I am not ready to eat crow and assume the cuts to Social Security are off the table. [View all]

[madfloridian]

I am eagerly awaiting word that the new COLA using Chained CPI is no longer up for discussion.

So far I have not seen anything definitive. I have seen pictures of crows and read call outs for those of us who are speaking up about Democrats putting such cuts up for discussion with a bunch of extremist Republicans.

Let me quote Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. Then I will quote the words of a union leader.

Chained CPI Not A Deal Breaker For Many Democrats

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), however, said this week that she did not consider chained CPI a benefit cut and that she could get enough Democrats to support it.

More from Pelosi:

Pelosi and Hoyer keeping an open mind to cuts to entitlement programs

The Democrats will stick with the president,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday when asked about the Social Security provisions on MSNBC.

Pelosi emphasized that the details of the plan “are not all ironed out,” and acknowledged that “maybe not every single Democrat” would support it. But she expressed confidence that an agreement backed by Obama — if it protected the oldest and the poorest — would win significant support from her troops.

Steny Hoyer, from that same article:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) delivered a similar message Tuesday.

“Everybody needs to understand that nobody is going to be happy with every provision of a deal,” Hoyer warned. “Some members will have problems with some parts, but … if we get an agreement that the president can support, hopefully we can get a majority in the House — Republicans and Democrats — and Speaker John Boehner [R-Ohio] and the leader Pelosi and I will convince members that we ought to move forward.”

Hoyer added, “Affecting entitlements would not be our first choice, but then again, I don’t think you get there from here without dealing, in some respects, with entitlements.”

And the vague indefinite words from Richard Trumka on the chained CPI:

Richard Trumka On Fiscal Cliff: Not Ready To Blow Up Deal Over Obama's Social Security Concession

In other words it sounds like he does not want to be the first to blink. If everyone acts that way, no telling what we will end up with in the final agreement.

WASHINGTON -- The head of the most powerful union federation in the country is holding off judgment on President Obama's most recent debt reduction proposal, despite its inclusion of cuts to Social Security beneficiaries.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka called the chained-CPI proposal offered by Obama as part of his recent effort to resolve the so-called fiscal cliff standoff, "bad policy" that he and his group were strongly against. But in an interview with The Huffington Post on Thursday morning, Trumka stopped notably short of urging Democrats to walk away from the table because of it.

"I want to see more of the details. But we oppose the cuts," Trumka said. "We'll oppose the cuts. We will be talking to them about a number of things. Obviously I want to look at the whole deal before we make any decision."

Trumka, like others in the labor community, has been placed in a political pickle following the president's most recent offer. Having spent months demanding that Democrats remove Social Security from the negotiating table, he's now confronted with the choice of supporting a deal with those very cuts, or demanding their removal and risking no deal at all. The latter would mean no chained-CPI, which would result in less generous cost of living adjustments for those on Social Security. But it also would mean the loss of two other labor priorities: unemployment benefits and infrastructure money, both of which are also in Obama's latest proposal.

And what about all our calls and emails?

So what do you do when the president puts Social Security cuts on the table for discussion? You can say they are not cuts, they are making it stronger. We have heard that so many times before.

Sounds to me like all three leaders above are not paying attention to what the people are saying very loudly..."no cuts to Social Security." They seem to be determined to stay on talking points and not make waves about it.

When people are ridiculed and asked to eat crow before all the facts are in, there is a dark cloud put over honest and clear discussions of party policy.

It should not be us vs them in an atmosphere of gotcha.