Daily Howler - May 2, 2005

THREE AMIGOS! Pelosi, Dodd and Leahy discussed SS—and embarrassed themselves once again

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2005

THREE AMIGOS: When it comes to Social Security, the world-class bungling by Major Dems continued on yesterday’s programs. Here, for example, was Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), misstating badly on Meet the Press. He appeared with Senator George Allen (R-VA):

ALLEN (5/1/05): The reality is once you get to 2017, the revenues coming in will not be enough to fund that but—to fund the output.

DODD: No, no, no. No, no. George, we know from every single actuary that the issue becomes a “crisis,” if you will, in 2042. And in 2042, 80 percent of the Trust Fund is there, according to actuary accounts. So 20 percent—let me finish.

“We know from every single actuary?” In fact, the current, official CBO estimate says that Social Security is fully solvent until the year 2052. Indeed, in Nancy Pelosi’s otherwise woeful outing on ABC’s This Week, she stressed this factual point from the get-go, directly challenging George Stephanopoulos when he cited the earlier year—the same year Dodd was promoting. Dodd’s statement here is flatly inaccurate—and his misstatement tilts in favor of Bush! Meanwhile, Sunday viewers saw two Dem spokesmen making contradictory presentations about this elementary fact. But Major Dems have performed like this ever since this debate began. No corporation would ever tolerate such inept work from its spokesmen. (By the way: In the latest projection of the SS trustees, the target year is no longer 2042—it’s actually 2041. It became clear during Dodd’s appearance that he doesn’t know this fact. This adjustment occurred back in March.)