In a moment of clarity, House Speaker Dennis Hastert joins his GOP colleagues Frist and DeLay in declaring what now seems obvious, that Dubya’s Social Security privatization plan probably can’t pass this year. For their part, the White House immediately disagreed.
Category: Social Insecurity
On Life Support.
Dubya’s ailing Social Security PSAs take another hit, with even conservative intellectuals starting to turn against Dubya’s plan in print. Yep, seems like a goner.
A Public Funeral for Private Accounts.
“George W. Bush’s plan to remake the Social Security system is kaput. This is not a value judgment. It’s a statement of political fact.” While Dubya, Cheney, and McCain (carrying water for the administration as usual) continue their respective privatization dog-and-pony shows, Slate‘s Jacob Weisberg puts PSAs in the fridge.
A Line in the Sand.
While the GOP may have bent the rules to facilitate passage of the ANWR drilling bill (set for a vote today), it appears they face a Senate shutdown by the Dems if they keep pressing on Dubya’s wacko judicial appointees. And why not? Dubya has revealed he’s not going to relent on Social Security PSAs, despite their unpopularity, and he continues to appoint controversial right-wing neocons like Paul Wolfowitz to top positions (in this case, the World Bank.) If Dubya and the Right don’t want to compromise, then we Dems shouldn’t play ball. It’s 1993 all over again. (That being said, it’s probably wise of Reid to keep legislation “supporting our troops” out of the boycott…FOX News would have a field day with that one.) Update: By a 51-49 vote, the Senate opens ANWR to drilling, with Dems Daniel Akaka, (D-HI), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) putting the GOP over the top.
Update 2: Slate‘s Fred Kaplan has more on the Wolfowitz pick.
Update 3: Conservative George Will warns against GOP tampering with the filibuster rule.
Bait and Switch?
“We’ve now got this huge fight over a sideshow,” Graham said during a meeting with Washington Post reporters and editors. “It’s always been a sideshow, but we sold it as the main event.” To the White House’s consternation, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argues for sidelining Dubya’s private accounts in favor of a Social Security compromise. Well, let’s make sure they’re well off the table before we talk.
Open War.
With the Social Security fight looming on the horizon, Dems and the GOP clash over ethics in the House and both abortion and the minimum wage in the Senate. (Salon‘s Tim Grieve exposed the fraudulence of the Santorum “alternative” minimum wage plan yesterday.) Speaking of Social Security, several prominent Dems — including James Carville, Stan Greenberg, and Harold Ickes — advise our side to produce an alternative reform plan to Dubya’s private accounts, and soon.
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
“Some lawmakers and senior party aides say that Mr. Lieberman remains in good standing. But they say that could change if he broke ranks and gave Mr. Bush a prominent Democratic ally on Social Security.” As feared and as usual, Senator Joe Lieberman seems to be the weak link in Democratic unity against the Dubya Social Security plan (although, to his credit, he has at least renounced private savings accounts.) Remember, Joe, once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Just look what happened to the Zell-out.
Take your flunky and dangle.
After undoubtedly being read the Rove riot act for his earlier apostasy, a chastened Catkiller Frist changes his tune on Social Security reform and now says it has to happen this year. But, even with Dubya spinning otherwise, it’s starting to look ever clearer that the GOP privatization plan is going down.
A crack in the lines.
Third rail redux…As the White House pushes for a renewed GOP advance on Dubya’s privatization scheme, the big Congressional names — Frist and DeLay — have started hedging their bets. Hmmm…if the Republican leaders are already acting this shaky, the ground troops must be contemplating a full-on rout. In fact, to pursue the military metaphor, Harry Reid and the Dems should take this moment of weakness as the perfect opportunity to unleash some heavy-duty Harry and Louise-type firepower. Remember ’93? It’s payback time.
Third Rail Anxiety.
Stand clear of the closing doors, please…Facing an uphill battle in their bid to privatize Social Security, congressional Republicans start contemplating a legislative exit strategy, which would probably include some concessions to a bipartisan plan. But the Dems, sensing the Clinton health care fiasco redux, may not play ball at all, with the exception of the usual “moderate” suspects. For the love of Pete, Senator Lieberman, please don’t give the Bush bill any of your patented Joementum.