Democrats argue that Republicans want to eliminate Social Security and replace it with a private system. Republicans insist that they want to protect Social Security so it will be around for future generations. That is, that was the Republican argument.
Republican lawmakers, trying to convince a skeptical public about the wisdom of their Social Security proposals, decided yesterday that it was time to roll out a new metaphor.
Their choice: a brown 1935 Ford three-window Coupe, which House GOP leaders ordered driven onto a sidewalk outside the Capitol. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and a few colleagues stood in front of the antique, built the same year Franklin D. Roosevelt built Social Security, and likened the two.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead in a 1935 automobile,” said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.), vice chairman of the House Republican Conference’s PR effort on Social Security. “And I want to make sure we have an updated system of Social Security, because that’s America’s investment vehicle.”
No wonder the GOP is losing this fight. It’s almost as if they want to lose.
Did the public relations geniuses really think this one through? Republicans are trying to respond to Dem attacks that they want to get rid of Social Security altogether. To counter this charge, Republicans compare the system to an old car they wouldn’t want to be “caught dead in”? They seem to be unable to grasp the fact that people like Social Security. Republicans are making the Dem argument for them.
There are rumors the GOP is looking for a change in tactics in this fight. If yesterday was any indication, I like the new tactics even more than the old ones.