make me sick, especially Santorum. No wonder Osama is still on the run.

Check this our from your President's, ahem, press conference yesterday:

Q Mr. President, you say you're making progress in the Social Security debate. Yet private accounts, as the centerpiece of that plan, something you first campaigned on five years ago and laid before the American people, remains, according to every measure we have, poll after poll, unpopular with a majority of Americans. So the question is, do you feel that this is a point in the debate where it's incumbent upon you, and nobody else, to lay out a plan to the American people for how you actually keep Social Security solvent for the long-term?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, Dave, let me, if I might correct you, be so bold as to correct you, I have not laid out a plan yet, intentionally. I have laid out principles, I've talked about putting all options on the table, because I fully understand the administration must work with the Congress to permanently solve Social Security. So one aspect of the debate is, will we be willing to work together to permanently solve the issue.

Personal accounts do not solve the issue. But personal accounts will make sure that individual workers get a better deal with whatever emerges as a Social Security solution.

And the reason why is because a personal account would enable a worker to, voluntarily, by the way -- this is a voluntary program, you can choose to join or choose not to join. The government is not making you do that, it's your option, and you can decide whether or not you want to put some of your own money aside in a conservative mix of stocks and bonds to earn a better rate of return than that which you would earn -- your money would earn inside the Social Security system. And over time, that compounds, it grows, and you would end up with a nest egg you could call your own.

And so I think it's an interesting idea, and one that people ought to discuss to make sure the system works better for an individual worker. But it's very important for people to understand that the permanent solution will require Congress and the administration working together on a variety of different possibilities.

We learn several things from this one answer. First, the President has not plan. Second, Private accounts do nothing to fix the solvency problem with Social Security. Third, your President is more concerned with the individual worker than the state of the workforce as a whole. In other words your President by saying this is trying to shred the hallmark, if you will, of Social Security. Every worker chipping in to make sure that no worker has to retire in poverty. Nothing makes A Republican more mad than that.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 2:44 PM