GOTV

LEHRER (3/1/05): What do you make of the recent talk just in the last day or two about the Moynihan Plan, it was called—named after the late Sen. Pat Moynihan—which is called Social Security Plus? You leave the Social Security program pretty much the way it is and you add then personal savings in addition to that. Are you—does that sound good to you?

Good God! Saint Moynihan proposed “leaving the Social Security program pretty much the way it is,” Lehrer said. And there’s a name for what Moynihan proposed—Social Security Plus. Good Lord! There was only one problem with Lehrer’s statement; both things he said were grossly wrong. On the other hand, his groaning misstatements did fit in with current DC party chatter. So the brilliant novelist/party-goer was doing what Washington pundits do best. He was reciting the Established High Cant of his class, even though the High Cant is just bogus.

First, did Moynihan propose “leaving the Social Security program pretty much the way it is and then adding personal savings in addition to that?” We’re sorry, but no—he did not (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/1/05). In fact, Moynihan proposed something quite different; he proposed steep reductions in future benefits, so steep that the you could reduce the current payroll tax and still keep the program fully solvent. And with the money he’d cut from the payroll tax, he would establish private—sorry, “personal”—savings accounts. Proposing this didn’t make Saint Pat evil; it just meant that he was pretty much proposing the same darn thing that Bush has proposed. The big difference? Bush now seems to lean toward redirecting four points of the pay roll tax. Moynihan only said, “Let’s cut two.”

So no; it’s false to claim that Moynihan proposed leaving SS alone and establishing savings account in addition to that. In fact, Moynihan proposed substantial cuts in SS benefits; those personal accounts would have been replacement for the lost benefits, not add-ons, as Lehrer claimed. But for the past two month, All Good Democrats have ranged far and wide pretending that Sainted Pat did propose add-ons. Lehrer has heard it at swish soirees. Last night, he blabbed it out on the air.

But you really saw how your “press corps” works when Lehrer tossed in that added point—when he referred to “Social Security Plus.” It’s true, of course—back in 1999 and 2000, when Moynihan was proposing those steep SS cuts, there actually was a major Dem who proposed the plan that Lehrer described—and he even called his plan “SS Plus.” But the Dem who did this was Candidate Gore, not the sainted Pat Moynihan. In fact, here he was, on stage in Boston, debating SS with Candidate Bush, then the Texas governor:

GORE (10/3/00): Here's the difference: I give a new incentive for younger workers to save their own money and invest their own money, but not at the expense of Social Security—on top of Social Security. My plan is Social Security Plus. The governor's plan is Social Security minus. Your future benefits would be cut by the amount that's diverted into the stock market, and if you make bad investments, that's too bad.

By the way—to whom did Gore address these remarks? Of course! To the moderator of the debate—a man whose name is Jim Lehrer!

// posted by Alice @ 3/03/2005 08:49:00 AM