It didnt go well

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It didn’t go well for Fainthearted <$NoAd$> Faction Dean Allen Boyd either. This from the Tallahassee Democrat

U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd was being pelted with Social Security questions and comments ranging from seriously skeptical to hotly hostile Tuesday night when a woman who won’t be affected by pending changes herself seemed to summarize what the national furor is all about.

“When I retire, I want to retire,” said Marguerite Burton. “I don’t mind doing volunteer work, but I want to be guaranteed that our benefits will be there. And I want them to be there for my children and grandchildren.”

“There are some tough choices to be made, no free lunch here,” Boyd said as he roamed the audience, microphone in hand, like a southern Phil Donahue. “We’re going to make the wealthy people pay more for this plan and protect the low-wage workers.”

Instead of asking a question, Joe Cain just asked “for a quick show of hands” for or against Boyd’s plan. With a chorus of groans, audience sentiment ran heavily against Boyd’s suggestions and Cain estimated the vote was 4-1 or more against the idea.

“Coming out tonight was worth the trip, just to find out that I’m wealthy,” said Richard Willis, who said he earns in the area Boyd wants to raise the Social Security tax ceiling. “But your privatization scheme has nothing to do with solvency. This is a system of social insurance, not personal investment.”

There was one good moment for Boyd. He got the author of the article to buy into his bamboozlement language. Writes Tallahassee Democrat Political Editor Bill Cotterell at one point in the article: “The Kolbe-Boyd plan does not privatize Social Security and – like President Bush’s plan – won’t affect benefits for workers 55 and older.”

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