The LA Times and the Post today both have run-downs of President Bush’s invitation-only Bamboozlepalooza event in Ohio yesterday. And at the end of the article in the Times there’s this odd passage …
In a pitch directed to Democratic lawmakers, who are nearly unanimous in opposing Bush’s plan to create Social Security personal accounts, the president called for “political amnesty” for those who joined his drive to retool the retirement program.
“All ideas are on the table,” he asserted at several points in his remarks.
His declaration appeared to reinforce a suggestion made Thursday by his top economic advisor, Allan B. Hubbard, that the voluntary retirement accounts might be acceptable to Bush even if they were offered as an “add-on” to Social Security, instead of being financed by current payroll taxes, as the president was advocating.
Political amnesty? Is he trying <$NoAd$> to help Rep. Allen Boyd cop a plea? Or get off with time served? There are so few other Fainthearted members of Congress left that I was really a little unsure who the president was talking about. Perhaps it’s private accounts men, who now want to get on the add-on bandwagon, who need a pardon? Perhaps we need a Social Security Phase-Out Truth and Reconciliation Commission?
