WP: Bush Rejects Delay, Prepares Escalated Social Security Push

[kskiska]

President Bush plans to intensify his campaign to win public and congressional support for restructuring Social Security, warning that it would be a bad idea to delay action as the Senate Republican leader has suggested and politically unwise for lawmakers to oppose private accounts, White House officials said yesterday.

Despite polls showing support for the plan slipping, Bush is confident he is winning the first phase of the public debate over Social Security and has no plans to significantly alter his strategy for enacting the most dramatic changes ever to the venerable system, said senior White House officials who have talked to Bush. Several congressional Republicans, however, said they do not share Bush's optimism and questioned his strategy for enacting changes this year.

One day after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the Senate might not meet Bush's year-end deadline, the White House announced plans to step up its effort to pressure lawmakers into action by dispatching Bush, Vice President Cheney and other administration officials to 60 events in 60 days. Cheney, in particular, will assume a larger role in the effort, including attending town hall meetings with GOP lawmakers.

The "scope and scale goes way beyond anything we have done," said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who heads to Arkansas today. The president is also privately discussing compromises to win Democratic backing and is likely to signal his support for new protections for low-income workers under Social Security, GOP sources said.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2424-2005Mar2.html

[dweller]

1. oh great....more terrarists threats....

"Cheney, in particular, will assume a larger role in the effort, including attending town hall meetings with GOP lawmakers."

the nation faces the threat of another terrorist attack if voters make the “wrong choice”


we heard it before, why not again?
dp

[bpilgrim]

25. "Greenspan yesterday also urged immediate action." - cordinated attack

class warfare out in the open... can't wait to hear Dr. Dean chime in on this :evilgrin:

peace

[RobertSeattle]

2. Hey Hey What's the Sound? Political Capital going down!

The more "intense" Bush gets the more the opposition will grow.

[shanti]

32. right - he's not used to

being told NO, and we're telling him NO in spades!

[applegrove]

3. Interpretation:

"Despite polls showing support for the plan slipping, Bush is confident he is winning the first phase of the public debate over Social Security and has no plans to significantly alter his strategy for enacting the most dramatic changes ever to the venerable system, said senior White House officials who have talked to Bush"


:kick: The first part of the plan was to cause irresolvable anxiety and give out no information. It worked great. Apathy is about ready to kick in. That must be what the White House 'official' means.

[deadparrot]

4. I knew the fuckwit was oblivious.

He's delusional and arrogant. I'm convinced that his people are lying to him in one way or another...he has no earthly idea what these numbers mean.

[FreedomAngel82]

31. So true

With how he works. :eyes: He also obviously doesn't look at poll numbers. I wonder if he knows about his audience screening?? Or do they keep him out of that little loop and he thinks people are buying his act? Sometimes I really wonder.

[BBG]

36. Fucking lameduck

He's a fucking lameduck, let's watch him bring it on.

[oasis]

74. "Ah have some personal capital and ah need ta spend it"__Bush

:dunce: x 59 million.

[demgrrrll]

5. This is a big deal and will be a big defeat for him because the

corporations that assisted in him shoehorning himself into the WH want their payback. Sounds like they are sweating this one big time. Good. Rubs hands with glee. Never say never with this group. Now is not the time to be complacent. We need our own war room to make phone calls and keep up the pressure. I will call whoever needs to be called and do whatever needs to be done. I want the satisfaction of knowing they lost something they desperately wanted.

[proud patriot]

6. LOL what an Arrogant Bastard ...go for it

Idiot

[tridim]

7. He just wants to steal our SS money faster

Wall street must be riding his ass.. They want their cash.

[napi21]

8. Good, spend more of my money flying around the country.

You idiot. Your plan sucks big time, and the people aren't a stupid as you think! Keep pushing, and the opponents will dig in their heels against you!

We're commin to get you ha hee hee to the funny farm!

[kodi]

9. and so napoleon invades russia

too bad the SOB already has frostbite of the soul

[Erika]

10. Even tho I work in a 70% red state

I'll reiterate again to the D.C. Reps that I am not buying Bushco's SS fiasco.

[TacticalPeek]

13. It's the red state congresscritters that need to hear the squeaky wheels.

As in wheels about to come off their political career.

:evilgrin:

[Mountainman]

11. Dems should stay out this plan to change social security.

Dems need only to support the AARP and other groups who oppose Bush.

You can't make a deal with the devil! If Dems go along with Bush even is a small way they are just as much saying that Bush is right.

Let the repukes fight themselves over this. Take away their chance to define us on this issue. They want to make this a partisan fight and it is not that at all. All working class Americans are going to get hurt if Bush has his way.

They plan to run the same campaign as they did for the election. It won't work if we refuse to play in their game.

[shanti]

33. daschle wouldn't agree

remember...?

[gademocrat7]

78. I agree

a united front on Dems part.

[finecraft]

12. Since he doesn't read the newspaper

and his staff doesn't give him any negative news, I guess in his own little mind things are going just swell.....just like things in Iraq are just peachy, and Afghanistan is now a democracy, since we destroyed the Taliban!

[Rose Siding]

14. But wait! If you act now, I'll throw in the Ginsu knives!

:D

[MissB]

27. LOL! Great 'toon! (nt)

[dback]

15. Obviously, he learned nothing from the WMD disaster

Only his hard-core far-right supporters still believe that there were weapons found in Iraq. He's blown his credibility, and the more he pushes it as "urgent" and something we have to act on "right now," the more people (especially Dems and liberals) are going to start pushing back. ("Oh, like Saddam's WMD's we had to act on 'right now'?")

[DianeG5385]

16. Take this sucker down NOW!!!!!

He's pulling his typical bully tactics in pushing a plan HE doesn't know the details of. We are not about to let Wall Street PROFIT on our guaranteed benefits. They allready have our pensions and 401(k)s, that's all they get. Bush's bully tactics are just part of their ideological push to destroy social security. Let all your friends and family know THIS IS WAR and we are keeping our benefits. Anyone who supports the prez* should be voted out of office in '06!

[DianeG5385]

79. When Bush doesn't get his way easy...He destroys those in his way

Look out, AARP, you are about to become the devil...too much profit for "WallStreet" in those illusory "privatised" accounts which don't exist as SS is a pay as you go system. We are so being played... I will never ever ever believe a word a puke says.

[Carolab]

80. Good time to join AARP. Think I will.

I was against them when they helped push that crap Medicare bill through. Now they are on the RIGHT side of this issue. Good luck destroying AARP--as Jon Stewart pointed out there are 35 MILLION members, and I'm sure the list is growing now.

[LdyGuique]

17. Don't Bush and Cheney have some job to do?

Flying around the country, preaching to the choir (cus they only allow those who are on the official "good" list attend) for sixty days while we ARE at war seems to be just more of the same -- avoiding work.

Meanwhile, the Middle East is in an uproar, we're sabre-rattling with Syria, Iran, and No. Korea and Venezuela . . .and the list goes on. Well, why not? He doesn't understand that foreign diplomacy consists of more than lectures and threats; so, why would he view domestic diplomacy differently? Except the entire House is up for re-election in under two years and a whole lot of those people know that they'll take a fall if they support these Soc Sec changes -- and one third of the Senate is facing the wrath of AARP.

If he continues to back these Congressional members into a corner, they're gonna get their backs up over a whole lot more before their done -- just to repudiate and distance themselves from Bush policies.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

18. He's going to try dissolving the Congress before his term's over.

Just you watch.

[hedda_foil]

19. He's threatening his very own congresscritters!

I wonder what's behind this little gem that it would be:

"politically unwise for lawmakers to oppose private accounts,"

[shanti]

35. fiddling with the voting machines?

just a thought :eyes:

[Kimber Scott]

20. Let them vote on it. Tomorrow. nt

[Erika]

21. I just sent another letter to my GOP D.C. reps

I emphasized that the words "social security" means just that. It is a Christian way of taking care of our own.

I also mentioned that Wall Street could not offer us a return guarantee for the taxes we paid to them, but their profit for handling the funds was guaranteed. Robin Hood redistribution. Paid for by the U.S. taxpayers.

[Southsideirish]

22. Brilliant idea! Jr. is headed for a huge public humiliation!!

[not fooled]

23. Just goes to show what an arrogant, pigheaded little bastard * is...

...clearly America doesn't want his wretched scam. Nevertheless, the ass plans to push push push because he has a deep-rooted, pathological hatred of FDR and the New Deal.

I remember hearing a couple of interviews with one of *'s Harvard Business School profs, who said that * expressed hatred of FDR and the New Deal, and thought Social Security = socialism. No doubt the little puke formed these opinions and learned such "facts" from his narrow-minded, greedy, selfish elitist family.

The only question now is: can Americans stand up to all of the conniving and deceipt that * will no doubt bring to bear to try to ram through the destruction of SS.

Of all the things that need attention in this country, * obsesses on SS. What a fuck.:eyes:

[Erika]

24. Bush obsessed on SS to repay Wall Street for $

He's already a Siamese twin to the medical, pharmaceutical, insurance industries. He's one body with defense contractors.

Medicare is crumbling also. At a much faster rate than SS, but Bush hasn't figured out exactly how to squirm out of that while profiting big business at the same time. I'm sure his plan is coming.

[The Zanti Regent]

26. Call Liberman at [phone]

Tell Joe Liberman--DO NOT SELL US OUT!

[Erika]

38. Joe's email is full

I tried calling the number.

[lovuian]

28. Bush just doesn't like being told No this is a 60 day tantrum

go before the public put on a publicity blitz but thats not going to change things

You put the US into war and huge deficits and now you want to steal the SS money and look around Oil prices are going up & up!!!

[FreedomAngel82]

29. I think Bush

is in la-la-land. Doesn't he know PEOPLE DON'T WANT HIS PLAN?! Can someone please wake him up from his daydreams?

[Lindacooks]

30. BRING IT ON!!!

You arrogant half-wits.

[quinnox]

34. LOL, go ahead, make the Dems day!

Bush, looking as if the skipper aboard the Titanic, "No, don't see any trouble ahead"

[Disturbed]

37. Medicare is more of a disaster and in need of reform.

It is a big give away to the HMOs and Pharms. Rethugs need to know that most Americans may not be politicly astute but they are not all downright stupid. 2006 is our last chance to stop the Fascist Machine.

[Rose Siding]

39. kick

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

40. WP: Bush Rejects Delay, Prepares Escalated Social Security Push

(Frist changes position as Bush rams it back up him again)

WP - President Bush plans to intensify his campaign to win public and congressional support for restructuring Social Security (news - web sites), warning that it would be a bad idea to delay action as the Senate Republican leader has suggested and politically unwise for lawmakers to oppose private accounts, White House officials said yesterday.
 
-snip-

One day after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the Senate might not meet Bush's year-end deadline, the White House announced plans to step up its effort to pressure lawmakers into action by dispatching Bush, Vice President Cheney and other administration officials to 60 events in 60 days. Cheney, in particular, will assume a larger role in the effort, including attending town hall meetings with GOP lawmakers.

-snip-

After the (closed-door meeting of Republican members yesterday morning), DeLay lashed out at AARP, the seniors group that has led opposition to the Bush plan. "It's incredibly irresponsible of the AARP to be against a solution that hasn't even been written yet and running ads trying to convince people that personal retirement accounts is like going to Las Vegas and playing the lottery," he told reporters. "The Democrats have decided that their whole approach is going to be blame Bush. Well, we've seen how that has worked over the last four years."

-snip-

Still, Snow and other administration officials who have met with Graham and the six or so Senate Democrats who have not ruled out private accounts said they are confident a deal can be worked out, despite the public posturing.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&e=1&u=/washpost/20050303/ts_washpost/a2424_2005mar2

[rodeodance]

41. oh oh, Cheney is being put out on the trail now!!

......the White House announced plans to step up its effort to pressure lawmakers into action by dispatching Bush, Vice President Cheney

[Ouabache]

43. Yes, working people will support an old grizzley CEO if he trumpets

the 'PLAN'.

[Ouabache]

42. of course, he is the Dictator, right?

and Delay attacking AARP because they have the audacity to attack an unwritten plan??? What about the 'audacity' to expect ANYONE to SUPPORT an unwritten plan ???

[Voltaire]

44. So its war to the knife eh?

Every goddamned one of us better be prepared to go to the mattresses on this one. Money, phone calls, protests, move our asses. They cannot be allowed to win on this thing and we cannot allow the Dems to go wobbly on us.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

48. My take exactly

Not one Dem can be allowed to fold.

Bush's faux-folksy approach has failed so they are bringing out Cheney to scare the public. It's time for us to scare back:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/02/28/poor_chileans_labor_past_retirement/

Poor Chileans labor past retirement
Private pensions offer no safety net
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff  |  February 28, 2005

-snip-

At a time when President Bush has made overhauling Social Security a central objective of his second administration, he and other proponents of privatization have held out Chile, the first in the world to privatize pensions in 1981, as a role model.

By transforming its system, this country of 16 million people fended off a looming pension debt owed its aging population and fueled domestic capital markets, contributing to high growth rates and a halving of poverty in what has become one of the most affluent nations in Latin America. For steadily employed Chileans who consistently channel 10 percent of their salaries into private retirement accounts, as required by law -- and preferably top it up with more, tax-free contributions -- pensions could reach 70 percent of salaries, providing a comfortable standard of living in retirement, according to estimates by the pension fund managers' association.

But what supporters of Chile's model have not advertised is that for poor, seasonal, and itinerant workers, and even for a great part of the middle-class and self-employed, the private system has proved inadequate, largely because those workers are unable to contribute enough to their private accounts. More than 17 percent of Chileans 65 and older keep working because their pensions are inadequate, according to a government-commissioned study.

Based on Chile's experience -- and that of more than 20 countries mostly in Latin America and Eastern Europe that followed its lead by privatizing part or all of their pension systems -- one conclusion from a new World Bank report is that the government will have to play a bigger role in any reformed pension system than proponents of privatization suggest. Private accounts can be one pillar of a Social Security system, but the state will have to provide a safety net.

[Massachusetts]

49. Yes, you are RIGHT...

But, I still fear that A LARGE percentage of the American public still want to let someone else "fight the fight" IMO

[lancdem]

63. I agree 100 percent

[ElsewheresDaughter]

45. bush* is on a 60 city trip to push his "SS Termination Plan"

[Ganja Ninja]

46. So with everybody out stumping ...

who's doing the president gig? Is there an auto pilot switch in the oval office?

[SammyWinstonJack]

62. Same as it's mostly been.

:shrug: And if this "plan" is such a good thing for us 'Muricans, why does the Head Snake oil salesman have to enlist the rest of his Con-men to shove this down our throats? Similar to what they pulled in selling their tax giveaways to the unsuspecting, never going to profit from it, average taxpayer. Same sh*t, different scam.

[Atman]

47. Bush's "Plan"

KKKarl will have the MSM start posting only Gallup Organization polling of 60% repubs, 30% indi, 10% dem which "proves" the public is beginning to support his plan, then he'll ram it down our throats no matter what.

Seriously, expect this to pass. Bush has something up his sleeve. He'll be threatening people, the BFEE will be digging up dirt on Congressmen, the LIES will just get thicker. Bush promised a payback to the Wall Street Investment Banking lobbyists, and dammit, he's gonna deliver it to them.

[hector459]

50. What they see coming has more to do with stock market crash than a

Social Security crash. They pulled out the guns with Greenspan who also favors private accounts. (Have you ever seen a rich person who didn't favor private accounts? Just like bank savings accounts, only the rich make out because they have enough capital to make savings worth while. They can live off the interest alone. Most working folks have only enough savings where the interest pays the banking fees) BUT BE CAREFUL ABOUT GREENSPAN'S WORDS. Even he admits that private accounts will do NOTHING to address what the Repukes say is a looming problem.

If the American people don't stand up for themselves and the little working person on this one, just sign over the entire fucking country to the corporations and be done with "democracy." We haven't had a democracy for some time...if we ever really had one. We are a corporatocracy, no doubt about it and the rest of the world should not follow in our footsteps.

[bywho4who]

61. You Better Know It

well said. 1910-to-1913 that's when Demockracy went out with the backwater. Thank the Bankers who create your play money!

[Goldeneye]

51. Despite polls showing support for the plan slipping, Bush is confident ..

how many times have we heard that stupid line lately?

Is anyone surprised? He knows it has to be done before they lose their majorities in the house or senate. And besides isn't he pretty much a lame duck after the midterm elections?

[Bob3]

52. Keep on talking * yep good idea

The more he talks about this the worse it gets for him. The more tries to scare folks the less willing they will be to make a radical change. It's human nature - not that he knows anything about being human.

Does anybody else get the sense that dealing with * must be like dealing with Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force? He's self absorbed, totally hostile to reality and abusive to anyone who tries to point out a mistake he's made. And he denies everything. And if anything good happens he insists it was his idea all the time.

Just wondering.

[not fooled]

81. Yeah, and unfortunately the Dems have been acting like Meatwad...

...target and frequent victim of Shake's hostility. But, at least Shake can be amusing, not just disgusting.

[depakid]

53. Well, why shouldn't Bush believe that?

The dems have rolled over on everything else.

For once in his life, it seems to me that Bush is being rational- he's looking at what he's observed, applying a general rule and saying, it's happened in every other battle I've fought with the dems, why not now? Some several Senators will cave....

[Kolesar]

56. that's a broad, absolute statement

The dems did manage to stop some horrible judicial nominees, drilling in ANWR, MTBE in gasoline, etc.

[depakid]

73. It is a broad statement- yet it's also broadly true

Those nominees are on the bench as recess appointees, ANWAR will likely go through (it's going to go through sooner or later) and as far as I can tell, MTBE is still in use, and still leaching into groundwater from storage tanks in California.

http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/gas.htm

[Catchawave]

54. Doesn't he have more important things to do these days.....

... like a war and stuff?

Also, figure out how to get more 'Amerikans' working,educated and healthy, that might help with this so-called "shortfall".

Why is this such a priority for this Admin? And why isn't it being questioned by the MSM and Dems?

[BRLIB]

55. Busler would do more to help SS by donating the moneys

that will need to be spent on security in this 60 city propaganda maneuver to keep the world's most hated dictator from getting shot into the SS trust fund.

[TheFarseer]

57. ha ha

"warning that it would be a bad idea to delay action"

What would be a good idea? Blundering into a decision before we even have a plan laid out?! Yes making hasty decisions on important issues that will be in place for years and years is always the proper course of action /sarcasm

[lancdem]

67. He knows second-term presidents have a short window

to get anything major done. Of course, if Bush didn't have mediocre approval ratings, he wouldn't have such an uphill battle on this. Not that I'm complaning - the more political capital he uses on this, the less he has for other equally horrible initiatives.

[ljm2002]

58. "incredibly irresponsible"???

"It's incredibly irresponsible of the AARP to be against a solution that hasn't even been written yet..." says Tommy D.

I'd say it's incredibly irresponsible to be pushing a plan that hasn't even been written yet...

So Tommy D, tell us again: just what *is* the president selling? I mean, since it hasn't been written yet...

[PurityOfEssence]

59. Push hard, Junior; push really, really hard

Show us all again what a pissy, vindictive, petty sore loser you are. Answer how you call this "saving" Social Security when any suggestions of a plan you have will hurt the system much more by starving it of resources. Show how hungry you are to make a point and get your way. Show us how you want to strip people of any love for their government by taking away something it provides that people like.

Push really hard and explain how you want to suck money from people into the maelstrom of the stock market and feather your and your friends' nests. Explain where the two-plus trillion dollars to pay for this idiocy will come from and how it will institute something that will further starve the treasury and ruin countless people.

More than anything, answer this: SOME people will invest badly or get unlucky; what happens to these people in your little utopia?

[bywho4who]

60. Damn this rights crap

Need to steal S/S $ now got to go after Iran so Sharon wont get mad :scared:

[Rose Siding]

64. more discussion here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1279543&mesg_id=1279543

[gratuitous]

65. {Rubs hands in glee}

Excellent, bring it on Stupidhead!

This is a loser of a campaign if there ever was one, and the more resources Stupidhead devotes to it, the less time and attention he'll be able to lavish on other disastrous policies. If this idea could talk, it would bark.

Let's make sure he sticks to that 60 day Bamboozlepalooza schedule, and doesn't weasel out of it, like he did those weekly national addresses he was going to give on Iraq. Remember those? He did one, it bombed, and suddenly there were no more national addresses on the schedule. Naturally, the media gave Stupidhead yet another pass on that one.

[grumpy old fart]

66. The swift boats are coming, the swift boats are coming....

Bush saw that the first round of lies didn't work...time to ratchet up the propaganda machine....the swift boats are coming, the swift boats are coming....



I just love this clip:

[yellowcanine]

68. "Bush rejects Delay." Heh. Would that it were true. Tom Delay, that is.

[dArKeR]

69. How does a man alcohol/drug dead brain cells make such a decision

not to delay? Maybe the media portraying aWol as a thinking man is what has gotten us to the verge of a NAZI MURDEROUS STATE?

[jamesinca]

70. So who are the six or so Dems

I want to know who they are, I have nothing better to do then call and write them until a restraining order is placed on me.

"Still, Snow and other administration officials who have met with Graham and the six or so Senate Democrats who have not ruled out private accounts said they are confident a deal can be worked out, despite the public posturing."

Private accounts, and changing the indexing are bad ideas and I want those 6 to know that. They will not hear it from the Republicans, they will not hear it from the Wall Street lobbyist, they will not hear it from the banking industry. But they will hear it from me because I have nothing better to do then defend my country.

[HockeyMom]

72. Lieberman

is one. Don't know who others are.

[ernstbass]

71. I can understand how he feels confident

After all, he sold the public a pack of lies about Iraq and got away with it. His deceit has always worked. I just hope the public can see through it this time.

[The_Casual_Observer]

75. They would sell their souls If they could resurrect Goebbels

to push that motherfucker down our throats. What exactly has got chimp's ass on fire about this shit anyway? Why isn't anybody asking this question?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

76. The man is going to try and ram this down our throats or

up our collective asses, take your pick. My free advice is to email your senators and congress representatives unrging them to fight this idea.
I have, and received an answer back from one senator convincing me she ain't no way, no how going to vote for any change to SS.
He will continue to beat the drum and try to manipulate circumstancs to accomplish his goal. We have to be vocal and visible on this issue.

[nookiemonster]

77. I always prayed for the "overreach".

This should be good. LOL }(

[Generator]

82. The boy King will not be thwarted

No..he stamps his feet and has his way. I'm telling you those rotten parents he had NEVER made him clean up his toys or take a time out.