That's because the small handful of Democrats who embraced the deficit-reduction plan by former Republican Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles are being hammered by the Republicans for trimming Social Security benefits. It is a remarkable campaign turnabout by the GOP, which has long endorsed entitlement reform to hold down the long-term debt. Now, they are criticizing the few Democratic lawmakers who actually agreed with them.

Bowles and Simpson co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform that released recommendations in December 2010 -- a controversial document that almost overnight became the gold standard for deficit hawks and government reformers seeking to put government spending on a more sustainable glide path. But nothing is riskier in politics than tampering with entitlement programs -- long known as the "Third Rail of Politics” for the risks in tampering with them. And while Bowles-Simpson became a touchstone for many conservatives and government watchdog groups, few politicians were willing to actually touch it.

In Georgia, the National Republican Campaign Committee posted an ad last week charging that Democratic Rep. John Barrow was "leaving Georgia seniors behind" by supporting "a plan that would raise the retirement age to 69 while cutting Social Security benefits." And in Florida, Rep. Joe Garcia (D) has been accused of "failing seniors" in a new ad put up by the National Republican Congressional Campaign.

The Crossroads ads and others reek of hypocrisy, of course, since Rove and other Republicans previously criticized Obama for failing to support the Bowles-Simpson proposal, The Washington Post noted. "Likewise, the NRCC ads attacking Garcia and Rep. John Barrow for endorsing Social Security cuts come despite many Republicans pushing for just that," Politico reported.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/campaign-interception-gop-blasts-dems-100000251.html