For mental and spiritual health reasons, I've done my best to avoid anything even remotely associated with Tim Russert this year, but the combination of Ed Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe on MTP was too good to pass up. One of the more entertaining exchanges pertaining to SS privatization is below. But before you get there... take the poll!
From the Meet the Press transcript, 10/24/04:
In response to Russert's question about Suskind's NYT Magazine article claiming Bush has the privatization of Social Security high on his "to do" list for a second term...
MR. GILLESPIE: Yeah. Well, look, Ron Suskind is someone who's been described accurately in print as a Bush antagonist. The fact is that this is a report of a report that he heard somebody who says they heard the president. I was at these events, obviously, it's an RNC event. The president never talked about privatizing Social Security. His policy...
MR. RUSSERT: The White House could release a transcript, but they haven't done so.
MR. GILLESPIE: His policy is clear, Tim. He is in favor of allowing younger voters [sic] to divert a portion of their payroll tax to a government-approved private account to harness the growth, because if we don't Social Security's going to go bankrupt. When my children go into the system, it's not going to be there for them. We need to save the system. The president's got an innovative plan. The American people know what it is, and these kind of scare tactics won't work at the end of the day.
MR. RUSSERT: Should the White House release the transcripts so we can know what the president said?
MR. GILLESPIE: I don't speak for the White House. I was there, and the fact is--I think I was at this event. We know Ron Suskind is someone--this is like Kitty Kelley journalism. It's reporting on...
Of course, Russert didn't follow up like a REAL journalist, but at least he asked a real question to begin with for a change. In the end, I was struck by two things here:
- Gillespie's obvious dodging of the issue about releasing a transcript to disprove the allegation is right in line with how the Bush administration has handled every single request for information from day one. Also, true to form, the FIRST thing out of Gillespie's mouth is an attempt to paint the messenger (Suskind, in this case) as a crazed Bush-hater in an effort to frame the question as biased partisan hackery rather than as a legitimate concern.
- Gillespie describes Bush's plan as one that would offer the "option" of diverting a "portion" of one's payroll tax into a "government-approved private account." Maybe I'm a little slow, but that sure sounds like a privatization plan to me. What am I missing here?
So what did we learn? The White House doesn't need to release transcripts in this situation, because Our Man Gillespie says it never happened, even though thirty seconds after saying he was there, he says he only "thinks" he was there. And by the way, yes, we are planning to privatize social security, but not really, because you have an option, but please don't ask what happens to you if you don't take the option, or if you're old. And if you could do us a favor, please don't call it privatization until 11/3, because that might turn off the swing voters. Thanks so much!
By the way, did anyone else notice Gillespie's use of the term "younger voters" instead of "younger workers?" Oops.
So... if their argument is that it isn't really "privatization" because it's government regulated, doesn't that then discredit the Republican criticism of Kerry's "government regulated" health plan as a bad idea... The same plan that has an option for anyone to NOT participate if they so choose? Hmmmm... sounds so familiar. How do they keep getting away with this shite?
I should point out that McAuliffe actually did a pretty good job of following up Gillespie's comments with a fairly clear view of Kerry's position on the matter, but Russert, true to form, then did an end-run on the subject, stating that neither candidate had a real plan for social security, and abruptly moving on to a discussion about Kerry hunting turkeys.
Alas.