Saving and Retirement Program
To advance the Social Security debate to achieve the greatest electoral advantage in the 2006 cycle, Democrats need a plan. A Savings and Retirement plan.
This isn't legislation, this is a plan, or it could be a plan. This doesn't need votes, it needs support and it's success or failure will depend entirely on the extent this is embraced in the blogosphere.
The Saving part of the plan requires us to focus our efforts while the Retirement part of the plan requires us to distribute our efforts.
Saving
Thomas Saving is a Social Security Trustee. Thomas Saving is also a hack, is known as a hack, and has even been called "hackiest of hacks". He's such a hack that other economists refer to his economic work as "comparing apples and elephants".
And he is the Spokesperson for the Privateers (even though he is a Social Security Trustee).
Now it is one thing to be a hack for a group like Cato, under such circumstances everyone knows that you're an idea whore. But it is quite another thing when a "Trustee" for Social Security is the spokesperson for destroying Social Security. This group just spend $2 million on ads that claim, "President Bush wants to rescue Social Security now ... before we hit the iceberg."
So the first part of this Saving and Retirement plan is for us to join together and expose Thomas Saving.
Via Josh Marshall, here's a great line from the Social Security Trustees:
As Public Trustees we strive to work in a nonpartisan way to ensure the integrity of the process by which these reports are prepared and the credibility of the information they contain.
The problem is Saving has clearly crossed the line and is working as a partisan hack running ads attempting to prop up support for Bush. He has violated the "integrity of the process" and has lost credibility.
Thomas Saving needs to resign as Social Security Trustee.
Retirement
Some have been asking Democrats to submit a plan on Social Security (even though Bush is forcing the issue and doesn't have a plan). Some have been asking Democrats to compromise with Bush on Social Security (even though Bush was been working for 30 years to end Social Security but is too coward to put forth a legislation).
These people are crazy. Not just crazy, but dead wrong. So dead wrong that anyone who is saying this in a professional capacity is committing gross political malpractice. The question that needs to be asked is where the fuck is Bush's plan? Democrats don't need a plan, we need unity to bash the Republicans on privatization from now through election day.
So my retirement plan is a retirement plan for people who support privatization (Joe, you listening?)
That is the retirement plan Democrats need to focus on. We need lots of retirement plans, the third rail has enough juice to spread around to all the districts.
Part of that retirement plan is holding them accountable. It looks like privatization won't even get a vote in the House. Which means we need to research public quotes of Republicans and use those quotes to hold them accountable. And we need to start using the quotes, campaign style, now -- locally.
Which means we need an open-source research. When need people to begin compiling all of the reasons why their local Republicans need to be held accountable. This effort will require research, writing, and a great deal of repetition.
Phase II: Saving and Retirement
We won the first part of the debate. Thanks for all of your help. Now we need to escalate.
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