Roger Bedford: "Bush wants to go after the seniors"

Here's state Senator Roger Bedford on President Bush's Social Security plan: "I don't know why George Bush wants to go after the seniors. Maybe it's because New York stock brokers gave him so much money, and they're going to make money off of seniors."

No one is "going after" senior citizens. As the President has pointed out repeatedly, those who are currently receiving Social Security benefits and those who are set to receive them in the near future will not be affected by the President's plan. The Senator is smart enough to know this, but he and other Democrats fear that, like 401(k)'s and IRA's, private investment accounts in Social Security are likely to prove very popular once they are instituted. So, I guess it comes as no surprise that they are resorting to this kind of demagoguery and innuendo. They are fighting for the future of their party, with the knowledge that dependence on government translates into support for Democrats at the voting booth. What else to make of that party-line vote in the legislature a few weeks ago condemning the President's plan?