Entitlements are back in the campaign news, with Team Biden accusing Team Trump of wanting to cut Social Security.
As Politico reported:
Joe Biden accused Donald Trump…of wanting to slash Social Security, setting off frantic pushback by the former president's team, which has long viewed the program as a political vulnerability for Republicans.
Biden seized on remarks from Trump suggesting there were ways to deal with a program “in terms of cutting” to advance a key election-year attack. During a stop in New Hampshire, he highlighted Trump's comments as a clear sign that Republicans “want to put Social Security and Medicare back on the chopping block.”
“Bottom line is, he's still at it,” Biden said. “I'm never going to allow that to happen.”
Setting aside that it was Trump who was beating up on his Republican rivals for the GOP presidential nomination over their past stances on entitlement reform…this is the third rail of politics in action.
And if Mr. Biden's gaggle of scaremongers follow the established script, then the attacks are going to become even worse. Consider the example of President Lyndon Johnson's 1964 campaign against Republican nominee, Sen. Barry Goldwater. It set in motion the third rail politics that still haunt us today:
In 1964 Barry Goldwater lost the presidency in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson in part because of the perception that Goldwater was hostile to Social Security. But it wasn't until the early 1980s that Social Security became known as the third rail of American politics. It was House Speaker Tip O'Neill who coined the phrase and O'Neill who, more than anyone, made Social Security murderous to touch.
And of course some groups whose sole reason to exists is to terrify seniors took the “murderous” bit as a dare:
[… a group] called the Agenda Project produced an ad…where an actor meant to resemble House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pushed an older woman in a wheelchair off a cliff, all to the tune of “America the Beautiful.”
…American Doctors for Truth made its own ridiculous ad in response to the initial ridiculous ad.
In this one, it is a double of President Barack Obama who pushes a chatty old woman off a cliff, also to the sounds of “America the Beautiful.” She's begging for her life, and the ad uses an out-of-context speech excerpt from Obama to make the whole scene particularly creepy.
The politics of fear brings out the absolute worst in politicians and interest groups. But the badness level goes to 11 when it comes to seniors and entitlements.
Team Biden is likely going to see if they can take it all to 12.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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