Social Security para nosotros

We are about to have Dubya and Company try to pull another fast one on us. I’m referring to the attempt to undermine and destroy Social Security through privatization. Anyone with half a brain can see that this is precisely the same tactic that was used to “sell” us the war in Iraq. The Washington Post reported: “The campaign will use Bush's campaign-honed techniques of mass repetition, never deviating from the script and using the politics of fear to build support -- contending that a Social Security financial crisis is imminent when even Republican figures show it is decades away.” The full article is located at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7797-2005Jan13.html?referrer=email In other words, we will have the same types of lies and Chicken Little statements from the White House and other administration stooges.

I wonder how much longer the American people will listen to the lies spun by this administration. Steve Soto in the Left Coaster http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/003689.html#more has put together a cogent plan to deal with this pessimistic and disgraceful attack on a program that meets the needs of the vast majority of hard-working Americans.

Those of us living in New York need to carefully consider Steve’s advice and we should begin to concentrate on House and Senate elections in the Blue States. I would like to suggest that the current set of three “moderate” Republican Congressmen from Central New York are very vulnerable. Soto only listed Walsh [NY-25]. I’m referring to Mc Hugh [NY-23], Boehlert [NY-24] and Walsh [NY-25]. All of whom come from districts with significant Social Security recipients. Let's look at the NY 23d, Mc Hugh won the last election with 147,033 votes against a relative unknown, Dr. Bob Johnson, who won 59,865 votes with virtually no money. However, there are 117,746 SSA recipients in the NY 23rd with 69,562 retirees, 17,328 on disability and 12,737 widow(er)s! Each of these candidates has a number of cross-over media markets – so a campaign based on Social Security and other progressive issues could realistically deal with the records of Walsh, McHugh and Boehlert. The region is changing – Schumer won easily and we recently defeated NLH! CNY has seen enormous job loss – Carrier shipped an entire division to China. Another issue has been AMTRAK and other forms of mass transit which the Red Staters like Istook [R-OK] have opposed – remember the fight over this issue. IMHO, a solid regional campaign could make a number of these NE “moderates” vulnerable. The national and state Dems need to look at these three seats – invest the money in CNY as part of the march to recapture the House.