Celebrating Social Security's 75th Anniversary by saving it

by Joan McCarter
DailyKos
Fri Aug 13, 2010

Seventy-five years ago to tomorrow, Social Security was signed into law. Dems are marking that anniversary by going on the offensive.

Democrats plan to mark the 75th anniversary of Social Security on Friday by attacking some Republicans' plans to change the long-standing entitlement program.

Democrats will play up some Republicans' calls to privatize part or all of Social Security, which Democrats allege is a cornerstone of the GOP approach to the program.

The efforts on Friday will cap off the second of six theme weeks Democrats have maintained as part of their summer recess strategy. The Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are expected to join with outside groups and party committees to go after the GOP.

Toward this end, the DSCC has created a scorecard showing what privatizing Social Security now would mean in the states where candidates and incumbents are running this cycle. It shows how many seniors would lose out:

* Arkansas – John Boozman (620,040
* Colorado - Ken Buck (663,894)
* Florida – Marco Rubio (3,669,375)
* Iowa – Chuck Grassley (574,315)
* Indiana – Dan Coats (1,157,821)
* Kentucky – Rand Paul (870,206)
* Louisiana – David Vitter (770,217)
* Missouri - Roy Blunt (1,137,581)
* Nevada – Sharron Angle (390,553)
* North Carolina – Richard Burr (1,698,677)
* Ohio – Rob Portman (2,074,384)
* Pennsylvania – Pat Toomey (2,530,211)
* Wisconsin – Ron Johnson (1,033,096)

With these priceless quotes:

* Sharron Angle, who said Social Security is “hard to justify” [KNPR, State of Nevada, 5/19/2010]
* Ken Buck, who called Social Security “horrible, bad policy” [Politico, 6/28/10]
* Rand Paul and Ron Johnson, who have both likened Social Security to a “Ponzi Scheme” [Washington Monthly, 7/15/2010; Johnson’s speech at the Winnebago County Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner, March 21, 2010]
* Rob Portman, who said the Bush proposal to invest savings in risky Wall Street accounts was “very sound” [CNBC, Kudlow and Company, 1/3/07]

(Full post here.)