Edward Coyle, Retiree Advocate: No Judge 'Would Allow Alan Simpson To Serve On A Jury If Social Security Were On Trial'

Opponents of cutting Social Security benefits for retired Americans won't relent in their mission to convince President Obama that Alan Simpson should not lead the president's deficit commission, which may recommend cuts to retirees' benefits.

"There is not a judge in this country that would allow Alan Simpson to serve on a jury if Social Security were on trial," said Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, in a statement. "Co-chairing a presidential panel is serious business. Much like serving on a jury, it requires a fair, balanced, and honest evaluation of the evidence. By this reasonable yardstick, Alan Simpson has disqualified himself from serving on this commission."

Social Security stands accused of aiding and abetting an unconscionable national budget deficit. The jury is the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, is the co-foreman -- even though he called Social Security "a milk cow with 310 million tits!" last week.

Simpson apologized for the statement and the White House said he would remain co-chairman of the commission despite mounting pressure to ask for his resignation.

"Simpson's remarks were not only deeply hurtful and inaccurate, but they clearly compromise his ability to objectively weigh the arguments presented to the commission during its deliberations,' said Coyle. "His conduct is unbecoming someone trusted with this level of responsibility, and it is time for President Obama to replace him with someone with a greater sense of comportment and impartiality."

Simpson's milk cow remark is the most recent in a series of cranky statements -- he said most of the people anxious about Social Security who write him are "people who live in gated communities and drive their Lexus to the Perkins restaurant to get the AARP discount," for instance.

Social Security's actuaries estimate it can pay out full benefits until 2037.

Comments

[ManwithaParachute]

11:54 AM on 09/01/2010

Obama Administration: Let's fire Sherrod before Beck tonite.

Obama Administration: We won't fire Simpsons for expressing himself.

[dfranz]

11:51 AM on 09/01/2010

Nothing will end a political carrear faster than supporting dismantling Social Security or forcing people to retire so old that the benefit cannot be collected.

The solution is relatively simple. Change the amount of income subject to the tax. The wealth redistribution over the last 30 years has put 10% of the population with 90% of the wealth. There is a moral requirement that they who have been so fortunate must contribute to those less fortunate.

[suzc]

10:27 AM on 09/01/2010

It is absolutely unfathomable to me why ANYone in Middle Class America (what's left of it) would EVER vote for ANY Republican, since every Republican in power, in elected office, acts only for the very very very rich of which they become a part, and acts against the interests of every Republican and Independent who make less than a million a year, maybe 5Mil.

WHY do people vote AGAINST their OWN interest time after time after time???

(Simpson is just one example of the many of anti-American-People Republicans.)

[wayoutleft]

10:26 AM on 09/01/2010

From its inception, the Washington press has been ninnies for colorful old codgers like Byrd, Simpson, Thurmond, et al.- absolute saps. The press corps has this urban legend superstition that these codgers embody some sort of ineffable heartland folk wisdom. They keep their relief that this folk wisdom squares up remarkably well with their own careerism to themselves. And serious operatives like Obama are relieved that these pointless farmyard analogies dovetail with their own Harvard-Wall Street-Washington mindset.
But mostly the people themselves are about to give away their social security because they're spooked by apocalyptic phantasms brilliantly concocted to play into their own guilt. More than banker errand boy Paul Ryan, Simpson can scare them with the folksy similes Washington tells them are their own "common sense" thoughts. 310 million tits is not a description of anything except going insane watching "Mad Men" DVD's.

[Ylmaz Kaba]

10:03 AM on 09/01/2010

Obama would ask those making over $250,000 to contribute a bit more to Social Security to keep it sound. Despite the many smears of his opponents, Obama does not support uncapping the full payroll tax of 12.4 percent rate....
http://mercimex.wordpress.com

[phylsboutique]

10:03 AM on 09/01/2010

As a devoted Democrat and one who usually agrees with the Obama Adm., this is one of the decisions I find to be totally wrong on behalf of Pres. Obama! He should immediately replace Simpson with a more fair-minded, moderate Repub that will NOT take Social Security down as many of the right wing want to do! Fair-minded Republican.................................I forgot, there are none left!

[skjn62]

10:55 AM on 09/01/2010

Not sure any on the commission are fair minded about Social Security. The problem is both repug and dem members of this commission have had issues with Social Security and would like to see it cut and/or the retirement age raised. The whole commission needs to be scrubbed.

[JimR]

09:41 AM on 09/01/2010

Not that it will satisfy the conspiracy theorists, but here's what Obama the candidate said about Social Security in his "Blueprint for Change":

"Obama and Biden are committed to ensuring Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in the future. They will be honest with the American people about the long-term solvency of Social Security and the ways we can address the shortfall. Obama and Biden will protect Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries alike. And Obama does not believe it is necessary or fair to hardworking seniors to raise the retirement age.

As part of a bipartisan plan that would be phased in over many years, Obama would ask those making over $250,000 to contribute a bit more to Social Security to keep it sound. Despite the many smears of his opponents, Obama does not support uncapping the full payroll tax of 12.4 percent rate. Instead, he is considering plans that would ask those making over $250,000 to pay in the range of 2 to 4 percent more in total (combined employer and employee)."

[h23154]

07:39 AM on 09/01/2010

A judge would be looking for someone completely ignorant of the matter to be decided or someone willing to lie and say that he or she knows about it but never thought about it and has no opinion. Kind of what we get with Supreme Court nominees who lie through their teeth.

[EbonBear]

11:54 PM on 08/31/2010

We all knew from the start that this commission was designed to bring in only one recommendation: Cut (or privatise) Social Security. That was always the goal.

[JackNasty]

11:45 PM on 08/31/2010

Simpson's appointment is yet another reason it is pointless to vote for Democrats in general and for Obama in particular.

We need a second party.

[roger37]

12:53 AM on 09/01/2010

Well, for god's sake, don't vote for Republicans, Libertarians, or Tea Idiots instead of Democrats! We would be really screwed.

Just support another Dem candidate for Prez in '12.

[drwtsn]

01:04 AM on 09/01/2010

Until there is another progressive party, it is far better to vote for a Democrat rather than a Republican. If the Republicans get control, you won't need a Deficit Commission for SS to get cut.

[kjohney]

11:18 PM on 08/31/2010

Question for conservatives: what is it that you guys have against Obama? At every turn, he accommodates you guys without even having to be asked. We liberals are livid about this kind of appointment. It'd be like George Bush appointing Al Gore as the head of the EPA (instead of one of his Big Oil/Coal cronies) and still not getting any credit from the liberals.

[kewps]

11:09 PM on 08/31/2010

I just think it is a travesty that Obama didn't get rid of this clown.

[fflambeau]

10:36 PM on 08/31/2010

Remember that Obama set up this commission on his own by executive order and chose the members of his commission; by Jane Hamsher's count, 11 of the 14 members he appointed to his "deficit reduction commission" oppose social security, including Alan Simpson. Obama was pretty much a blank slate when he came to the attention of Robert Rubin, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and Citibank. Rubin saw he was a good speaker, ambitious, and that he could mould him to his own purposes. In April 2006, Obama spoke at the Rubin-Goldman Sachs funded Hamilton Project and his speech sounds like a tribute to Reagan Republicanism: Obama called for more free trade pacts like NAFTA, more jobs to be outsourced overseas, AND for cuts in entitlements (social security). Not coincidentally, Rubin and Goldman Sachs became Obama's biggest campaign contributors as both a senator and presidential candidate. In return, Goldman Sachs-Rubin got employees in high places in the Obama administration (Timothy Geithner, ex aide to Rubin, and Larry Summers and 50 others) AND special treatment (billions in the bailouts). Obama got money, lots of it, for his campaigns as long as he toes the Goldman Sachs-Rubin agenda. For more on Obama's speech of 2006 see http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/17984

Note too that Obama is the guy who selected Simpson, Alice Rivlin (another social security hawk with Hamilton Project ties) and others opposed to social security. In Obama's books, his hero is not FDR it is Ronald Reagan.

[kevinw]

10:38 PM on 08/31/2010

He actually said that during the campaign

[roger37]

12:56 AM on 09/01/2010

I don't think he ever has termed Social Security an "entitlement."

[JimR]

09:33 AM on 09/01/2010

From Obama's "Blueprint for Change":

"Obama and Biden are committed to ensuring Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in the future. They will be honest with the American people about the long-term solvency of Social Security and the ways we can address the shortfall. Obama and Biden will protect Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries alike. And Obama does not believe it is necessary or fair to hardworking seniors to raise the retirement age.

As part of a bipartisan plan that would be phased in over many years, Obama would ask those making over $250,000 to contribute a bit more to Social Security to keep it sound. Despite the many smears of his opponents, Obama does not support uncapping the full payroll tax of 12.4 percent rate. Instead, he is considering plans that would ask those making over $250,000 to pay in the range of 2 to 4 percent more in total (combined employer and employee)."

[fflambeau]

10:27 PM on 08/31/2010

Obama knew what he was doing when he chose Simpson because Obama too is committed to gutting social security. In April, 2006, as a Senator, Obama made the opening address at the Robert Rubin-Goldman Sachs funded Hamilton Project. Standing beside Goldman and Citibank ex CEO Rubin, Obama thanked "my friend Bob" and spoke about the need to outsource more jobs overseas, the need for more NAFTA-like free trade pacts, and the need to cut entitlements. See "Obama's Smoking Gun: His Hamilton Project Speech". http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/17984

[Palaver]

10:18 PM on 08/31/2010

Same "welfare queen" hyperbole, different social program.

Who knows, maybe the elderly will become the new face of poverty in America. It went from white Appalachian farmers and then to black women. The media is generally incompetent about these issues.