WP: Hastert Cautions Bush On Social Security Changes

[kskiska]

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has warned the White House that voters are not yet ready to accept fundamental changes to Social Security as wary Republicans are cautioning the president to be as vague as possible about his plan.

White House and congressional GOP tacticians said yesterday that they now see little chance that Bush will issue a detailed plan for partially privatizing Social Security the way he released specific proposals for tax cuts and other major initiatives.

Key leaders including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) have urged Bush to speak in general terms about altering Social Security and to leave it to Congress to develop specific proposals.

This contrasts with an earlier Capitol Hill strategy of letting the president take the lead -- and take most of the political heat -- in pushing for changes in the politically sensitive Social Security program.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17509-2005Feb11.html

[clydefrand]

1. Repugs are cautioning...

the president to be as vague as possible about his plan.

How can he NOT be vague with a mind as absent as his.

[forintegrity]

2. He's so incompetent

and doesn't even know how to explain the plan in his own words!

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. "Be as vague as possible." I guess that means it's full steam ahead.

[genieroze]

4. vague = lie. eom

[Erika]

5. Or put otherwise, the public is not as dumb as the GOP

thought they were. Nor do they trust W.

Any DC rep who tries to push this insane privatization of SS will meet with the same fate.

[Kimber Scott]

6. He doesn't have a plan. He just wants it privatized, it's up to other

people to figure out the details. He's not a detail kind of guy. Here's the big picture, though, in a nutshell: BANKRUPT THE GOVERNMENT. Then every neocon dream will come true.

[Mountainman]

7. The investment bankers aren't finished writing his plan yet.

But what every you do George, don't tell the people the truth, they may note vote for us if we do that.

[applegrove]

8. Exactly! Vague also stops meaningful debate and encourages wrong debates.

Exactly! Vague also stops meaningful debate and encourages wrong debates.

Will Bush drop his plan in a few months and drop the assumption Bombs he has made? And if the Democrats have been debating with different or old assumptions - why then their well constructed opposition falls apart - COMPLETELY!

More bullshit from the Palace of Smoke & Mirrors.

Someone needs to ask Bush specifically: "What are your assumptions regarding SS in the future?" in other words how do they come up with the date 2042?

[CoffeeCat]

9. So, what does that mean?

So, the president will introduce the vague proposal--then Congress will fill in and pass the horrible specifics?

Why is the president bothering to do his PR tour, if that's what they plan to do!? Why do they bother informing us of anything?

Why don't they just pass a bill that says the Constitution is dead--under the name, "Liberate Americans From the Shackles of the Past"?

Bastards.

I see my Senator--Grassley--is one of the main culprits of this.
I didn't know he cared so little about the people of Iowa. It's his job to serve his constituents, not kow tow to this scumbag president. He'll be receiving some terse communication from me.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. "voters are not yet ready"

Iow, they need to be exposed to the big Lie a tad longer.

[gulliver]

11. ... right after the phone call from the White House ...

... either telling "Denny" to do it or giving him permission.