Bush's S.S. dog and pony show flops in Iowa

In the wake of Bush's stop in Iowa trying to beat the drums for his nonsensical Social Security privatization scheme, even Iowa Republicans are saying that the people ain't buying what the monkey in a man suit is selling.

Two key GOP lawmakers who joined President Bush on Wednesday as he pitched restructuring Social Security said that Bush has failed to sell the American people on his plan to change the 70-year-old federal retirement system.

"Today, the public has not found his personal account approach compelling," Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) said in an interview late Tuesday, less than 24 hours before appearing with Bush at Kirkwood Community College here.

Leach went on to say that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, a fellow Iowa Republican, "is convinced the momentum is not there, and I am convinced the partisan goodwill is not there." Leach is one of several GOP members who have refused to endorse private investment accounts, the centerpiece of the president's Social Security plan.

Grassley, chairman of the Senate panel responsible for Social Security, said in a separate interview Tuesday afternoon: "I don't think [Bush] has made much progress on solving the solvency issue or what to do about personal accounts. It concerns me because as time goes on, I was hoping the president would be able to make my job easier. We are not hearing from the grass roots that, by golly, you guys in Congress have to work on this." Grassley supports private Social Security accounts.

Afterward, Grassley told reporters he would push for private accounts even if a majority of the public does not appear behind the idea. "The president knows one of the rules of politics is repetition," he said.

Bush deserves to go down in flames for actually thinking he could hoodwink the public on this ridiculous attempt to simultaneously destroy Social Security while piling up hundreds of millions in profits for his Wall Street backers, and further destroying the economy in the process.
But who can blame him? He has so-far been unstoppable in his proposals, no matter how far-out or radical, and his opposition appears completely impotent.

And Grassley? What an embarrassment. The guy looks, sounds, and acts like some hayseed out of central casting. "By Golly"? What the hell is it with politicians trying to sound like they're the village barber from 1927? Rumsfeld does it, Orin Hatch is a serial offender, and now Grassley. "By golly", "Gee Whiz" ??
What the hell? Are they trying to court the nonogenarian vote? Anyone really think Don Rumsfeld is just some small town kid? Pathetic.

But it's heartening to see that, at least with this reckless and ill-conceived effort, Bush is a flop.