Posted on 04/02/2005 5:54:39 PM PST by bitt
WASHINGTON - Just five months after the presidential election, Democratic lawmakers are traveling throughout the country to campaign anew against President Bush and his agenda.
This time, though, the stakes are the future of Social Security rather than control of the White House.
The battle over "strengthening Social Security," as the White House and Treasury Department call it, has renewed the conflict between many of the same people and organizations that clashed in November.
The liberal online group MoveOn.org, labor unions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several umbrella organizations are back at it, arguing for and against Bush's proposed personal investment accounts for Social Security.
They are using many of the same campaign tactics: apocalyptic television ads - in one case recalling the Titanic hitting an iceberg; boisterous town hall meetings; mass e-mails to reporters.
Among those involved are activists associated with the Swift Boat group, which attacked the Vietnam War record of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, and top officials who worked last year with the Democrats competing for the right to unseat Bush.
"The president is running a presidential-style campaign on this," said Erik Smith, who advised former Rep. Dick Gephardt when the Missouri Democrat sought his party's presidential nomination.
Today, Smith is preparing anti-privatization ads along with Jim Jordan, Kerry's former campaign manager. "I think once a public debate starts, you need to engage," Smith said.
Brian McCabe, president of Progress for America, a leading supporter of Bush's effort, said, "I think that a lot of people thought after the election we wouldn't see so much advertising on the air again, but Social Security came out of the box quickly, and a lot of the groups that engaged last year began to engage again."...
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotte.com ...
We have the power, just ignore the jacka@@ and get it done.
It's strange, the number of retired people that think that their SS is going to change. They are not listening to the Pres.. He isn't going to change what we are already getting it's the next generation that needs to do something for themselves rather than think it's going to be handed to them on a platter.
www.generationstogether.net sign up now and show your support. If we don't get a handle on the debt now, all the dollars collected for general revenue and FICA will be needed just to pay the interest on the national debt.
SS is a promise that cannot be kept. Unless eliminated it will disappoint Americans and bankrupt America.
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