Is there an echo in here? – Stanley Kurtz on the Corner: “Poll fluctuations may not show this, but I think the public recognizes that this president thinks and acts on the big picture and for the long term. That’s why I think the president’s social security plan is still very much alive. He’s made good adjustments to his plan. These will make it even harder for the Democrats to refuse to offer a plan of their own. They’ll also take away some of the key arguments against the president’s plan. Over time, I think the president is going to win the social security issue. Either he will get reform, or he will be forced to bow out without paying a political price. The public understands that there’s a serious long-term problem with social security. It’s the Democrats who are going to pay a price if this problem doesn’t get solved.” It seems to me I’ve heard those sentiments somewhere before.
Extra - Ace gets it too.
3 comments:
I have some hope, but a lot less after seeing how the MSM is spinning his proposals after the speech. Every MSM article/broadcast I've seen since then has said the plan cuts benefits. This is the most massive, organized deception effort I've seen from the lefties and the MSM in years, and I really fear it's going to work.
--Toren
When you weary of blaming the media, Harry Reid, or the Washington Nats' bullpen, you might spot the GOP's main problem, buried deep inside the approval ratings for Presidents. These were recorded by Gallup in the March following each's re-election:
Truman, 1949: 57%.
Eisenhower, 1957: 65%.
Johnson, 1965: 69%.
Nixon, 1973: 57%.
Reagan, 1985: 56%.
Clinton, 1997: 59% .
Bush, 2005: 45% .
Bush first pulled from the magic options hat his original proposal which left a few fig leafs attached to "I" in FICA, and even added a leaf to it's reputation of being an 'insurance program' by associating it with voluntary, individually directed accounts while the rest would be the greenshade fine print, technical adjustments. The Dimmocrats went ballistic.
So Bush pulls again from the hat the proposal that everyone pays and only some collect which rips the remaining 'insurance' fig leafs from the program, guaranteeing that henceforth, Social Security will be seen as the ill-managed, detrimental welfare program that it has become. Poof goes the lock-box. The Dummycrats are enraged.
Bush is not going to fish around in the hat again. He's leaving the last option for the Democrats to pull out, if they dare -- the electified, raise taxes option. If they do, they will be Deadocrats.
I wonder if Bush could continue to manage this such that the saving SS chess match in this Congressional term becomes a fight against the Democrats trying to raise taxes, let finding a solution fail on that account and go for the seats needed in 2006 to guarantee passage of his original proposal after the election.
The Democratic Party of yesteryear had a reputation of having shrewd and intelligent leaders. Most of the crop now seems to think they are shrewd and intelligent just because they a (D) after their name.
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