Just reported on CNN a little while ago that Alan Greenspan, testifying before a House panel, talked about the out-of-control deficit and recommended cutting back Social Security payments as preferable to tax increases in order to deal with it.
I do not see this as anything but very awkward for Bush, and at a singularly inconvenient moment to boot. In an election year, he does not want the alternatives defined as Social Security versus tax cuts. As we all know, seniors vote. No matter how much the White House tries to blather about screwing only baby boomers rather than current retirees, seniors are going to be suspicious - as they already are about Medicare "reform."
Moreover, Greenspan has blown gay marriage right off the front of the news. Instead of dominating the debate for several more days, it will be pushed to the sidelines - and the longer it is on the sidelines, the more it falls back out of people's minds. (In my view, Mayor Newsom already did us all a huge favor - the prospect of gay marriage had far more power to frighten people than the actuality does. Gays have already married, and the End Times did not come.)
On top of that, attitudes toward gay marriage are very age-dependent, acceptance being inverse to age. So the people most subject to gay marriage phobia are seniors, whose attention will now become most focused back on Social Security.
-- Rick Robinson