Republicans are begging Bush to lay out an agenda for a
troop withdrawal from Social Security.
Now, it seems obvious that Bush's real exit strategy on Social Security is to make it a program for poor people only while incurring unaffordable trillions in debt on the national credit card in order to fund private accounts. Eventually Bush would declare victory and withdraw from Social Security entirely, leaving it as a smoking hole in the ground. Recent polls make clear that Americans understand this all too well.
There's more below the fold.
Exit strategy on Social Security sought
GOP leaders cite impasse over private accounts
Senate GOP leaders, in discussions with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and political officials, have made it clear they are stuck in a deep rut and suggested it is time for an exit strategy, according to a senior Senate Republican official and Finance Committee aides.
Amazing but true fact: Republicans can be made to respond to public opinion. The American public has not been blinded by Bush's smoke-and-mirrors roadshow on Social Security. Bush's approval ratings keep dropping, and there's an election coming up in 2006. One wonders what it will take for the Republicans to recognize the rut they have put this country in where Iraq is concerned. But I digress:
Democrats are united in their opposition, and the Finance Committee does not have the Republican votes to approve a Social Security plan that would divert some payroll taxes to private investment accounts. But the committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, also does not have the votes to pass a plan that would preserve Social Security's solvency without the personal accounts because too many GOP conservatives want them.
Is Biden (D-MBNA) on that committee? Just asking, as I choke back bitter tears at the sight of Republicans eyeing each other's backs and sharpening their knives. It looks like everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Oh, wait, I'm digressing about Iraq again...
Bush, having dug the trap and then jumped in, proceeds to claim he was pushed:
President Bush has responded by dispensing his cautious calls for bipartisanship in favor of far tougher rhetoric that blames the Democrats for the stalemate. "On issue after issue, they stand for nothing except obstruction," Bush said at a GOP fundraiser Tuesday night. "And this is not leadership. It is the philosophy of the stop sign, the agenda of the roadblock."
You have to scroll to the end of the WaPo article to see it, but for once the Democratic response is appropriate and gets a mention in the SCLM. Of course BiPM would have said it better, but Congressional Rep. Emanuel did a pretty good job:
Democrats are unapologetic. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said voters increasingly see Bush as the impediment to a compromise because the president has stubbornly stuck by a partial privatization proposal that has never gained broad public support. Besides, Emanuel added, after five years of pushing legislation through Congress with virtually no consultation with Democrats, White House officials can hardly complain that the Democrats are not there now.
"They never wanted our votes on a prescription-drug bill. They didn't want our votes on taxes, and now they want it on Social Security?" he said. "Go ahead. Have your party-line vote. We'll see how it turns out."
You know, I've been waiting for Dems to talk tough in public. It's finally happening. Even better, the SCLM is actually reporting it. Maybe those poll numbers are finally having an impact. Maybe the SCLM is finally going to stop referring to Bush as the "popular" incumbent.
And maybe the Rapture will be any day now - I hear we get all their stuff.