Are things going so

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Are things going so badly on phase-out that the president is threatening to do “something drastic”?

Seems so.

Just off the wire from Bloomberg …

President George W. Bush, facing a decline in public support for private Social Security accounts, said “something drastic has to happen” to fix the retirement safety net that has served workers for decades.

Without changes to the system, younger taxpayers won’t be able to collect Social Security after paying into it for years, Bush told a crowd today in Westfield, New Jersey. “If we act now, we can do it in a way that saves the system for younger workers,” he said.

What a small-minded bully this man is. <$Ad$>When the public begins to turn against him all he can think to do is up the antics and the melodrama. “Something drastic has to happen.” What a thing for a president to say? Think about it. Something drastic? FDR was right about more than just Social Security. Also with, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And it’s good to remember that now because fear is the only thing this man has to peddle.

A new National Journal poll just out finds that disapproval of the president on Social Security risen to 61% from 52% in January.

And along those lines Bloomberg also tells us more about Rep. Mike Ferguson (R) of New Jersey, the president’s host today in Westfield. Ferguson is another first-tier Social Security bamboozler who’s repeatedly tried to hoodwink his constituents in just the same way as Rep. Heather Wilson or New Mexico.

And now we see, on the very day President Bush is in town, he’s trying to slither away from his support for phasing out Social Security.

“The congressman still has a lot of questions that he’s looking to get answered about the plans and proposals that are being talked about to strengthen Social Security,” his spokesperson Abby Bird tells Bloomberg. He thinks private accounts maybe “part of the solution,” but not the sole answer.

It’s too late, isn’t it? Ferguson’s for phase-out and he has been for years. There’s nothing left to figure out about it. The least he could do is be a stand-up guy about it like Santorum and say what he believes in even when the tide is turning against him.

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: