Troll-B-Gon
Posted on 02/02/2005 2:28:12 PM PST by The Loan Arranger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat in the Senate on Tuesday predicted that President Bush's plan to revamp social security by diverting taxes into private investment accounts would fail to pass Congress.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid was speaking as Bush prepared to use his State of the Union address on Wednesday to argue for his proposals and then follow up with a five-state tour to campaign for the new investment accounts.
"President Bush should forget about privatizing Social Security," the Nevada Democrat said. "It will not happen. The sooner he comes to that realization, the better off we are."
Bush has yet to spell out details of his plan but hopes to build public support and win over some Democrats while shoring up support from his own Republicans who control Congress.
Without Democratic support, the plan will fail to win the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles which can block any major piece of legislation in the 100-member Senate.
Reid said none of the 44 Democrats in the Senate would back a plan that diverts Social Security taxes into accounts that workers would invest in stocks and bonds. Opponents argue it would only add to Social Security's financial problems, force big cuts in benefits and add to ballooning budget deficits.
But Bush and his supporters argue it will help preserve the retirement system for generations to come.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush wants bipartisan support and will talk about the problems facing Social Security as he travels Thursday and Friday to North Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas and Florida.
"We hope that people will focus on solutions and what they're for, rather than trying to stand up and simply oppose things that they are against," McClellan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Harry Reid 1999
"[M]ost of us have no problem with taking a small amount of the Social Security proceeds and putting it into the private sector."
The only thing I have to say to these negative democrats is:
FU and the horse you road in on.
nikos
Harry Reid: The Walking Cadaver
Sounds like nice nice negotiations are over, time to bust heads in the Senate. They need to fear for their seats. I'm sure we can find 4 without spines.
Reid is a fool too. He, like the rest of the leftists, do not give a damn about what the people need, and what is best for the country. They only care about regaining total power in the Congress and their present strategy, that of total obstruction is the reason behind this moron's negativism. It is all they have, all they stand for, and none of it says AMERICA on it.
I understand that all federal employees have this option. How come not the ones who pay their salaries????
Hope those words taste as good going back down as they did when he uttered them ;-}
Chile does it. Apparantly, the 'Rats believe we are less able to handle our own investments than are the Chileans. "100% Government solution or we won't agree!" No wonder these idiots keep losing elections and seats.
All hat, no cattle Harry. Yes, there are some worthless RINOs on the R side (e.g., Chaffee). There may also be a persuadable moderate or two on the D side (e.g., Ben Nelson). My guess is that if the bill is reasonable and W is willing to take the case to the public, like Reagan was, then there is a good chance for a small step in the right direction.
Mr President, take it to the people....
Bring back tar and feathers. If it's ok for Congress, it's ok for private citizens you bastards.
You can say that agin.
We would have to overcome a fillibuster though.
That could be impossible.
The only thing that's dead is Harry Reid's brain.
It isn't the fault of the horse.
I have been talking to a very smart young man, but he supports Bush on this even though he is Dem.
Harry doesn't realized the Soc Sec reform is a winning issue. When he says the President's plan is dead, Harry is saying, the Dems will fillabuster it, just like they did with the energy plan. I say, fine and dandy. fillabustering is a far cry from having a bill that both houses of congress can vote on and I predict that consensus will be reached on some plan. The political price for opposing that plan will be heavy. It basically comes down to this, Harry and the Dems are betting that the same ole demagoging will win the day. I say they are in for a shock and Carl Rove is willing to bet on it.
Memo to self, its fillibuster moron.
Give me 10 minutes with the socialist pig. I'll straighten this out!
Quincy Adams Wagstaff
(paraphrased)
Yeah, but in 2006, we'll have a veto-proof majority (if they keep going this way), and the Rats trying to block this will kill them with the young voters for years. I KNOW that most of these kids are furious about Social Security, and there's not one kid I teach that believes it will be there for them.
He will get a lot of support from the media, who have been pretending since last November that there are NO PROBLEMS with the social security system. I wonder how many people will believe them after they declared the opposite was true for the last 50 years.
In any case, is a dangerous sort of challenge to issue, especially without qualification. He just said a few days ago that he was going to block the A.G. appointment, and then he backed down two days later. That makes him look weak and foolish.
This strikes me as lose-lose. If he retreats, he'll be seen as a man whose word is worthless. If he stands fast, he'll be seen as an obstructionist. The media didn't save his sorry *ss over the Gonzalez affair, and I doubt if they'll do it on this either.
hahahahaha!
nikos
Because in the new scheme of things, they're the Lords, and we're just the commoners.
"Bring it on"
You tell 'em Harry, that was worth 200,000 votes for the Pubs at mid-term elections.
"[M]ost of us have no problem with taking a small amount of the Social Security proceeds and putting it into the private sector."
A DemonRAT flipping to spite President Bush? Say it ain't so, Joe.
Harry Reid is a flyweight wannabe. He's the face in front of the curtain. We know who the puppet master is, and her name ain't Harry.
Reid and the 'Rats: "All YOUR Social Security Taxes are belong to US!"
Sooner or later, the pubbies will have to grow the balls to face down a filibuster. A 60 seat majority is a pipe dream which would require a minimum of two election cycles.
Won't happen, SS "reform." Sorry righties.
He's writing some checks his ass can't cash.
Government employees in states like California allow people to opt out of SS altogether.
They call it 'deferred compensation'. They do not pay into the pool, and neither does the state.
Why is this okay for some, and not for all. With as many people as California has on this plan, how can it not escapes somebody's attention back in DC on the right?
Both of my brothers are on it, and they are both flappin' their gums about Bush monkeying with SS. More than that, both of them have side businesses that are all cash, and they don't report the income.
Both want tax hikes. My dad is the same, and he for years earned thousands as an electrician on the side - all unreported.
Liberalism is a disease of whatever lobe of the brain is responsible for logic.
Cower? Nah; I just continue plotting for 2006.
That is what a minority leader is supposed to do. He has more nut in his shorts than Frist and Lott combined.
With four years left to rape the Treasury, Bush's State of the Union address outlines his goal
to leave the cupboard bare for seniors, continue the bloodletting in Iraq, push for imperialism
abroad while taunting the gelding Dem,ocrats who service his every whim.
His ideas for the Treasury rape scored just two sentences in last year's lying State of the Union.
This year, it's the signature topic of his 40-minute speech before his subjects and a cowed nation of victims.
The White House says Bush will offer new details about his plan to let Enron-type brokers to divert some of
their Social Security payroll taxes into their pockets.
Oh it won't happen huh?
This man evidently is unaware that tossing down a challenge like that only causes people to redouble their efforts to make sure it WILL pass. I know this is the case with me. No elected SENATOR will tell ME what will or will not pass. These people are supposed to represent ME and other Americans. Since I'm in a "blue" state I'm going to enjoy giving the offices of Cantwell and Murray hell over this. Perfect opportunity for me to reach out to Dems my age and get them onboard too since they support reform for obvious reasons.
Will happen, SS "reform." Sorry lefties.
Die.
They call it 'deferred compensation'. They do not pay into the pool, and neither does the state.
Why is this okay for some, and not for all. With as many people as California has on this plan, how can it not escapes somebody's attention back in DC on the right?
I could've sworn that local/state gubmints can't do that anymore. Then again, we're dealing with a 'RAT-infested gubmint in Kalifornica (Arnold excepted), so that would explain it.
Troll-B-Gon
Frankly, you are right. Make them stay up all night until they cave.
Bush cannot make the same mistake he made with regard to Iraq in 2003, postwar. He needs to come out swinging against this anti-reform demagoguery, starting TONIGHT.
Otherwise, like the opposition to the Iraq war, it will become the new conventional wisdom among the "sheeple."
But if we make them actually have to do a physical filibuster, to really stand there and speak continuously for days, weeks, months at a time...and if we don't let any of their pork into anything, and won't devote any time to anything else, they can probably be literally physically brutalized by exhaustion into submission.
Meanwhile, the country will see them up there everyday, droning on like morons about nothing, while our privately own accounts are frustrated.
How I wish the Republican leaders would know when to show fang and make a filibuster actually be a FILIBUSTER. If they PHYSICALLY fail because they cannot go on, if they flag, you take the floor and close debate. Let them exhaust themselves and lose anyway when someone swoons in the middle of the night.
On judicial nominees and Social Security, the Republicans have got to be willing to take it to the mattresses.
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