You might recall that on Monday, House Minority Leader John Boehner served up the mother of all campaign meatball pitches when he went after Social Security in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Yesterday, Democrats from Boehner's home state of Ohio took their cuts:
In a press conference on Capitol Hill today, House Democrats in the Ohio delegation vigorously attacked House Minority Leader John Boehner for his recent suggestion -- among other things -- to raise the qualification to receive Social Security benefits
* * * * * *
Ohio Democrats -- many in extremely competitive districts -- slammed Boehner for these comments, calling him "out of touch" and accusing him of being an elitist.
Tim Ryan, the thirtysomething Congressman from eastern Ohio once seen as a potential 2010 Senate candidate, arguably got in the shot of the day at the Republican leader:
“People who work for a living with their hands, who don’t wear ties and suits and nice dresses and jewelry and play golf and hang out don’t have the luxury of an additional five to ten years of back breaking work -- it’s not going to happen.”
An unsurprising counterattack was swiftly offered by Team Boehner, who pointed to Social Security remarks made by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer just last week at a pandering address before the DLC-esque group Third Way.
Granted, it is never fun to see a member of the Democratic leadership going full pander in front of the Democrats Loathing Democrats Society, or whatever the heck they are calling themselves these days.
But I think most voters can appreciate the distinction between being willing to put "all options on the table" (as Hoyer did in his little bile-inducing address) and wanting to hack at social security in order to free up some spending money to perpetuate some wars.
Also, it is useful to remember that Nancy Pelosi, who still outranks Steny Hoyer, comes down much more on the side of her Ohio Democratic colleagues than she does on any Hoyer-esque pablum doled out to the crew at Third Way.
Ergo, whose vision for social security in the future bears a better chance of actually seeing the light of day--John Boehner's or Steny Hoyer's?