Mahablog: Stooges

Friday, May 20, 2005

Be sure to read Dan Froomkin's column on how Bush is exploiting young people hand-picked for their obliviousness to destroy Social Security.

President Bush's meticulously stage-managed presentations on Social Security have slowly shifted into a new phase, in which White House aides find misinformed young people to share the stage with the president and assert that Social Security won't be there at all when they retire.

And rather than correcting them on their misconception -- government estimates, after all, say that after 2041 Social Security will still be able to pay at least three-quarters of currently promised benefits without any changes -- Bush congratulates them on their perspicacity.

Froomkin says Bush is skillfully using carefully selected youth in his scare campaign:

He's still telling seniors not to listen to all those unspecified people trying to frighten them by saying their benefits are about to be cut.

But he himself is forcefully asserting to young people that for them, when it comes to Social Security, the sky is falling.