Rand Paul steps up the GOP attack on Social Security

[Zorro]

Travel obligations kept me from addressing until now the attack on Social Security disability recipients made last week by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), but it was too outstandingly ignorant and cynical to go unanswered.

Long story short: If Paul's words truly represent the Republican Party's approach to Social Security, then not just the disabled but everyone else with an interest in the program -- taxpayers, retirees and their survivors and dependents -- should start panicking now. We reported on the first shot fired at Social Security by the new GOP Congress here. Paul has now raised the stakes.

Here are his words, delivered to an appreciative audience on Wednesday in the key presidential primary state of New Hampshire:
"The thing is that all of these programs, there’s always somebody who’s deserving, everybody in this room knows somebody who’s gaming the system. I tell people that if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldn’t be getting a disability check. Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesn’t get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everyone over 40 has a back pain."

Paul thus associates himself with a slander of disability recipients favored by Republican conservatives abetted by ill-informed journalists, who include the staffs of NPR and "60 Minutes." (We reported earlier on the latter's abandonment of journalistic standards in its disability coverage.)

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-rand-pauls-supremely-cynical-attack-on-social-security-20150119-column.html

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

1. I consider it a physical war being waged against me...personally...when we all feel that way we

will then be able to deal with it.

They are trying to kill you, believe it.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Every SSDI gamer I know ...

is a Republican.

[COLGATE4]

3. Many years ago I worked with an Elderlaw Clinic that

provided free legal services to elderly folks without substantial economic resources. Part of that work involved appealing denial of Social Security Disability benefits.

It was a given then (and I have no reason to believe it has changed much now) that an initial application for SSDI would almost always result in a denial, irrespective of how disabled the applicant actually was. A denial meant the applicant then had to find an attorney willing to handle the laborious and complicated appeal process which then (many months later) would go before an Administrative Law Judge. Most often, that appeal was also denied. I had the good fortune to eventually win two appeals for my clients, one of which went on so long that the client died before the denial was reversed.

At the risk of stating the obvious, getting Social Security Disability benefits is nothing like the easy ride to free money the Rethugs love to complain about. To the contrary, it's a system which leaves many legitimately disabled people struggling to even have a minimal existence. Paul's latest dog whistle is truly below contempt.

[yurbud]

4. that's a winning issue for the GOP.

Ask Baby Bush.