Who’s undermining faith in Social Security?

Here’s Stanley Kurtz on the Corner (yes, yet again, he’s on a roll):

When they’re not pretending that Social Security has no problem, Democrats now echo DeLong’s complaint that the president’s plan threatens long-term public support for Social Security. Dems are afraid that once we openly change Social Security into a welfare program, voters will turn against it. Some say Social Security’s been a welfare program disguised as an insurance policy all along. Either way you see it, if you don’t want progressive indexing, you can’t keep Social Security as it is without raising taxes. It’s easy (and true) to say that Democrats are afraid to openly and honestly call for a tax increase. But the deeper point is that, even if we want to, over the long term we can’t save our entitlements by raising taxes.

It’s my belief that President Bush actually wants to save Social Security while it’s the Democrats who are dedicated to its death through inaction and bald political calculation. If we do nothing, there will be automatic across-the-board cuts starting in 2041 for Americans who have paid into the system their whole lives. The only other proposal floated by the Democrats is a hike in the payroll tax and/or the payroll tax cap; either of these will have a negative effect on the economy just as we’re depending on rising tax revenues.

Now tell me once again: who wants to destroy Social Security?