Think Progress makes a useful catch about Social Security, and all Democrats running for federal office should take notice.
Even Pat Toomey, who ran the Club for Growth, is too afraid to say in public that he wants to turn over Social Security to Wall Street (emphasis in original):
RCP: Your campaign website, under “spending,” complains of “wasteful pork projects, multiple bailouts, the so-called stimulus, and new government programs.” But what about entitlements?
Toomey: You know, I’ve always said that we need to reform our big entitlement programs. These programs are not sustainable in their current form and so we’re going to have to put them on a secure footing. That’s what we have to do.
RCP: OK, how do we do that? Do we raise the retirement age? Do we cut benefits?
Toomey: I’ve got a whole chapter in a book that I wrote that deals with how I think, one of the ways I think we could reform Social Security to make it viable. So I have provided great detail on that whole idea. That would be a very important start.
Toomey’s actual plan is privatizing Social Security by handing it over to Wall Street. He does not say that, however, and his silence is deafening.
Not even the former leader of the largest PAC to support right-wing candidates across the country is willing to talk about investing Social Security in the stock market. He is not even willing to do it in an interview with a conservative website (Real Clear Politics, the RCP in the interview). That would be like the former leader of MoveOn fearing to tell Daily Kos what s/he really thought about Social Security, for fear of sounding too progressive.
This is a real demonstration of fear by a conservative leader about telling the country what their actual plans for Social Security are: handing it over to Wall Street. Toomey is probably afraid of making his plans clear because Pennsylvania is one of the oldest states in the country. However, even in 2005, the plan was very unpopular nationwide, and that was before the financial meltdown.
There is blood in the water on Social Security privatizing for Republicans. It would be wise for Pat Toomey’s opponent, Admiral Joe Sestak, to sniff it out. It would be just as smart for every Democrat in the country running for federal office to do the same. Publicly oppose all cuts, and start attacking Republicans for wanting to hand over Social Security to Wall Street. Doing so could really help Democratic candidates in an otherwise difficult electoral environment, not to mention possibly save Social Security itself.