Amazing. Rep. Jim McCrery (R) of Louisiana has gotten a local cable TV station to stop running an ad questioning his stance on Social Security by threatening to sue for defamation because the ad claims he wants to “privatize” Social Security.
McCrery, of course, openly supports diverting Social Security payroll taxes to create private accounts, i.e., privatization.
As it happens, Rep. McCrery is something of a past master at the old ‘privatization’ word game flimflam. Just before the 2002 election, when the National Journal asked him whether Republican pledges to oppose ‘privatization’ would complicate later efforts to pass the Bush plan, he responded thus …
In the view of Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La., a key member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Republican candidates aren’t boxing themselves in on the issue. “Most Republicans say they oppose Social Security privatization,” McCrery said. “That doesn’t hurt us. So far, only one or two have said they have a problem with personal retirement accounts.”
That’s old Shifty Jim.
