Dumb Dems Getting Mugged For Social Security by Bush-Snow Tag Team

This is such a clarion piece of news from Bob Somerby that I feel compelled to pass it along to the progressive anti-privatization people who may have missed it.

The Bush-Snow tag team is off on their 60 Stops in 60 Days Public (Re)education Spectacular.  It's a 60 round mugging of the American mind.

Just like all good muggers, the Bamboozlepalooza Brothers will cow their victims into handing over the goods without a fair fight.  But it's more of a reenactment of a WWF drubbing -- you know, the ones in which the good guys always lose -- because the bad guys get to mug their victims using all sorts of DIRTY TRICKS.

Transition Costs

We need to read and discuss Bob Somerby and his complaint regarding the Education Spectacular.  Otherwise, the bad boys are gonna really "teach us a lesson."  On Thursday, Somerby wrote:  

[H]ave you ever seen a single big paper devote a story to an obvious question--how much the transition to private accounts is actually going to cost? What's the answer? Was the CBO right when it said the transition would cost $15 trillion over five decades? How accurate was the CBPP when it said that the first two decades alone would cost some $4.9 trillion? Readers, doesn't this seem like an obvious topic--a question any big paper would tackle? But we haven't seen a single paper devote a stand-alone story to this. It's just as we've told you for year after year: The culture of our modern "press corps" is almost totally fact-averse. They flee from facts as saints avoid sin.

 Just like that lousy referee on Saturday morning wrestling, the bad guys come in swinging chairs, tieing their opponents shoelaces together, poking the good guys in the eye, and every other dastardly deed, but the ref just stands there like he doesn't see anything wrong.  That's how the American media are letting the Bamboozle Boys mug America.

Scott McClellan pointed out on Thursday,

And we're going to be blanketing the country with administration officials, White House officials, and the President himself, talking to the American people in the coming weeks, and identifying the problems facing Social Security.

And this is how the mismatch unfolds.  The media don't let the muggers get away with just a couple of cruel misdeeds.  But day after day, week after week, and -- sigh -- MONTH after MONTH -- the Bu$hco Boys are pummeling away at the consciousness of America:  saturation:  carpet bombing.

And already, some of our heroes are wobbling.  They aren't scared, yet.  No, they're still saying, "There is no crisis!"

But the muggers have a new dirty trick in their arsenal.  (It's like the scene in Wrestling where the ref pretends to look away and the bad guy reaches into his trunks and pulls out a pair of brass knuckles to use on his unwitting victim.  The crowd screams desperately for the stupid referee to see and interdict the evildoer, but he's so seemingly out to lunch it doesn't work.  Our hero gets hammered.)

Somerby warns us:  It's a mugging!  It's a fix!  It's the same old dirty game, and the good guys are going to lose!

Add-on Accounts

Somerby lays out the ugly state of affairs for the helpless fans:  

What does this mean? Simple. Unprepared Democrats like Joe Biden have to stop praising the notion of "add-ons." Instead, they need to start speaking up in praise of those future promised benefits. They have to look for ways to ensure that those benefits will still be there for future retirees. Once they've done that, there surely won't be money for any "additional" accounts.

What will Bush do, if he's eventually forced to propose these "add-on" accounts? Simple: He'll leave the current funding shortfall in place, then set up those "additional" accounts. But that will leave that $3.7 trillion shortfall in the traditional program. Next step? In a future Congress, benefits will have to be cut to make the traditional system fully solvent. This brings us back to what Bush is now seeking: A major drop in guaranteed benefits, paired with private accounts.

Biden, Obama, and Amy Goodman may be on our side, but Bu$hco has coreographed this whole 60-round death match.  Our side is playing right into their hands.  Somerby is right.

What's an ordinary Democrat to do?  You shout at the referee to wake up and make those bad guys play fair, but he doesn't.  Neither do the media report the facts, or even ask questions pertaining to the facts.

So, after about 60 rounds of double teaming, gross distortions of the truth, and saturation bombing, the Dems will be ready to capitulate.  Why?  Because the Bamboozle Boys have their game plan down, and it's a perfect mugging, complete with ambush, setup and take.

Please read the Somerby Daily Howler and let's try to help our heros defend themselves by passing on some insight on Self Defense 101.

Meanwhile, call the media and tell them:  We're being mugged!  Don't you see how we have to stick to the rules?

No private accounts.  Fully fund Social Security.