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MN GOP PRESS RELEASE: “FRANKEN’S SUPPORT FOR CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS IS JUST PLAIN WRONG”
By Michael B. Brodkorb | October 9, 2008
St. Paul- Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Ron Carey today criticized Al Franken for supporting cuts to Social Security benefits. In his book Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot, Al Franken praised a 1995 speech that called for cuts to Social Security benefits as “sobering†and a “home run.†The speech was given by Concord Coalition co-founder Pete Peterson at the United We Stand America conference.
“When it comes to protecting Social Security, Al Franken strikes out. In fact, Franken is downright wrong, cutting Social Security benefits isn’t a “home run†idea, it’s way out in left field. Today’s revelation shows that Al Franken isn’t ready for the big leagues.â€
Speech On Social Security Reform Called “Home Run.†“Pete Petersen [sic], a co-founder of the Concord Coalition, did hit a home run with a very sobering speech about what will happen if we don’t reform social security.†(Al Franken, Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot, 1996, Island Books, p. 220)
Reform Praised By Franken Included Slashing Social Security Benefits. “United We Stand promoters promised their conference last weekend would be [‘]the political event of the century.’ …. My profile in courage goes to Pete Peterson for suggesting to the very middle-aged, middle-class audience that Social Security must be cut back to survive. As he told them, [‘]trying to reform entitlements without changing Social Security would be like trying to clean out the garage without moving the Winnebago.’ He provided substantial charts to back up his contention that in the future we will be robbing Paul Jr. to pay Paul Sr.’ The surprise was that the audience applauded. Even more surprising, when Mr. Peterson told the graying audience that their loyalty should not be to AARP, but to their country and their children’ _ and they applauded even louder. The often-imperial American Association of Retired Persons leadership in Washington, which has opposed many efforts to reform federal programs, should take note.†(Rena Pederson, “Conference of the century?†Dallas Morning News, August 20, 1995)
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4 Responses to “MN GOP PRESS RELEASE: “FRANKEN’S SUPPORT FOR CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS IS JUST PLAIN WRONG””
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October 9th, 2008 at 3:39 PM
You will be hard pressed to make this allegation stick, given the number of times he has talked on the stump about his wife’s dependence on Social Security Survivor benefits when she was young.
A great American once said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those in the shadows of life–the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”
Norm Coleman has failed on all three accounts. An no amount of republican filth thrown at Al Franken will change this fact.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:39 PM
Screw that, I’m with Franken on this one…if we don’t want this government to go bankrupt, we’re either going to have to drastically cut benefits, completely privatize the program, or drastically raise taxes. With the stock market behaving as it has this past week, I’m leaning towards cutting benefits. Let’s raise the retirement age to 75 – people are living too long.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Desperate.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Complete crap! As I posted in another thread on this same topic:
The claim is that Franken was praising Peterson’s speech as a “home runâ€. If you read his book, the speech was given at a “United We Stand America†convention, a convention of the supporters of Ross Perot. A more accurate claim would be that Peterson’s speech was a “Home Run†with Ross Perot’s supporters, not with Al Franken. One reason that the speech was such a hit could be that Peterson “was the first speaker†(at the conference) “to make use of chartsâ€. Those Perot supporters always loved those charts.