We’ve already written about how the Republican leadership has accused the AARP of being a secret communist homosexual plot. The American Association of Retired People. Homosexual. Communist. Right.
Well, the Republican Party has had to back off the strange AARP-homosexual-communism attack, but they certainly haven’t given up. You see, the Bush White House and the Republicans in Congress really miffed at the AARP because the AARP, along with the majority of the American people, doesn’t think it’s right for the Republicans to try to destroy Social Security.
President Bush’s plan for Social Security would ruin Social Security’s finances at the same time as reducing Social Security benefits for huge numbers of Americans, if not eliminating them entirely by bankrupting the system. There are many signs that bankrupting Social Security is exactly what the Republican Party had in mind all along – signs like the Republican crowd that was instructed to chant “Hey hey ho ho! Social Security’s got to go!” The AAPR has done the right thing in standing up to the Republicans’ attacks on Social Security.
Well, the Republican elites are not used to having anyone stand up to them these days, so they’re really steamed. Texas Republican Tom DeLay, for example, is really so mad at the AARP opposition to President Bush’s attacks on Social Security that he recently sputtered, “It is incredibly irresponsible for the AARP to be against a solution that hasn’t even been written yet!”
Okay, now. Step back and think about Tom DeLay’s statement for a minute.
Representative DeLay says that it’s “incredibly irresponsible” for the AARP to defend Social Security from the Republican attack plan because the Bush White House hasn’t even bothered to write down any specific proposal yet?????
You better hold your horses, Mr. DeLay, if you expect us to have any sympathy for your rage at the AARP. Yes, the AARP is criticizing President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security and drain 2 trillion dollars out of the Social Security Trust Fund. And yes, the AARP is defending Social Security in spite of the fact that President Bush still hasn’t bothered to write down the details of his plan to attack Social Security.
But what do you expect America to do, Mr. DeLay? Sit back for months and months while President Bush goes on a nationwide tour to promote his attacks on Social Security, and sends out practically every Republican Senator and Congressional Representative to do the same in their home states?
Mr. DeLay, if you’re angry that President Bush still doesn’t have a Social Security proposal good enough to write down on paper, don’t blame America’s senior citizens for the problem! The truth is that the only “irresponsible” behavior on this issue is the conduct of the Republican Party, which has been pushing the Bush Social Security Plan for months now, in spite of the fact that President Bush still hasn’t come up with any details for how to make his plan work!
When the President of the United States proposes doing away with the system of Social Security as we know it, it is his responsibility to propose a concrete plan. That plan should not be released after the President makes his sales pitch. It should be released at the beginning of the process, so that the American people know what they’re being asked to buy.
The Republican plan to promote the dismantling of Social Security is structured like nothing so much as the sales pitch of a greasy-haired used car salesman. The Bush White House treats us all like fools, asking us to invest in their scheme sight unseen. Sorry, Mr. DeLay, we’re not in the market for that brand of snake oil.
