Forums: Social Aspects Of Television

Can Social Security save Democrats this fall?By Chris Cillizza September 1, 2010; 10:08 AM ET Democrats, faced with a worsening national political climate and daunting historical midterm election trends, are turning to Social Security as an issue where they believe they can score political points and set the stakes of what a Republican-controlled Congress would look like. **SNIP** The strategy behind the Democratic attacks is simple. Older voters are deeply suspicious of any changes to the retirement program -- it's not an accident that Social Security is referred to as the "third rail of American politics" -- and they also...

Social Security, what Social Security? The Sunday, August 15, 2010, edition of the Herald Democrat, headlines read, "Obama claims GOP trying to destroy Social Security." There's no secret that Social Security is already destroyed. For more than two thirds of the 75 years of the Social Security Administration's life, it has been under the control of the Democratic controlled administrations. The so called "Social Security's lock box" was robbed in 1962 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and his administration. They took their "private key" and unlocked the sacred "locked box" of the Social Security "trust" funds. They transferred "trillions of...

Around 7:30 this morning, noted financial columnist for the New York Times Andrew Ross Sorkin made an astounding statement that I can only paraphrase. He said that a recent Paul Krugman piece in the NYT was encouraging that the Social Security Trust Fund may actually be in better shape than generally believed and may actually have a longer expected life than the (around) 2037 forecast. When Joe Kernan and the guest at that time (Ed Yardeni) challenged him saying there's nothing in the trust fund, Ross Sorkin came back saying "well I found Krugman's piece very persuasive." The link is...

Obama: Social Security won't be privatizedBy the CNN Wire Staff August 18, 2010 12:08 p.m. EDT Columbus, Ohio (CNN) -- President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday that the Social Security system won't be privatized while he is in the White House. In a town-hall style meeting with a few dozen residents of Columbus, Ohio, Obama said "modest" changes can keep the government pension system solvent for decades. Republicans have called for transforming the government program to a private savings account as a way to help keep it going as America's aging population stresses its financial health. "It will not be privatized...

President Obama said Social Security is not in crisis and only modest changes are needed to keep it solvent. The president acknowledged at a small town hall gathering in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday that the pension fund "has to be tweaked because the population is getting older" but said Republicans' plans to drastically overhaul the program are wrong. "Social Security is not in crisis," Obama said. "We're going to have to make some modest adjustments in order to strengthen it." Social Security has become a significant campaign issue during the August recess — Democrats have attacked the GOP,

The Third Rail: What To Do With Social Security?Touching Entitlements Poses Danger for Both Parties By Z. BYRON WOLF August 16, 2010 Painting Republicans as bogeymen who want to privatize sacred entitlement programs, Democrats have turned to Social Security to save them in the coming Midterm election. David Wright on what voters were saying on biggest day of mid-term primaries."I'll fight with everything I've got to stop those who want to gamble your social security on Wall Street," President Obama said in his weekly video address on Saturday, the 75 anniversary of Social Security's enactment. Along with Medicare, Social Security...

Don't they usually wait until after Labor Day to do this? Ten days ago, I asserted that that the administration's cynical use of Andy Griffith for a patently political promo on behalf of Medicare ("This year, as always, we’ll have our guaranteed benefits, and with the new healthcare law, more good things are coming: free check-ups, lower prescription costs") was "the foundation for the biennial Democratic scare-the-seniors campaign."Well, the Social Security portion of that scare campaign kicked in this morning.

Obama claims GOP trying to destroy Social Security21 minutes ago By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer (AP:WASHINGTON) President Barack Obama used the anniversary of Social Security to trumpet Democrats' support for the popular program and accuse Republicans of trying to destroy it. Seventy-five years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law, Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday: "We have an obligation to keep that promise, to safeguard Social Security for our seniors, people with disabilities and all Americans _ today, tomorrow and forever." Some Republican leaders in Congress are "pushing to make privatizing...