http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aWQ_mRmkozIU&refer=us... Congressional Democrats, who almost universally oppose the Bush plan, say broadening the discussion is just a smokescreen to provide cover for Bush's agenda.
``We'll oppose private accounts in any clothing,'' said Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Social Security subcommittee. The accounts proposal is ``a wolf,'' he said. ``It would chew up Social Security.''...
... Democrats said there isn't much chance that deadline will be met.
Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat, said Thomas's hearings are ``rigged'' toward favoring Bush's proposals. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Democrats wouldn't be fooled into negotiating a ``bait-and-switch program.'...... The pressure on Democratic lawmakers to remain united against Bush's plan is illustrated by Representative Allen Boyd of Florida, who in December became the only Democrat to sponsor legislation creating accounts.
Two months later, after Bush promoted private accounts in his State of the Union address,
Boyd was the target of ads by Moveon.org, one of the leading activist groups that mobilized against Bush in the last election and is now focused on Social Security.Other Democrats who cross the aisle could suffer a similar fate, said Tom Matzzie, Washington director of Moveon.org.
``This is the beginning of a model,'' he said. ``Day to day, someone would step off message and they would get called on the carpet and told, `Don't do that.'''
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