Rich Trumka, the current president of the AFL/CIO, has been fighting to protect Social Security for a very long time. (Take a look at this video from 1994, when he asks, "Where is the crisis?" and points out that Social Security is the target of "draconian" proposals while it was in surplus.)

He is one of a very few voices standing up for working people in this country, and here's the speech he made this week at the National Press Club for the press conference announcing the Strengthen Social Security coalition:

Good morning. Working people around the country know the value of Social Security, and the Labor Movement has long been one of its staunchest supporters.

The American Federation of Labor was there in 1935, advocating for passage of the Social Security Act. In the decades following, the AFL-CIO played a lead role in designing the evolving Social Security system -- supporting efforts to strengthen and broaden the program, and opposing weakening of its protections. During the last Administration, we were key to defeating privatization.

In a misplaced effort to reduce the deficit, Social Security is under attack again --this time by proposals to raise the retirement age. And the right wing spin machine has convinced many Americans that Social Security won’t be there for them, anyway.

Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, goes door to door every night talking to thousands of people a week. What they hear is that working families -- including young people -- are deeply worried about their retirement security. They are hearing that their Social Security benefits may be cut --- and they don’t see how they can possibly make up the difference.

At a time when retirement is less secure for working Americans than it has been in many generations, only Social Security remains a defined and stable retirement benefit -- not to mention the important family protections it provides when a worker is injured or dies. Unions know exactly what is happening to retirement income in this country because we see it at the bargaining table. Fewer traditional pensions. More riskier 401(k) plans -- not a great benefit for workers with stagnant incomes who find it difficult or impossible to save. Now is the time, to strengthen, not weaken, Social Security.

Raising the eligibility age for a full Social Security benefit would be disastrous for millions of Americans. It is a benefit cut, plain and simple. It is a cut that is unnecessary and one that Americans can ill-afford.

For those born in 1960 or later, the retirement age for a full Social Security benefit is now 67, rather than 65. These younger workers have already been hit with a 13 percent benefit cut -- and some now want to impose another cut on top of that.

A 62-year old worker who would receive $800 a month if the retirement age for a full benefit were 65, will get only $700 a month when that retirement age becomes 67.
Further increasing the retirement age for a full benefit to 69 (and some are even saying 70) means another 13% cut in benefits -- for a total benefit cut of more than 25% for anyone who is now 50 or younger. That probably includes many of you in this room.

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You may have seen the ads on the site in the last week, but a new group of activists under the banner of Health Care Now is launching a $40 Million campaign today at the National Press Club with the single minded focus of getting comprehensive health care legislation passed by 2009. Huffington Post:

The work of Health Care For America Now was first made public late last week. But the group, with Elizabeth Edwards as a figurehead, offered expanded insight into the details of its campaign during a meeting on Monday. In addition to spending $40 million -- $1.5 million of which will be put behind an initial ad buy (national TV, print, and online) -- the group will be sending organizers to 52 cities, blasting out emails to 5 million households, airing spots on MSNBC and CNN and submitting op-eds to major papers (officials hinted at the New York Times piece to come).

In addition, the campaign is going to take advantage of Moveon.org's massive data files to reach out to like-minded supporters and officials promised to work in Democratic and Republican districts alike.

"We'll have an organizer in the district of every Blue Dog Democrat," said HCAN campaign manager Richard Kirsch of the conservative Democrats.

Oliver Willis: Obama - Let's talk about 9/11

Political Animal: Blackwater patriots want lawsuit decided under Islamic law.

Chris Floyd: Mad Men: Patholgy, Pretense and Power

Corrente: National Fourth Amendment Defense Day

The Satirical Political Report: Citing 'change over 'experience,' an angry electorate also seeks to replace God.

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: Obama smear merchant welcomed at National Press Club, gets arrested...Media Hall of Shame...Ambush Makeover... MSNBC hosts McCain backer to discuss offshore drilling, but did not mention his former post as energy lobbyist...Putting the "Me" in Memorial...Things we don't see...Ben Stein, liar...Only the cell phones of the Iraqi people record life in Baghdad...Racial fun with Sean Hannity...Fox anchor claims Iranian missle could be fired into the US...Another lesson in Tim Russert's death...Brit Hume loves him some Obama/Muslim smears...Manufacturing differences between McSame & Bush...The press needs to get off the stage...Searching for the source of a bogus story...

Economist's View: John McCain is a liar confused again.

Intel Dump: Army shows it's colors

Comments from Left Field: A quick remedial course in racist iconography

Cynics' Party: Habeas Nothingness

Happy Valley News Hour: White House responds to Bush's recent "warmonger" comments ..."Not the Bush we knew."

Taylor Marsh: Wingnut smear merchant given a platform at the National Press Club

Or..."Write your own caption."

(via National Press Club's press round table)

NPC reinvites bloggers to watch GannonGuckert panel, so long as we promise to be good

via AmericaBlog

Yes, so long as we promise to be good children, daddy will let us sit at the big table (wonder if we get a phone book?). Perhaps even more annoying is the comment from National Press Club vice president Jonathan Salant that I (John Aravosis) personally "can feel good about the fact that his [my] work on highlighting Gannon led directly to the NPC event." Gee, thanks. I'd like to feel swell, but I don't.

You see, the thing is, I already knew that my work, and the work of other blogs like , Eschaton, World O Crap, CrooksAndLiars.com, MediaMatters.org and countless other online gonzos, led to the NPC's panel on GannonGuckert. The problem has always been that the National Press Club never realized it - until now, so it would seem. It's hardly helpful to hear that our work actually DID lead to the panel happening, but that they're still excluding us from the panel itself. Perhaps they thought we'd throw our peas...read on

Does anyone see a huge (no pun intended) ego here? It's incredible to me not to have the blogger appear on the panel that knows more than anyone, except of course Jimmy/Jeff himself about the topic being discussed. Is this an out of control press club?

John at AmericaBlog live blogged it.

Gannon used a green map to show how red the country is. He goes to a widely publicized event and uses green ink. Quote: "...even though this represents the red-blue county map, it's actually green because I ran out of ink on my printer."

The Talent Show says: Not that I'm trying to make the argument that liberals outnumber conservatives or vice versa, I'm just saying that holding up a map and saying "look at all that red/green" as a way of backing up your point is pretty goddamned retarded.

Wonkette got pissed when Jimmy/Jeff defended Armstrong Williams with the most idiotic defense you can imagine. The go'vt had to pay for NCLB because nobody would print good things about it. That's a journalist folks!

(We are getting swamped with downloads and our servers are behaving badly. My guy is on it to make the downloads faster. QT will be up soon. You can download but just be a little more patient, or please try back in a short while.)

Video-WMP-it's a big file so it's taking time to load. Make sure to press the play button on WMP

Video-QT-seems to be working faster than WMP

Wonkette's site has more: Most popular question for Gannon from an off-camera audience member after the panel ended. "DID YOU EVER SLEEP WITH SCOTT McCLELLAN? J

It comes at the end of the video.

Mathew Yglesias posts: Sorites and Gannon

fishbowl DC posts: Drinking? At the Press Club? Live blogging

Here's a right winger's response to the panel: The vilification of Jeff Gannon continued today at the National Press Club. I haven't found anymore righties commenting on it yet.

Jeff Gannon says he was threatened by Rogers. As I was boarding an elevator to exit the building, this same person made a dash for me with unknown intent...If you saw this person's behavior, you would realize that the threats against my person, property and family have not been exaggerated.

Mike Rogers at blogActive tried to get Gannon to answer some questions after the meeting and responds to the charges by Gannon: I joined Gannon on the elevator heading to the lobby. Gannon raised his fists at me as if to threaten me (some people will do anything to stop a story, huh?) and attempted to intimidate me off of the elevator. read on

Update:Digby has his opinions too: New Star: He makes absolutely no sense, wanders off into unrelated subjects, claims victimhood at every turn, avoids questions like a pro and appears to me to be incredibly stupid, arrogant and deluded all at the same time. A clown that nobody in their right mind could take seriously. In others words, meet the next GOP nominee for President of the United States.

You know the story; the NPC asked Jeff Gannon to appear on a panel talking about blogging...

Well now there's some angry letters going back and forth....

and the punchline is : So this National Press Club blogging panel will take place in...the Holeman Lounge.

(Update)-Wonkette has her GannonGuckert Talking Points.