Ring the bell!
The first member of the Conscience Caucus bites the dust.
It was only two short weeks ago that Rep. Sherry Boehlert, master of moderation from Upstate New York, was not only in the Caucus. He was on the brink of being Loud and Proud. He told his constituents: “Iâve never been a gambler ⦠I donât want to gamble with Social Security trust fund moneys. And so I am very, very skeptical of the so-called plans to privatize. And I think a disservice is being done to a great many Americans by sort of sounding the alarm that everythingâs going to hell in a hand basket and weâre going to be broke by 2018. That simply is not so.”
But look what a change has now been wrought.
Just moments after President Bush got done with his phase-out peroration, he posted this statement on his congressional website: “[President Bush’s] message to Congress was clear â we must strengthen Social Security for all Americans â and I couldnât agree more. As legislators it is our responsibility to debate all proposals from top to bottom. Americans have a right to a safe and secure retirement, and we will protect benefits for retirees and future retirees. It would be a major injustice to all Americans if we donât act now – the worst thing we can do is nothing at all. Americans deserve the peace of mind of knowing they will receive full benefits for their retirement.”
Oh My!
We’re still poking around to see what prompted Sherry’s change of heart. We just hope it wasn’t W’s helicopter love. However that may be, it looks like Sherry’s a phase-out man after all, or at least for the moment. So he’s outta the Conscience Caucus.
But as we’ll discuss in posts later this evening, it turns out there’s plenty more where he came from.
