Been Away from Here. Got Apathetic. Then Got Pissed. Had to come back and vent.

[Armstead]

146. If benefits are not kee;ping up now, why make it worse?

You are correct. One of the drivers of this has been the tendency to raid SS to pat for other shit.

And you are also correct. The GOP (and timiod Dems) are unlikely to vote for raising the cap for SS Taxes anytime soon.

However, that should be all the more reason NOT to cave in to the GOP and continue to set the tone and terms of the debate on how to fix it. Both for humane reasons AND political ones.

The humane reasons are obvious.

The political ones should be equally obvious. For years, even Republicans were afraid to go after the Third Rail of SS and propose cutting the programs benefits. Because even they knew it was a POPULAR program. The few times they have tried, they quickly backed off because of the political shitstorm they encountered from the public.

Instead they have gone after it in devious and backdoor ways. Even Paul Ryan, one of their main hatchet men, pretended to be defending and "saving" SS and benefits, even as he was trying to giut the program.

One of the political strengths of Democrats has always been the perception that they will protect SS matter what. That has been their main selling point.

That is what Obama and the rest of the Dem leadership should be doing now. Instead of buying into and reinforcing the GOP cries of "wolf" the Dems should be even stronger in defending benefits and driving the message.

This chained CPI proposal is just caving into the GOP, giving them more ammo. And in voters minds it is going tp weaken the Democrats political position. It's pretty obvious what is going to be going on in the minds of "swing" independent voters if Democrats walk away from their traditional support of SS. "Why should we vote for Democrats? They're not defending SS anymore. They're jusgt as bad as Republicans."

Instead of that the Democrats should be pushing back even harder against the Teabaggers. That's not only the correct thing to do, it is also politically smarter than caving into them.