Why Him?
by digby
The problem with Alan Simpson’s comments is bigger than the fact that he said “tits” and insulted women. Not that it wasn’t crude and sexist of him, mind you. But the real problem is that he seems to believe that social security is some kind of welfare program for lazy old bastards who should either be rich or set out on an ice floe. Here’s what he said:
I’ve made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know ‘em too. It’s the same with any system in America. We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits!
He’s been calling retirees “greedy geezers” for years and seems to think the whole thing is some kind of con game in which elderly people are taking the country for a ride. Does anyone think that is a reasonable approach to this issue, even from the right? It’s nuts.
Despite his puerile insults about others’ alleged inadequate knowledge, and his ridiculous protestations of having an open mind, we know that he’s also tragically uninformed about the way the program works.
And his pathological illogic renders him nearly incomprehensible. Simpson continuously tells the elderly to STFU:
You remember the last time we corrected Social Security, and people calling me. Let me tell you, everything that Bush and Clinton or Obama have suggested with regard to Social Security doesn’t affect anyone over 60, and who are the people howling and bitching the most? The people over 60. This makes no sense. You’ve got scrub out [of] the equation the AARP, the Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicare, the Gray Panthers, the Pink Panther, the whatever.
And here I thought they were greedy geezers who refuse to give up their luxurious retirement for the good of the grandkids, who Simpson is determined to protect:
There are six little people running in and out of my house, called grandchildren, who are absolutely just little lambs led to slaughter. They are totally uncomprehending. They have no idea that when they reach 60—under the present system—they’ll be picking grit with the chickens.
So why does Simpson want to cut those little tykes’ social security?
Of course the real question is why on earth did the administration pull this cadaverous joker out of his own cushy, federally funded retirement to head up the ill-conceived deficit commission in the first place? The only generous reason I can think of is that someone thought that he would sabotage it, but there’s no evidence they want to do that. And in this era of batshit insane politics, counting on some right wing kook to discredit anything is a very risky thing to do — even they must know that.
So you have to assume that Simpson’s fulfilling his designated role. He will make a deal. All he asks is that the geezer parasites, current and future get it out of their heads once and for all that this society should provide some basic security for everyone.
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