Presidential Politics
« Previous EntriesWho will Manage Medicare?
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008Everyone in Washington is playing the name game these days as nominations for key positions in the Obama administration are announced. We’re watching and listening especially closely for the nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to the Washington Post The incoming secretary of health and human services, Tom Daschle, is [...]
Budget Director Peter Orszag? What would that mean for Medicare & Social Security?
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008President-elect Obama is prepared to select Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag as his administration’s Budget Director, according to the National Journal. Orszag has been appropriately praised here in Washington for his clear-eyed perspectives on the economic challenges facing our nation and the role skyrocketing healthcare costs plays in those economic woes. He’s refused to buy [...]
Barbara B. Kennelly Reaction to Obama Win
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008Barbara B. Kennelly, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, issued the following statement to NCPSSM members and supporters following the election of Senator Barack Obama as President of the United States: The challenges facing President-elect Obama and the new Congress are immense; however, I am hopeful the nation’s [...]
“Fact Checking” Medicare
Monday, November 3rd, 2008Mark Twain once said, “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please”. That philosophy is prominent in many political campaigns these days, giving rise to the “fact checker” as a regular feature of newspapers and network news shows during campaign seasons. But what do you do when even [...]
The Social Security Campaign Dodge
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008It’s become an all-too-common occurrence on the campaign trail this season. We’ve seen it in Congressional races nationwide and in the Presidential campaign too…candidates who support Social Security private accounts have tried to redefine privatization in an effort to hide their true intentions for Social Security and its future. The most recent example is in Senator [...]
Drinking the Anti-Entitlement Kool-Aid
Thursday, October 9th, 2008Do you ever catch yourself yelling at the television? Well, that’s just what we were doing on debate night. Since this was the 3rd in the scheduled Presidential/Vice Presidential debates and there had been no discussion of Social Security and Medicare up to then, our ears really perked up when an audience member finally asked [...]
Slashing Medicare & Medicaid Not the Answer
Monday, October 6th, 2008A senior policy advisor with the McCain campaign says they’ll use major cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to pay for the McCain healthcare plan if he’s elected President. According to the Wall Street Journal, independent analysts estimate those cuts at $1.3 trillion over 10 years. “It is irresponsible and unrealistic to believe America’s poor and [...]
Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and Medicare
Monday, October 6th, 2008Conservatives love to quote Ronald Reagan, so Sarah Palin’s reference in Thursday’s debate barely caught our attention. That is until we found the quote is far from what it seems: “It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream; [...]
Mobilizing Seniors for Social Security
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008We’ve officially kicked off our national Voter Outreach campaign. Our goal is to urge seniors and their families to get the facts, ask tough questions and learn where the candidates stand on critical issues such as the privatization of Social Security. “Economic, retirement and health security top the list of important issues for American voters especially [...]
Let’s Get it Right on Social Security
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO The Washington Post and FactCheck.org made several errors recently in their comments about Social Security privatization. Let’s start with the Post. Ruth Marcus says the 2005 Bush privatization proposal, which Senator McCain supported, would have reduced annual Social Security benefits for an average earner, retiring in 2045, by only about 16 [...]
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