We are winning. In the face of a recent
WaPo / ABC News poll showing that 56 percent of Americans oppose Bush's Social Security plan, the GOP is trying to
change the frame, and who's part of it but none other than our good buddy Frank Luntz:
Luntz recently gave a private briefing on Social Security to a Republican House retreat in West Virginia...
Over and over again in the memo, Republicans are urged to chant a variation of the same mantra: "It's YOUR money. You earned it. You sacrificed for it. The government TOOK it from you," and, "This is not the government's money, it's YOUR money," and over and over again, "after all, it's YOUR money."
Clearly, Luntz is either committed to repetition as the first law of learning or he believes his GOP audience suffers from near-terminal attention deficit disorder. The problem is that the voters are not buying the mantra-message on Social Security.
Emphasis mine
It's wonderful to watch so much GOP "political capital" spent on this issue. As long as Democrats stay united on this one, we will beat them.
But Luntz is not the only one in on the change-the-frame game, as Stephen Moore, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Armey think the problem is Americans' fear of losing their guaranteed benefit (which it should be):
But Republicans are not ready to throw in the towel. They say the key to victory is to emphasize repeatedly that reform legislation would provide current and future Social Security beneficiaries with a guarantee that
they will not collect a penny less than the present system allows...
Administration officials have reportedly expressed reservations about a guaranteed benefit, saying it would reward bad investment choices.
So let me get this right, the only way the Republicans can sell a change to the system is to create a "guaranteed benefit" that would kick in if you lost money in your personal account, in order to insure you get the same amount of money out of Social Security as you would out of the current system? Then why create a personal account system at all? Completely pointless.
Republicans realize this is no-win issue for them. Which is why:
While Bush is demanding that private accounts be set up, Democrats have signaled they will balk at accounts that are funded through payroll taxes. Because of that, Republicans are crafting their political strategy with an eye toward an exit strategy and the 2006 elections.
No doubt, GOPers up for reelection in 2006 don't want this thing hanging around their necks. The longer we delay this issue, the more Republicans will be likely to drop it all together. It will be their version of "Hilarycare".