Alan Simpson: totally lucky he’s not a Democrat
Someone should write down clear guidelines for what it takes to get fired from high-ranking government positions because the rules seem a bit blurry.
The Obama administration on Monday reiterated its commitment to keeping former Sen. Alan Simpson as the co-chairman of the president’s deficit commission even as the Wyoming Republican has come under heavy fire for his disparaging comments on Social Security.
You’ll remember that Simpson called Social Security – the wildly popular program millions of older Americans rely upon for survival – ”a milk cow with 310 million tits.”
It’s strange that the administration is defending a man who seems hellbent on slashing benefits while co-chairing Obama’s Catfood Commission (this is hardly a slip of the tongue. Simpson has been bashing Social Security for quite a while.)
Furthermore, we know the administration certainly doesn’t lack the propensity to fire officials when they say something controversial, or even in the case of Shirley Sherrod, are framed in order to give the impression they said something controversial. Conman and professional loudmouth, Andrew Breitbart, altered video to make it appear as though Sherrod made a racist comment when in fact she was doing exactly the opposite by explaining how she overcame her own bias in the spirit of helping a white farmer.
In the Sherrod case, the administration was so quick to give her the axe that they harassed her about resigning while she was driving. Obama and his inner cirle wouldn’t even give the woman the courtesy of allowing her to park and get out of her car in order to defend herself.
But here is ol’ Gibbers, defending crotchety Father Time in the spirit of “bipartisanship.” In case any of you need a quick refresher: The Spirit of Bipartisanship now means letting the Republicans do whatever they want: shape health care reform, nix the universal healthcare option, the public option, hijack Congress with endless filibusters, and attempt to privatize Social Security, while any Democrat who dares look at Andrew Breitbart the wrong way will immediately be fired personally by Rahm Emanuel before he or she can exit the highway.
And in case anyone doubts that this is how TSB works these days, let’s conduct a mental exercise. Pretend a Democrat – any Democrat – likened corporate tax breaks to greedy CEOs suckling on cow teats. In this scenario, not only is the simile architect from the wrong party, but the target of the insult is the elite business world. In TSB, Democrats are not permitted to take such aggressive ideological stances, and the individuals at the end of their barbs certainly cannot be the powerful corporatocracy. TSB only works if a Republican is the one making the disparaging statement, and the victims are powerless underlings such as old people (Social Security,) or the poor (See: numerous insults from Republicans regarding unemployment benefits).
The model is all the more nefarious because Republicans are not in power right now, and additionally the figurehead bolstering the parameters of debate is the president, a Democrat, who dresses up the double standard as him being somehow politically transcendent. The Simpson-Sherrod contrast is a good example of Obama’s TSB failure, and why it’s a perfect recipe for how to disenfranchise his base, and lose Congressional seats.
Come on! It’s just like if my grandfather was running social security. You know that sweet old man who was actually not very sweet, angry most of the time, racist, sexist, and abusive!
The reason why he’s still around a Sherrod didn’t have even the chance to pull over to the side of the road and this guy is still around after actually saying all the terrible things he has said is because is a white guy and she was not.
When a white guy says something terrible, most people scream CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT (Palin) or FREEE SPEECH FREE SPEECH FREE SPEECH (Laura Schleshinger). If they aren’t white it’s HOLY SHIT LOOK LOOK LOOK BLACK RACISTS SEE EVERYTHING WE SAID WAS TRUE BECAUSE OF THIS ONE OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTE
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Ken Wagner
31 Aug 10 at 10:33 am
This is what happens when you vote for a president not on his positions in regard to the actual issues, but his speeches on the “answers”, such as getting out of Iraq, gay marriage, or health care. Sure, he said he wants all of those things to become realities, but what were his positions on how to achieve them?
At least Kucinich had serious plans.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Matthew Wall
31 Aug 10 at 11:02 am
Simpson is a douche, to be sure. But this doesn’t quite compare to the Sherrod situation. Obama doesn’t have the same unilateral authority to fire members of this commission since the appointments were made in partnership with congressional leadership. Sherrod, on the other hand, worked purely at the pleasure of the president.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Noah Smith
31 Aug 10 at 7:41 pm
Obama handpicked Simpson for the co-chair position. If he actually had the political will to get rid of him, he could do it. Of course, he doesn’t really want to do it, so Simpson is still with us.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Allison Kilkenny
31 Aug 10 at 7:49 pm
I’m so sick of TSB. I’d rather lose the house and senate while fighting for real progressive legislation than piss it away by walking on eggshells. I say this because, were they actually fighting for things, they wouldn’t be in danger of losing so many seats.
And I agree with you Allison that if President Obama wanted Simpson off the panel he could make it happen. That’s why he is, you know, the President.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Todd Bredbeck
1 Sep 10 at 12:04 pm
It seems the president is only “totally powerless” to create change when it’s convenient for his agenda. So for example, when it comes time to strong arm Progressives into voting for a shitty healthcare plan without a public option, the White House is suddenly all muscle, but when it comes time to exert pressure on a lone, batty Republican to, maybe, not treat Social Security like leprosy, Barry is no where to be found. Convenient.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Allison Kilkenny
1 Sep 10 at 12:09 pm
Precisely. Then they trot out the “something is better than nothing” bit, especially for the healthcare bill. I could accept that argument had they actually tried for a real bill in the first place and it truly failed. But they don’t even fight for it. It’s not that they haven’t accomplished anything, it’s the fact that they throw out their negotiating power from the start and therefore accomplish much less than they likely could have. To me, that is a leadership failure.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Todd Bredbeck
1 Sep 10 at 12:28 pm
When FDR said “Now make me do it.”, he was putting the onus on the people to raise their voices so that he could make bold political moves without the need to compromise the core missions of his programs with political bargaining.
I believe that Obama needs the same tactics used on him. As everyone keeps saying, he’s a centrist. But as Democrats refuse to stand up for progressive values, we have allowed the right to move the argument farther and farther to the right thus making the center more right wing as time goes on. Once we forcibly pull the conversation back to the side of sanity, Obama will be compelled to have a backbone.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
swandiver
1 Sep 10 at 1:46 pm