Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles on the catfood gravy train. (Larry Downing/Reuters)
Here's just a quick reminder of who Alan Simpson is, and what he thinks about both senior citizens (his "greedy geezers") and Social Security. This is a
letter he sent to the California Alliance for Retired Americans. This group protested a recent swing through the state he and fellow Catfood Commission chair Erskine Bowles made, touting their whatever it is that they do (making money on the scare-old-people lecture circuit).
Erskine Bowles and I thoroughly enjoyed our time on the West Coast and received an excellent reception from folks— at least those who are using their heads and have given up using emotion, fear, guilt or racism to juice up their troops. Your little flyer entitled “Bowles! Simpson! Stop using the deficit as a phony excuse to gut our Social Security!” is one of the phoniest excuses for a “flyer” I have ever seen. You use the faces of young people, who are the ones who are going to get gutted while you continue to push out your blather and drivel. My suggestion to you—an honest one—read the damn report. The Moment of Truth—67 pages, and then tell me if we’re not doing the right thing with Social Security. What a wretched group of seniors you must be to use the faces of the very people that we are trying to save, while the “greedy geezers” like you use them as a tool and a front for your nefarious bunch of crap. You must feel some sense of shame for shoveling out this bulls**t. Read the latest news from the Social Security Trustees. The Social Security System will not “hit the skids” in 2033 instead of 2036. If you can’t understand all of this you need a pane of glass in your naval so you can see out during the day! Read the report. Get back to me. My address is below.
This is just a reminder of where Alan Simpson is coming from for our fearless Democratic leaders. Because, somehow, despite the fact that the old coot
does continue to lie about the
Social Security Trustees Report and what it says about the future of the program, Bowles-Simpson, aka the failed Catfood Commission or simply "BS," has become some Democrats' favorite rallying point. They
love BS now. Here's Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), just
this week:
“I would want to put Bowles-Simpson in place immediately,” Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said Tuesday, adding that it would cut spending, simplify the tax code and fix Medicare and Social Security. “If I couldn’t be re-elected because Bowles-Simpson made some people mad, I could live with that.”
It's not just Udall, though. Here's Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on
Meet the Press this Sunday:
"If we're going to compromise and give the American people an answer instead of a political speech or a soundbyte, we've got to get back to the same basic Bowles-Simpson principles that Paul Ryan and, unfortunately, the three House Republicans, refused to vote for."
Most frighteningly, it's House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA):
During a recent press conference, and again during an interview with Charlie Rose, the California Congresswoman said that she would support what's known as the Simpson-Bowles plan, a budget proposal that was created by the co-chairs of a fiscal commission set up by President Obama (dubbed the "Catfood Commission" by progressives).
Pelosi's spokesperson clarified to say that it was the
framework of BS that she was okay with, but Social Security should be taken out of the mix.
Unfortunately, BS puts Social Security at the center of the mix, and making it the default Democratic position puts Social Security front and center. Which has been Alan Simpson's raison d'etre for decades. He's been literally unhinged on the issue since he was in Congress. He remains unhinged. And the report he wrote with Erskine Bowles (which, for the billionth time, is not official in any way, shape, or form) should be disregarded because Simpson was not participating in an unbiased, good-faith way. But more importantly, his recommendations for Social Security are punitive and destructive to the program and unnecessary.