WH: Talk of SS cuts "Overshoot the runway", no "Grand Offer". Know what they're NOT saying? "NO"

[Poll_Blind]

MSNBC -White House official pushes back that it won’t be making a “grand offer” on Social Security:

Do Republicans want Social Security as part of the deal? Yes, the White House official responds. Is the White House taking it off the table? No, but it wouldn’t consider changes that are unbalanced and include slashing benefits.

Oh great, see I thought they were going to make a "grand offer" so cutting SS is ok, then, riiiiiight? Wait, who defines what's imbalanced and who defines what constitutes "slashing"? What the fuck?

HuffPo -Obama Aide On Social Security Cut Story: It 'Overshoots The Runway':

"While it is definitely not a driver of the deficit," the official added, "it does need to be strengthened."

Notice how cuts are "strengthening"? :eyes: Continued...

The response, sent via email to The Huffington Post, provides a measure of assurance to Democrats who were taken aback by the abrupt news, broken by the Washington Post, that Social Security reform was now on the debt-ceiling table. Still, the devil is in the details, and the idea of "strengthening" the entitlement program remains the vague standard for reform.

Intentionally fucking vague. Over the last fucking decade I have become all too painfully familiar about what is off the table. Impeaching the fuck snorkel Bush, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya (and Yemen every other place bomb with drones and cruise missiles)...all of those are off the table.

But there's room enough for Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid. There's always room for your future on "the Table".

Just a reminder that all this is happening when we still have the Presidency and the Senate:
House:
:redbox: R - 242
:bluebox: D - 192

Senate:
:bluebox: D - 53
:redbox: R - 47

President:
:bluebox: Democratic Party

PB

[somone]

1. Same old pattern of half-assed denial and obfuscation

[snappyturtle]

4. Yep....stands to reason, 'when I'm sixty four'....seems like a cruel joke.

This sort of 'explanation' from the WH is a cloak for 'we never said'......whatever. Sorry, I'm very angry this morning.

[Poll_Blind]

6. This...honestly...this is actually a new one for the White House as far as I know.

And by this, I mean this bullshit doublespeak jack-off nonsense they expect will calm people down. Which it won't. Because Social Security is that important.

PB

[somone]

10. It's a life and death question for millions of Americans

[jaxx]

2. Unrec for denying the language of the statement.

Today's schedule:

9:30 AM PBO and VPB receive the presidential daily briefing.

10:00 AM PBO meets with senior advisers.

11:00 AM PBO and VPB meet with Congressional Leadership.

1:00 PM Carney briefs the press.

3:35 PM PBO participates in an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Exactly.

[CrossChris]

5. Right--if they could say, "NO", they would. It would put this rumor to bed.

But they can't say that, so they haven't. Great catch.

[CelticThunder]

7. Judging from President Obama's record so far this is only the start of a massive screwing over

He's already waved the white flag to Republicans.

What a spineless traitor.

[Poll_Blind]

9. Honestly, from his record, this screwing over happened a week and a half ago and...

...they're just getting around to take the time to let us know.

I don't agree about him being a traitor. Maybe to Democratic ideals, or Progressive ideology, or to those Americans who rely or will rely on Social Security as the rest of the world is economically ripped out from under them. But not traitor in the classical sense. I see no evidence for that.

PB

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Poll_Blind]

20. Yeah, this is not looking good for him right now. As someone said in another...

...thread, "If he cuts Social Security he is a goner."

PB

[CelticThunder]

21. He's a traitor to everyone who voted for him..

[daa]

8. First of all, having the presidency with this guy is a non starter

and, since the repugs have 40 Senators, THEY control the senate. I do agree with your math about not controlling the house.

[Poll_Blind]

11. AND ANOTHER GODDAMNED THING: From Bush's FIRST day in office he...

...went after every inroads Democrats had made. Every goddamned day after that was an assault.

Say what you will, you can't deny that once he got into office Bush paid his base back in spades. Every day until he left office.

President Obama has, at best, a tangential relationship with his base. Perhaps they were an undesirable necessity, an unsightly but required booster rocket in order to attain the orbit of the Presidency, I dunno. But in the one goddamned way he should be like Bush, he isn't, and in every other way...well, he seems to look at the imperial presidency of the Bush years as an à la carte menu to be ordered off of rather than something to be shunned, rejected entirely.

It's apeshit. It's unquestionably apeshit-crazy. But I know President Obama isn't crazy, so what is he?

PB

[leftupnorth]

14. A fascist, corporatist, authoritarian meat puppet?

All of the above?

[Poll_Blind]

19. Another OP worth mentioning:

Third Way applauds Obama for laying hands on the “third rail” of American politics.

They seem to encapsulate all of those epithets...

PB

[Missy Vixen]

12. Considering the fact that a plane "overshooting the runway" is not

a beneficial thing, it's an unfortunate analogy, is it not?

:eyes:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. We're won't allow them to put a tablespoon of arsenc in your coffee...just a teaspoon.

[newfie11]

16. if this is true i am through

Obama has lost my vote and I am leaving this country. Is there anyone on government no owned by the wealthy.

[Skip Intro]

17. K&R. nt

[xchrom]

18. Recommend