MY DU POST MADE IT INTO THE WASHINGTON POST!

[leveymg]

Yesterday, I sent an op-ed piece to the Washington Post and a couple of other papers. A copy went to some of their opinion writers, including Dan Froomkin who writes the Washington Post "White House Briefing" column. My opinion piece dealt with Bush's statement Tuesday that the U.S. Treasury bonds contained in the Social Security trust fund are "worthless."

I posted that op-ed, "IS THIS THE STUPIDEST THING THAT SHRUB EVER SAID?", at 10:22 am this morning on the DU Board.

Well, lo and behold, Froomkin's on-line column today dealt at length with the subject. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/administration/whbriefing/

In addition, Froomkin actually answered my question during his on-line chat this afternoon:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1492-2005Mar25.html

Transcript
White House Talk

Dan Froomkin
White House Briefing Columnist
Wednesday, April 6, 2005; 1:00 PM

What's going on inside the White House? Ask Dan Froomkin, who writes the White House Briefing column for washingtonpost.com. He'll answer your questions, take your comments and links, and point you to coverage around the Web.

Dan is also deputy editor of Niemanwatchdog.org. You can e-mail him at [e-mail].


<SNIP>

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

_____________

Dan Froomkin: Hi everyone, and welcome. Lots to talk about today, including President Bush's comments on the Social Security trust fund (trust fund? anyone seen a trust fund?), the Valerie Plame case news, bubble watch and so much more.

Bring it on!

<SNIP>
_______________________


Alexandria, Va.: Dan --

What do you think of Pres. Bush's statement Tues. that the U.S. Treasury bonds in the Social Security trust fund are worthless? Considering that foreigners hold more than $4 trillion of U.S. debt, what would happen if the rest of the world took him seriously and decided to dump their U.S. bonds?

Could this possibly be Shrub's stupidest statement ever?

Dan Froomkin: Well, I have a pretty good idea of where you stand.

Today's column has a lot on this issue.

And while there is some evidence that Bush himself doesn't fully comprehend all the details here (remember, for instance, my March 7 column about how he confused everyone when he suddenly described his carve-out proposal as an add-on?) I can assure you that his aides know exactly what they're doing. Stupid like a fox.


_______________________

Portland, Maine: Dan, you just wrote:

I think it's safe to say that the White House is taking advantage of this confusion to try to increase doubt about Social Security's future, and possibly get some changes made.

Isn't that extremely unethical?

Dan Froomkin: It's politics.

_______________________


Not a bad answer to the guy in Portland, either!

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Guess your question was an excellent one, as indicated by the fact that

many people were asking it.....

[hippiepunk]

2. cool!

:toast:

[4morewars]

3. Good on ya !!!

Keep up the good work !

[Robbien]

4. Your statement is great and so was Rep. DeFazio's

when he said on the floor:

The President questions that? He is questioning whether we are going to repay our most privileged debt to Social Security. We have $7.9 trillion of debt. He is adding to it at a record rate, borrowing $1.3 million a minute. Who is he saying we are going to repay and not repay?

Are we going to repay the Chinese but not the Social Security Trust Fund? Are we going to repay President Bush, he happens to have some U.S. Treasury Bonds in his personal portfolio, but not the Social Security Trust Fund? Are we going to repay other wealthy investors around the world and in the U.S., but not the Social Security Trust Fund? We are going to selectively default on our debt.




Congratulations for having your opinion noticed!

:thumbsup:

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. If they don't intend to pay

then he needs to stop borrowing from it to cover his tax cuts.

[Old and In the Way]

6. Excellent!

They sure are upping the ante on the rhetoric. Why are they so desperate to pull this off? Were they counting on the money to "fix" the deficits?

[diddlysquat]

7. Bravo!