Robert Gibbs confirmed what his deputy communications director indicated last week. Simpson's going nowhere.
"Senator Simpson sent an email that he's now apologized for," Gibbs said at the daily White House press briefing today. "We regret that he sent that email. We don't condone those comments. But Senator Simpson has and will continue to serve on the commission."
That's unlikely to deter the many individuals and organizations who've called for Simpson to either resign or be fired from their efforts to fight what will undoubtedly be recommendations from the commission that are heavily weighted against tax increases and towards benefit cuts. Simpson's infamous "310 million tits" e-mail shone a bright light not just on his long history of antipathy toward both senior citizens and Social Security, but the whole lack of credibility and balance of the commission.
So Simpson is safe in his entitlement slashing post, and the efforts to discredit the commission (work made much easier by Simpson) and convince Congress not to use a lame duck session to pass the recommendations will continue.