Fighting fire with fire

Fine.  If Republicans want to divert attention away from issues that real Americans care about by pandering to the right -- with flag burning, gay marriage, the estate tax, guns and religion -- then we will try some strategy of our own.  But unlike the Republican strategy, ours is more substantive.

Bruce Braley, who is running for U.S. Congress as a Democrat in the state of Iowa, used the Democratic radio address to expose what the Republicans want to do to Social Security in 2007 if they maintain control of Congress

"If the Republican plan is allowed to pass, future generations bothhere and across the country will be saddled with decades of debt and noguaranteed retirement security," Bruce Braley said in the Democrats'weekly radio address.

Braley, 48, a lawyer from Waterloo, faces Republican Mike Whalen inthe contest to fill the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. JimNussle, who is running for governor. The race is considered one of themore competitive in the country.

Braley said Social Security is under attack, with President Bush andcongressional Republicans making privatization a top priority in 2007.He also accused the Bush administration of "plundering the SocialSecurity trust fund while giving billions away to special interests,like big oil."

"They are spending the money seniors rely on while making no effortto balance the budget or protect the limited funds we have forretirement security," he said.

..."This is the same team that set out to reform Medicare but insteadlet lobbyists create a confusing, expensive program that was littlemore than a payoff to the big pharmaceutical and insurance companies,"Braley said of the Medicare prescription drug plan.

The truth cannot be denied.  Even this Fox News article admits that the Bush Social Security plan, if enacted, would add $2 trillion worth of transition costs to the National Debt.  So you want to talk about fear?  This is actually what will happen in 2007 unless Democrats gain a majority in Congress this November.  We need a majority that will stick up for the common folk.

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Other blogs writing about this issue: Dad29, Thoughts of an Average Woman.