Why did CQ let Mitch McConnell get away with a subtle, but nefarious, lie?
You know the time-tested-and-proven adage -- a gaffe is when a politician opens his mouth and what he or she really believes comes out. Sometimes it's the revelation that the politician is barking mad and doesn't have the foggiest notion what they are talking about.
We only have to look back a week for a perfect example of this phenomenon, when Mitch McConnell said this in an interview with Congressional Quarterly:
"Last week, the Social Security trustees issued a report saying Social Security and Medicare are not sustainable under their current structure."
Back in the day, when we had a functioning press corps instead of a cocktail-weenie-wagging press corpse; back when we had real reporters doing actual journalism instead of the steno-pool full of faithful scribes who can be counted on to regurgitate right-wing talking points unchallenged; back then, that sort of nonsense would have been a bit in the teeth of the reporter, who would have done his or her homework ahead of time, and McConnell would have been hammered mercilessly with the fact that the trustees said no such thing.
"Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing."
There is a world of difference between what McConnell said the trustees reported and what the McConnell said they reported.
McConnell's implication is that there is a hair-on-fire emergency and Social Security has to be fundamentally changed because it's doomed to bankruptcy otherwise; when in fact what the trustees presented was an either/or -- either revenues will have to be raised, or benefits will have to be cut decades down the road.
The essential Dean Baker had the best analogy I have seen on McConnell's misrepresentation:
This would be like driving from Chicago to Detroit and determining that at some point you will need more gas to complete the trip. That would mean stopping at a gas station and refilling your tank. By contrast, McConnell's comment implies that the car is about to breakdown and will not make the trip.
Congressional Quarterly failed their readers when they didn't follow up and press the Senator to clarify whether
A.) he didn't understand what the trustees actually said or
B.) was being deliberately dishonest in pursuit of political gain.
There is no option C.
The reality is there is no Social Security crisis, no matter how loudly the greed-mongers and deficit scolds insist there is.
They can wail and gnash their teeth and rend the cloth from their breast all day long and into the night. That still won't change the fact that Social Security is not only not responsible for our deficit woes, it is independent of the deficit /and/ it is solvent for decades. Period. Full stop.
The trustees report that McConnell misrepresented actually presents the same findings as the CBO report in that last link. Both report that the Social Security trustfund, without changing a thing, will be able to make full payouts through 2030-something -- it should also be noted that the full payout projections have been pushed downward not by flaws in the system, but by the economic downturn of the last couple of years. Both note that those numbers should start ticking back up as the economy recovers, and if that isn't the case, we have a lot bigger problems than Social Security heading our way.
In reality, any projected shortfalls in future Social Security benefits could be easily remedied with either of a couple of easy fixes would not only fill that hole, it would put the program on a sound footing indefinitely. The first option would be to raise the cap. Currently, a person making more than $106,800 pays no Social Security tax on any monies earned over that amount. Removing the cap and taxing all monies equally would put the program on solid footing indefinitely. So would a very modest increase -- 1% or less -- in the amount of payroll tax withheld from the wages of those of us who earn less than $106,800.
I don't know about you, but I would be willing to give up three designer coffees a pay-period now to assure that Social Security will be there when I reach retirement age.
Elected leaders who embrace the "fundamental change is necessary" mantra are either stupid, or lying. In neither instance should they be making decisions that affect millions of Americans. And that goes double for those who parrot the BS knowing full well it's just that...BS.
I'm looking at you, CQ.
[This post originally appeared at Show Me Progress and is part of a series I am writing as a blogging fellow for the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of more than 270 national and state organizations dedicated to preserving and strengthening Social Security.]
Since when has it ever been the duty of the Free Press to question authority when they brazenly lie?
The American Media has only one duty: to faithfully report whatever any Republican says as if it were true, no matter how brazen the lie, no matter how easily refutable, no matter what. Included in this is the mandate to excoriate and belittle all Democratic politicians, no matter how truthful they are.
The Congressional Quarterly is merely following the dictates of the Republican Party: never, ever question authority, never let your readers know that a Republican is lying. That would go against everything the American Free Press stands for!
He just stretches the truth.
He stretches is soooooooooooo much, if he was talking about "Gumby" "Gumby'd" be an atom thick and as wide as this continent.
You don't go into a propaganda war with the journalism you want, you go into it with the scribes you have...
on the head with your comment about having done their homework. You are dealing with television personalities. They spend far more time getting make up then doing anything one could remotely call research.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
In fact, what was the next question after McConnell's nefarious lie?
Come to think of it, when was the interview? Who was the reporter? What question was McConnell responding to? Did he say anything else in reponse?
Why can't you answer, Peter G.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
When McChinless isn't exactly noted for his forthrightness and honesty to begin with ?
back in the day when readers questioned what reporters wrote as well.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
When everyone knows any Republican whose lips are moving is lying anyway .....................
reporters did not ask, what they are wagging, and what they were like in the good old days?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I just like making fun of Mitch McChinless ............BTW How is it that he's a member of the US Senate , when he and his entire family ancestry is from the Galapagos Islands ?
Not native citizenship or shell density.
Even so, are you sure you don't care what reporters are feeding McConnell and vice versa?
http://mysite.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/cht102...
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
their scripts are sent down from the corporate offices and the Rethuglican think tanks on a daily basis.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
Yes. They are celebrity news personalities, not journalists. Their job is to look good on camera. Women should show cleavage. Some have gone a step further and look like blow-up dolls.
Blue Girl, you might want to revisit this sentence.
There is a world of difference between what McConnell said the trustees reported and what the McConnell said they reported.
far left loon >.<
in this interview to your trained eye, Edwin?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
"a cocktail-weenie-wagging press corpse"
A sure sign that DG is rubbing off on BlueGal.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
If you want to ensure that Medicare survives and is effective, put Congress on it. In fact, put 100% of the population on it!
Jack Lohman
http://moneyedpoliticians.net/medicare-for-all/
Jack Lohman
MoneyedPoliticians.net
would like to see that happen. I'm just concerned the insurance lobby and for profit hospital system would be sure to see that their lackeys are well provided for after they gut medicare for the rest of us..... just the cynic in me I guess.....I am for the demolition of and criminalization of both the for profit hospital system and the health insurance industry and THEN let's have
medicare for ALL!
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Don't count on the good old boy corporate media hold any repubthug accountable to we the people. It's about money not ethics or morals or honesty. The pretty people on TV wouldn't dare piss off the powerful oligarchy owned politicians because their bosses are the oligarchy. This is not my father's country. Get off your butts lazy Americans. Vote.
This is not my father's America
We aparently need different "powerful oligarchy owned politicians" in office. That'll fix everything.
Oh, and pay taxes. I hear that fixes eveything that voting for the lesser of the evils doesn't fix.
And if there's anything left that needs fixin', I hear peacefully protesting works wonderfully.
I don't see what the problem is. Thanks to all you voters we have the best government. Thanks to all you tax-payers we have the worlds strongest Gestapo. And thanks to all you peaceful protesters, no laws get passed that harm us.
What a charming world this is.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
are being sarcastic.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
(he fought in WWII), it is not MY country. I grew up in the 50s, lived through the 60s and 70s, and this country does not even begin to resemble the country I learned about in school and in raising a family. I blame electronic advancements.....although I, as a senior, am well versed in computers because, until I got laid off in January of 2009 as a result of George W. Bush's idiocy, have no intention of going quietly while my country self-implodes. Seniors all vote because they are either of the Greatest Generation or children of that generation. Too many younger people (those who will receive "premium support" from those generous Rethuglicans, who have grown up with computers and the internet, video games, cell phones that do everything but diaper the baby, all kind of electronic diversion, often cannot be bothered with voting--and, as 2010 illustrates, are cutting their own throats.
Perhaps what is going on in Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, etc., i.e. the complete dismantling of our democracy, will finally wake up those lazy/uninvolved/uninterested citizens who, if they do not start paying attention, may wake up some day and realize that they are finally living in 1984.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
They eventually woke up in Germany but by then it was far too late . If people have not come to their senses and can't see the Republicans for what they are by now ( after these last ten or eleven years ) , what hope is there ? It's hard for us politics and news junkies to comprehend but many pay no attention , they have no clue what's going on , too busy watching NSACR and drinking beer , what little they do catch on the MSM ... well , I guess it's no wonder . I had a short conversation with a young girl in her mid twenties a while back , she asked where I met my wife , long story short , she'd never heard of the Kremlin or Red Square , had no clue what I was talking about , " I never heard of it , I'm not really into the news " , I was dumb founded ,didn't know what to say next . LOL . She maybe knows who Barack Obama is but that's about it , I guarantee you . We wonder how anyone could possibly take Palin seriously , how is it that people can't see what the Republicans are , how can anyone listen to Fox and believe all that shit , how the hell people like McConnell can keep getting re elected ? Incredibly ignorant and dumb people , that's how , and there are a lot of them , I don't think we have a clue just how bad it is in this country . .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
Or should I say still....
Yertle the Turtle fronts the criminal gop cabal's talking points with subtle, yet significant, wordplay. The obedient, servile M$M allows the "revised" narrative to stand without question. The idiot Americans, trained by the likes of FUX "News" accept it as fact, and follow blindly through the door held open by smiling carnival barkers, discovering the true intent only after they take that last, fateful step which sends them over the cliff's edge to their demise.
Even now, at this late date, a large percentage of the voting bloc does not comprehend the nature of the game, or the fact that they are the foils of the elite's machinations. As such, they will once again allow themselves to be manipulated, through focus group refined "factual statements", into voting against their own interests.
The Democrats in positions to counter the mendacity are conspicuous by their silence, or absence, from the debate. This does not bode well for the passengers on the train which is barreling, at full speed, toward the bridge that's out.
"No one ever said these people were logically consistent."
- watchdog -
Was that back when Dem's had balls, were real libs, and we had no bad wars and foreign adventures. You know, like when Kennedy was banging movie stars and mob molls?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Before the eighties. Before media deregulation.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
watching then? Or did you get your breaking national news on Top 40 radio
of a local TV channel?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
They have their eye on it. They want it. And they'll get it. And there's nothing you're gonna do about it. There's your crisis.
Remember, in '16 the repubs get the helm again. As I've said many times...we won't need a POTUS in '17.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
The ONLY publication I put any trust into is The Nation................Congressional Quarterly ? Where is that printed ? RNC Headquarters ?
by Mitch McConnell's office.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
They were never fooled like many others claim to have been. Perhaps if they had read more like you.
http://blogs.e-rockford.com/applesauce/files/...
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Kinda' like FOX "News"........................
I just like making fun of you. BTW, whoever told you that combinining shit and whip cream made for a witty comment?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
in the video interview.
Say, come to think of it, other than McConnell's quote, this post doesn't mention Medicare.
Kind of like ships passing in the night.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
It's off the table... according to some Democrats.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Print and TV pundits will soon be a thing of the past. Their demographic is getting older and older by the day and when most of them are gone the MSM will also have to change. I am one of that old retired bunch but I don't look or listen to anything these dinosaurs have to say because they do or say nothing but the corporate line. Unfortunately just about everyone I know gets their "news" from the MSM but I also attend many funerals so I don't expect that to last. Hopefully the younger generation will put some effort into getting their info and use the many diverse sources available to them.
Then maybe politicians will be held responsible and take to task for the lies they spew.
line up dutifully to get their News(?)/ advertising implant and go on about their directed reality show lives. Good luck Kids!!!!
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lie , lie , lie and lie some more . These freaks would make Joseph Goebbels proud .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
McConnell has to be the most repulsive-looking Member of Congress EVER!
"Standard and Poors has sent the US a signal that it is about to have it's credit downgraded"
Yo, Yerts, if you end the temporary tax breaks(aka benefits), for the wealthiest 2%in the history of this country, that problem goes away immediately.......BOOM! Just like that!
'Talk to the hand'
Republicans have been on this campaign for years BEFORE there was any financial crisis. Since they are bent on dismantling the social safety net so they can keep ALL their precious monies - we should view this bullshit as the de-facto status of their argument.
My QUESTION for Mitch McConnel is: Are you trying to assert that the economy of the United States is for sure 100% in decline? Do you mean to say you have absolutely NO FAITH in our economy recovering? Do you know something the rest of us don't? Will you state - with absolute certainty there is no hope of good stewardship of business resulting in a recovery that will in turn produce sufficient revenues to keep Social Security on a solid footing SOMETIME IN THE NEXT 2 DECADES? This seems to me to be the basis of your argument, since I must believe you understand that problems with Social Security will be in THE FUTURE.
If in fact you don't believe in the ability of the American people, in American business, or the American dream of hard work will get you ahead - PLEASE SAY SO - then the American people can evaluate your amazing lack of leadership - you don't happen to be an old-line COMMUNIST are you? They were always predicting the demise of the USA.
So Mr. Mitch - EXPLAIN YOURSELF - PLease!
I hate to see you reputation sullied.
zgregz
It's not like taking a trip from Chicago to Detroit and determining that you're going to need to gas up along the way and equating that need for gas as a total breakdown.
It's like taking a trip from Chicago to Detroit and determining that you're going to need to gas up along the way and that the only way to do that is to take a side trip to Seattle because their gas is 3 cents a gallon cheaper.
OK, CQ let the old boy slide one by. How about the next time someone has to interview him that they specifically ask him about this lie and ask him if he is in the habit of lying? If no reporter follows up with McConnell then we know that 1. the press really is hopeless 2. there are many other blatant lies told to us each day which go unchallenged and 3. no one should waste any more time on politics since its obvious that the fix is in.
McConnell is a bald faced liar. Thanks for pointing this out.
I plan to print this and include it in anything I mail......... when I pay a bill
or whatever.
No link.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
"There is a world of difference between what McConnell said the trustees reported and what the McConnell said they reported"
Huh??
...a press which does not question authority has no advantage over a press which cannot question authority. A press which does not question authority even when it is entitled to do so under the law is not only not free...it has willingly sold both itself and the people to whom it owes a responsibility into slavery.
Since when has it ever been the duty of the Free Press to question authority when they brazenly lie, you ask? Since the Founders considered the existence of investigative freedom to be of such importance that it was included in the First Amendment of the Constitution -- that's when.
Never trust anyone who insists that patriotism requires you to blindfold yourself with the flag.
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