Why is Alan Greenspan on my TV? He not only predicted everything wrong about the economy but drove the country over an economic cliff because of it -- so I guess he deserves prime-time coverage. Republicans can do no wrong.

Anyway...

This weekend we got a chance to hear from the Harold Ford/ DLC types who are trying to take over the party and who are proposing we compromise on Social Security benefits, the greatest social program in the history of America. Meanwhile Villagers like Ruth Marcus just want all the silliness to stop because she loves the Cat Food Commission.

Digby has a great takedown on these Republicans and Villagers who think that all the little people should be the ones to suffer and are just silly to complain about it.

During our Blogger Meeting with the President, we asked him about the Deficit Commission and protecting American workers by not raising the retirement age. Obama said raising the retirement age on our Social Security benefits is not in his plans.

Q Will you rule out raising the retirement age to 70?

THE PRESIDENT: We are awaiting a report from the deficit commission, or deficit reduction commission, so I have been adamant about not prejudging their work until we get it. But I think you can look at the statements that I’ve made in the past, including when I was campaigning for the presidency, that Social Security is something that can be fixed with some modest modifications that don’t impose hardships on beneficiaries who are counting on it.

And so the example that I used during the campaign was an increase in the payroll tax, not an increase -- let me scratch that. Not an increase in the payroll tax but an increase in the income level at which it is excluded. And so what I’ve been clear about is, is that I’ve got a set of preferences, but I want the commission to go ahead and do its work. When it issues its report, I’m not automatically going to assume that it’s the right way to do things. I’ll study it and examine it and see what makes sense.

But I’ve said in the past, I’ll say here now, it doesn’t strike me that a steep hike in the retirement age is in fact the best way to fix Social Security.

The President does parse his words a bit, but it seems clear that he understands how the base feels about this issue. All Democratic politicians must not waver at all.

I've had it, by the way.

Everyone agrees -- except, naturally, for the Beltway Village and the Pete Petersons of the right and left -- that raising the age of retirement would impose a huge hardship on all beneficiaries ... except, of course, the very rich who won't need social security and medicare to live on. Why are they so eager to be the ones trying to ram these hardships down the throats of the people who most need help?

Anyone who is part of the left and believes that we should cut Social Security benefits should not be taken seriously. EVER! Those same people are probably pushing to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich. The Dems might compromise on the tax issue, but there can never be a compromise on Social Security when it comes to benefits. It has been the greatest accomplishment of the New Deal and it a cornerstone of the modern American consumer society.

Daily Kos has a petition up that is a pledge you can make now. I will never support cutting Social Security
I think we all feel this way, but sometimes we need to start from the ground up to reinforce the structure.

And Digby sums up the behavior of the Beltway media this way, and I agree:

It's vital to call out the Village media for this ignorance. They are the enablers here by promoting nonsensical Conventional Wisdom without any current or historical context, based purely on the "common sense" notion that just because a bunch of Very Serious People (with axes to grind) are saying something. It's brainwashing the people into believing that the economy is in trouble because greedy geezers are getting too much money and it just ain't true. We're down the rabbit hole. Again.