Bush has mandate for Social Security plan, Cheney says

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - In an interview Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney said the Bush re-election victory provided a mandate "for the notion of personal retirement accounts" and that Democrats would pay a political price among younger voters if they blocked them.
...
But he rejected the idea that private accounts would be dead politically if they're not approved this year.

"I wouldn't say that. We want to do everything we can to move it as soon as we can. But we're going to be here for four years. And this president's very tenacious. I've seen him operate before. And he's not a man who takes no for an answer," said Cheney, who is about to assume a more public role in the debate as the White House tries to build popular support for its proposal to restructure the huge entitlement program and offer individual retirement accounts.
...
The vice president also suggested that Democrats, united now in opposition, are mishandling the issue. Cheney cited reports that some Democratic strategists, including former Clinton adviser James Carville, are warning that party members must do more than oppose private accounts - that they should more openly acknowledge the system's problems and offer their own alternative solutions.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/politics/11084357.htm

[Straight Shooter]

1. Not a man who takes no for an answer. Hmmm ....

That means he's rigid, stubborn, inflexible, and incapable of changing his mind based on the facts. As for the description "tenacious," why am I suddenly reminded of the time I got a fishhook stuck in my arm?

Notice the article used the term "private accounts" when not quoting Cheney.

edit: Cheney is lying. Those who designed the system in the 1930s definitely were forward-looking and anticipating longer lifespans.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

6. You forgot...

... deluded.

[Cha]

14. sociopath!

cheney can go fuck himself!

[KDLarsen]

47. Ah, but changing ones mind according to facts is "flip-flopping"

... I never quite understood why the dems were unable to hammer home the message: "Kerry changes his mind according to the facts, Bush changes the facts according to his mind".

[catzies]

81. What a great line!

It even works if you take the men's names out and substitute the parties!

Brilliant!

[shantipriya]

62. NO for an answer

I am afraid Cheney is right.The tendency in this country to defer to Presidents(however dishonest and creepy they are) coupled with ignorant and uninterested public and die-hard Repugs, the President will get some form of privatization.
And it would be a sad day in the history of the USofA when that happens.

[Democrats_win]

2. WMD's, Jeff Guckert/Gannon, outsourcing is good, tell us another lie *

[LynnTheDem]

3. ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now THAT is HYSTERICAL!!!!

Gawd I needed that laugh! For once I can say, THANKS, CHENEY!

:D :D :D :D :D

[Rose Siding]

7. Look how he criticizes, using Carville's timely memo

Small world, Carville being married to Cheney's senior staffer and all.

[LynnTheDem]

24. Small world, big co-inkydink.

:eyes:

[Generator]

4. What a reptilian windbag!

Did he crawl out of his hole for this?

Really, this is what the Bush/Cheney ran their campaign on?

I thought it was vote for us or die.

It turned into vote for us and play chicken with the retirement and go broke!

Those Republicans, such jokesters!

[alcuno]

19. Some member of the crack US media ought to go back and see

what * said about SS before the election. Little or nothing. As a matter of fact, I can recall Kerry saying they had plans to dismantle SS as we know it and Republicans dismissed his "wild" comments.

[Rose Siding]

21. He promised privatization at a donor mtg, according to Suskind

then lied about it and attacked Suskind for reporting it...

Salon wrote it up, Oct 19, 04

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/19/nytimes_bush/

The latest volley came over the weekend when Republican campaign officials accused the Times Sunday magazine of fabricating a provocative quote from Bush in which he bragged -- behind closed doors and speaking to wealthy supporters -- that he would announce plans for "privatizing of Social Security" early next year, after his reelection. When Democrats jumped on the remark, dubbing it the "January surprise," Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie dismissed the Times' work as "Kitty Kelley journalism," insisting Bush never uttered the phrase attributed to him. But the Times stands by the 8,300-word story by Ron Suskind, author of "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill," a revealing account of the former secretary of the treasury published earlier this year.

Here's a piece of the NYT article

snip>
"I'm going to be real positive, while I keep my foot on John Kerry's throat," George W. Bush said last month at a confidential luncheon a block away from the White House with a hundred or so of his most ardent, longtime supporters, the so-called R.N.C. Regents. This was a high-rolling crowd - at one time or another, they had all given large contributions to Bush or the Republican National Committee. Bush had known many of them for years, and a number of them had visited him at the ranch. It was a long way from Poplar Bluff.
...
"I'm going to come out strong after my swearing in," Bush said, "with fundamental tax reform, tort reform, privatizing of Social Security." The victories he expects in November, he said, will give us "two years, at least, until the next midterm. We have to move quickly, because after that I'll be quacking like a duck."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101704A.shtml

[alcuno]

23. I remember that. Just when I think I couldn't despise them more, they

kick it up a notch. I'll wait to see our media research Cheney's call of a mandate.

[bettyellen]

36. best thing in the NYT all last year...... boy i shared that with dozens of

people who were on the fence.

[Colorado Blue]

89. Somebody ought to dig up some film of * denying the NYT

article and PLAY IT ON FOX.

Sheese. When will people figure this OUT? The Republicans, the little people, need to get mad. Until then we are hamstrung, can't do anything by ourselves. We just don't have the horses.

[renaissanceguy]

31. Bingo.

Even if * HAD a mandate (which he DOES NOT), SS reform wouldn't count, because it's not a platform he ran on....and public opinion polls would have to support him, as well. They do not.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.14744291

[Goldeneye]

5. That title

cracks me up. What a joke.

The article was mostly Cheney blathering on, but they did give the dems some time.

"While Democrats acknowledge that the system faces a projected long-term financing shortfall, many of them dispute the magnitude and urgency of the problem. They also contend that the president's proposal to use some Social Security taxes to fund private retirement accounts does nothing to improve the system's finances, as Cheney argued Tuesday. Critics of the Bush plan contend it makes the financial problem worse, because of the upfront costs of funding existing benefits for older Americans while paying for individual accounts for younger Americans.

In response to Cheney's comments, House Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said Tuesday that Social Security's projected shortfalls were smaller in scale over a 75-year period than either the president's tax cuts or his new prescription drug benefit.

"I don't consider that a train wreck. I consider that a long-range challenge that we are perfectly capable of tackling on a bipartisan, thoughtful basis," said Baldwin, calling Social Security "a challenge of manageable proportions and not a crisis."

[xxqqqzme]

I can just see Jon Stewart imitating

unca dick. unca dick really is a first class, top drawer, all around asshole prick.

[Skip Intro]

8. If he HAD a mandate, they wouldn't have to keep SAYING he had a mandate

or is he trying to out bush?

[DrDan]

82. it's hard to think of a bush man-date without

being reminded of Jon Stewart's comment of his man-date in the Jeff Gannon context

[marmar]

9. He's a fucking psycho...

To quote Obi Wan Kenobi: "He's more machine now than man."

Cheney is a subhuman organism, there's no other explanation.

[RobertSeattle]

10. Thanks for the "advice" Dick

I've grown so weary of Republicans giving Democrats "advice". They can shove their advice up their private accounts.

[Teaser]

11. I think the Dems should follow Cheney's advice.

He only has their best interests at heart, after all.

[applegrove]

12. Having reached March - the non winter coat owner Cheney can go to work!

[Rose Siding]

13. Wasn't that trip his last national coverage?

Maybe it really was an official embarrassment.

The only thing I've seen since then was some unofficial use of Air Force II back on the 11th of Feb (is that legal?)

snip>
The Vice President landed in Albany on board Air Force II late Friday afternoon. He's not officially involved with the Celebrity Quail Hunt, but he will be hunting at one of the hosting plantations. He wasn't at the dinner tonight at the civic center. But 230 other hunters were that's the largest group ever for this event.

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2937154&nav=5kZQWI76

[RobertSeattle]

15. You mean no FORMAL winter coat

[bushcrab]

18. LOL--- I was just having a hankerin' for that shot. LOL

Cheney, what a baDOOF!

[applegrove]

39. Well he sure as hell cannot show up in the green one ever again!

***hole!

[kevinmc]

16. GOP Pollsters least popular elements with the public

GOP Pollsters Say Personal Accounts Least Popular Element of Bush Plan

WASHINGTON (AP) - The heart of President Bush's plan for Social Security, allowing younger workers to create personal accounts in exchange for a lower guaranteed government benefit, is among the least popular elements with the public, Republican pollsters told House GOP leaders Tuesday.


The pollsters also stressed the political stakes involved in pursuing Bush's plan to overhaul the Depression-era program, according to a memo circulated at a session in the Capitol.
Older voters consider a candidate's views on Social Security to be "as important, or in some cases, more important than issues like the war, health care and education," they wrote.

[Wwagsthedog]

17. A mandate for what, exactly?

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18683

WASHINGTON -- American politics has been so corrupted by concepts such as "positioning" and "message discipline" that citizens don't get credit for their ability to decide issues on the merits. But when the public knows and cares a great deal about what's at stake, it is quite discerning about what's true and what's not.
That's why President Bush's troubles on Social Security cannot be explained by some alleged failure of the White House's usually impeccable communications operation. Conventional explanations fail because this is a battle over principle in which the facts matter.

So far, the president has made at least four mistakes. He assumed he could persuade the country that Social Security faces a crisis requiring urgent action. He thought he could accentuate the positive -- those "personal accounts" really do sound great -- without laying out what they would cost. He counted on getting good-government points by "facing up" to Social Security's long-term problems without proposing any hard steps to fix them. And he figured that some Democrats would fall his way simply because that's what has always happened before.

<snip>

[MrSlayer]

20. Didn't they deny they were going to do this before the "election"?

Kerry said it, they denied it as "scare tactics" and then, Lo and Behold, they did just what Kerry said they would. I hate these Neo-Con idiots, the media that won't report on them and the stupid bastards who voted for them.

[rodeodance]

22. Cheney is going on the trail to pitch SS reform!! watch out!!

[Art_from_Ark]

26. Relying on rich corporate fatcats to "fix" social security

is like relying on Al Capone to help you file your income taxes

[zann725]

45. Yeah. MSM has total 'amnesia' re: Shrub's statements prior to election

flatly denying he planned to privatize SS. Then IMMEDIATELY once he's elected, he flip-flop's loudly...and no one notices or says a thing.

[w4rma]

25. Fuck Carville. This proves he's a horrible strategist. (nt)

[Ouabache]

28. well, it proves Mary Matalin is co-ordinating his and Cheney's statements

pretty much. Since Carville is letting himself be played by his GOP wife, Cheney's assistant, then I think we can pretty much ignore him now. No dem candidate should now waste more money hiring Carville, he is being played by his woman and Cheney.

[Shakespeare]

69. No, Carville's actually right about this.

One of our biggest mistakes over the last five-plus years has been our utter failure to offer any kind of alternative to the Bush agenda.

We're absolutely right to say that Bush's plan is dangerous and wrong, but we need to shore it up by also saying "SS is not broken, but it needs a little tweaking over the long term, and here's what we propose."

How on earth is that a bad thing?

[MeasureTwice]

79. There's a repug line we need to stop repeating

The democrats never offered any alternative.

The problem is not that the Democrats never have any plans, it's that nobody heard of them because they aren't covered by the so-called-liberal-media.

[Shakespeare]

80. mmmmmmm....yes and no.

Yes, we absolutely get fucked by the media. But we really haven't come up with a lot of alternatives the last few years.

[AndyTiedye]

27. We Have Openly Acknowledged That The Ceiling Should be Raised

and that the Regime needs to stop stealing from the trust fund.

[burn the bush]

29. Alert! Privatization failing...Bring in Snarling beast to scare public!

[rooboy]

30. He might be around for four years Dick, but you ain't no Duracell battery.

eom

[buddysmellgood]

32. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Cheney says dog shit tastes like barbeque, film@10

[wisteria]

33. Cheney just doesn't get it.. We don't want it.

Social Security is actually an insurance policy against poverty after retirement. SS was never meant to be used for risky investment accounts. We have IRA's and 401K for retirement purposes now. Why do they continue to force these private accounts down our throats when it is obvious that a majority of American's don't want these accounts and then claim that President Bush has a mandate on this issue simply because he was reelected. I don't recall the American public demanding he make changes to the Social Security program

[bvar22]

67. Don't forget Widow and Orphans benefits....

These won't be covered by private accounts!

[alcibiades_mystery]

34. The plan has support in the low 30's, and even that is lukewarm

Cheney is a fucking madman.

Mandate. Oy gewalt!

[Colorado Blue]

35. Here's what people are thinking about the "mandate":

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050309/ap_on_go_pr_wh/social_security

When are they gonna figure it OUT already and give up on this dumb idea?????

[Skittles]

37. these thieving bastards will NOT give up, Colorado

they are desperate to dismantle SS, it's been a wet dream of theirs for years. They did not go to all the trouble of stealing elections and installing a complete moron into the White House without getting THAT big payoff.

[shantipriya]

66. Death of SS

I agree.I am afraid what might happen when they realise they are losing.There might be an unpleasant surprise for all us supporters of SS.
We are up against a very evil and dishonest bunch who has taken the country as a hostage.They will stop at nothing to achieve their goal of dismantling the New Deal.I am really worried for the future of this once great nation.

[NYC]

40. The article is rated 2.94.

You have given the news article Personal Accounts Tank in Polls, GOP Says a rating of 5.

Its current average rating is 2.94 with 838 votes.

[annabanana]

52. Its current average rating is 2.94 with 923 vote(s). ...n/t

[Colorado Blue]

54. I don't understand the low rating at all - you? nt

[LittleClarkie]

38. Correct me if I'm wrong

1. there is no mandate

2. Bush hardly mentioned this during the campaign, did he? Or is my memory just going?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

41. He laughed when Kerry brought it up in the debates

and said, "We're not gonna mess with Social Security."

He stood there and told a bald faced lie because every other way they've marketed this plan has FAILED....from private accounts, to voluntary accounts to the new urgency that it is going broke and in danger NOW!

[LittleClarkie]

42. So how can there be a mandate to mess with something

when they said they wouldn't mess with it.

Some day, some how, these people have got to get theirs. I pray the karmic boomerang is headed their way soon.

[ComerPerro]

43. Then why isn't it now the law?

If Bush has such a mandate, and this is absolutely the right thing to do, and they have absolute control over every branch of government, then why haven't they gotten to work and passed Bush's plan?

Why is he on this tour now to promote it?

[Disturbed]

44. Is Cheney still saying that...

Saddam had a personal relationship with al Q.?

[Azathoth]

46. I guess this means Cheney is still alive

Every couple of months they have to wheel him out of his cave into the light so that he can snarl at the assembled reporters for a few moments before retreating back into the darkness. This month he's snarling about social secuity. Nothing to see here really.

[primavera]

55. ...and evidently living in some strange parallel universe

where people think destroying Social Security is a good idea. Oh well, good thing he's not talking about this planet.

[hinachan]

48. Here's a chilling quote

"And he's not a man who takes no for an answer," said Cheney.

Isn't that the definition of a date rapist?

[moondust]

49. It is, but

"Guck" Gannon goes willingly on the "man dates".

[chomskysright]

63. 3 documented arrests for Bush:....

The first arrest of George W. Bush was for theft at a hotel.
The second arrest was for disorderly conduct at a football game.
The third arrest, we've now learned, is for a very serious crime -- drunk driving.


http://pearly-abraham.tripod.com/htmls/bush-arrests.html

[chomskysright]

64. 1st US President w/ a criminal record.....

George W. Bush is the first US president to have a criminal record and the first to be appointed by the US Supreme Court.

George W. Bush's Texas drivers license number is 000000005. Got it changed from something else in early 1995. WHY? Because in Texas, your criminal record is attached to your DL number!

[TNOE]

83. Don't forget about the woman who accused him of rape

and then was "suicided" - add to the list.

[laylah]

50. That low life piece of

human excretment can kiss my happy democratic butt! Bush has/had NO freaking mandate (unless it was Jeffy-boy). This sob still promotes the "Iraq was behind 9/11 and there ARE wmd in Iraq" and the masses believe this stuff! GAWD, I hate these people.

Jenn

[annabanana]

51. Cheney is Satan

Note retreat on "this year". So it's dead for now.. but we have to keep the channel tuned to C-Span 24/7, or they'll attach it to something else and not notify the RW echo chamber..

[area51]

53. Man Date

GW Hoover's only Man Dates are Guckert & Victor Ashe.

---

"Prosperity is just around the corner." -- Herbert Hoover
"The economy has turned a corner." -- GW Bush

Herbert Hoover = GW Bush

Neither man cared about the Depression their economic policies created.

[DemoTex]

56. More March Madness (and I don't mean basketball).

CAUTION: Mad dog.

[adigal]

57. Um...the leader of a democracy should often take NO

for an answer. A 16th century monarch or a totalitarian dictator, on the other hand, never takes NO for an answer.

Bush is which one?? I keep forgetting.

[blue4barb]

58. This "mandate" trash is all the more reason to keep our own bulldogs

on the election fraud story. The more fraud we can uncover, the more America and the world should see there was no fair election, no mandate for anything this admin* is pushing.

[alarimer]

59. What is he smoking??

I would like to live in the la-la land that Dick Cheney apparently lives in. Polls show that people are opposed to private accounts. Mandate, my ass!

[The White Tree]

60. How can you have a mandate on something

that you denied you would do when you were running for election. I don't remember them talking about privitizing Socail Security. Seems to me it was the exact opposite.

We really need to work to brand the Republican Party with the words, "Do as I say, not as I do".

[chomskysright]

61. Cheney's got nothing but bullying threats to use....

[spikesmom]

65. Give Chimpy a Banana

[AlCzervik]

68. plans for Bush's ss plan not going well, bring out the big gun.

[Cocoa]

70. Cheney's alive?

did he rise from his coffin just to give the dems political advice? Using James Carville's words? Weird...

[Canuckistanian]

71. "Advise and Consent" just a memory now...

"Mandate" trumps all.

[woosh]

72. The democrats are mishandling it eh?

We must be doing something right!

[enki23]

73. and if the people don't want them? fuck the people. we have a mandate

straight from gawd.

[ProfessorGAC]

74. What!?!?!?!? He Didn't Run On This Subject

Even IF he had a mandate (and he doesn't), it wouldn't be on this topic. It would be on the war on terror, tax cuts, and no gay marriage. That's what his minions voted for, not social security restructuring.

So, even if he had some sort of mandate, it wouldn't be in this regard.
The Professor

[confludemocrat]

75. Cheney:...is about to assume a more public role in the debate. Transl:

sending to the bullpen for the most brazen, wanton liar these bastards have to come in and get the job done (of destroying SS).


"...as the White House tries to build popular support for its proposal to restructure the huge entitlement program and offer individual retirement accounts."

Restructure?

"huge entitlement program"?

what is KRT anyway?

[catzies]

85. Welcome to DU, confludemocrat! I had to look up KRT myself!

It's "Knight/Ridder Tribune."

:hi:

[BigBearJohn]

76. Yeah...just take back the tax breaks for the rich -- problem solved!

[cascadiance]

77. This week I'm watching while my father dies of starvation in front of me..

... due to various medical reasons where he can't get nearly any liquids or nourishment to heal and get better from an operation. It's a living hell I wouldn't want to wish on ANYONE! :cry:

But that's exactly what these bastards are asking the rest of us to do, if they take away safety nets like Social Security, bankruptcy, not increasing minimum wage, etc.

If we have older folks that are starving because they cannot afford to feed themselves, if we go through this f'd up "reform" will we:

a) say, well we cannot let them die, so we'll find some other funding (through our taxpayer's money anyway) and feed them, which defeats the purpose of their trying to "save" us spending more money on social security they are trying to "solve".

or

b) be heartless and say they are out of luck, and have them suffer the same fate I'm tortured seeing my Dad suffer each day right now as I speak.

[shantipriya]

78. Mandate

Does the idiotic creep know the meaning of "mandate"? 53% is NOT,I repeat, NOT a mandate.

[TNOE]

84. It might be wishful thinking for Cheney to think

they'll be there for 4 more years. Not the way the shit pile of stink is piling up around them.

[Bake]

86. Since when is (stolen) 52% a fucking MANDATE anyway???

But fact is, these bastards are RELENTLESS. They have been for 20 years. They won't stop until (a) they're dead, or (b) they get what they're after. They're like Freddie Krueger!

Bake

[subterranean]

87. Well, that's good enough for me!

If Dick Cheney says it, it must be true. :eyes:

[NightOwwl]

88. He's out there to scare Republicans, not Democrats

"Asked if Republicans in Congress, many of them openly wary of the issue, need "bucking up," Cheney said, 'Oh, I think they're coming around.'

'The American people will reward public officials who address serious issues,'"

I believe this sentence is directed at the Republican congress. He knows he's not going to change the mind of Democrats, so what he's saying, is any Republican public official who doesn't support this plan will be punished severely. Their states won't get funding, their legislation won't be passed, they will be pariahs.

He thinks he's the f*ckn Godfather.