Count Chocola’s Chief of Staff a <$NoAd$> stand-up comedian?
This from Bloomberg: “Chocola, in a 2002 campaign statement, pledged ‘no cuts in benefits, no increase in the retirement age and no new taxes,’ according Brooks Kochvar, his chief of staff. Chocola’s position has been consistent, Kochvar said. ‘The system is bankrupt and we need to look at solutions to these problems,’ he said. ‘He 
thinks we should explore personal accounts as one of the many options to help fix the problem.'”
Consistent?
Isn’t this the guy who told the local paper he was for total privatization in October 2000 (see adjacent graphic), then changed his mind and denied saying it a few weeks later, then said he was against privatization and now says he may or may not be in favor of the privatization?
Indeed, Rep. Chris Chocola (R) of Indiana is one of the great Social Security Switch-Hitters of all time. He’ll certainly be in the top ten.
I really hope the folks at the DCCC are noting down Kochvar’s whopper for their oppo research book on the Count.
A lot of Republican Social Security Switch-Hitters in the House are hiding behind their own phony definition of ‘privatization’ and thus claiming they don’t and never have supported it and don’t even support it now. And admittedly once you have to pull out the public policy dictionary on these bozos they’ve pretty much fought you to a draw in political terms.
But the Count is so bipositional that he not only used the word in 2000 he said he was for 100% privatization. “Eventually,” quoth the Count, “I’d like to see the entire system privatized.”
That was two years before he said he was 100% against ‘privatization’.
They should be able to run the Count out of office next year on comedic value alone.
(ed.note: Special thanks to TPM Reader SR for giving us a heads-up about the Bloomberg piece.)
