Cheney in California to campaign for Social Security reform

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. Vice President Dick Cheney is in California today as part of an effort by the Bush administration to reclaim the debate over Social Security.

Cheney will hold a town hall meeting in Bakersfield this morning with Congressman Bill Thomas.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3104071

edit for better info here...

Over 66 percent of voters in Thomas's heavily Republican district favored the Bush-Cheney ticket in last year's presidential election. But even people in Republican-friendly areas are wary about changing Social Security, so both Bush and Cheney have hit the road to campaign for the proposal themselves.
...
So far, the White House is struggling to move lawmakers of either party toward the president's position. Democrats strongly oppose the plan and are using the two-week Congressional recess to campaign against it, backed by numerous interest groups like organized labor and MoveOn.org. And Republicans, many of whom have gotten an earful from elderly constituents worried about losing benefits, are waiting for Bush to make a stronger case for his proposal.

One Republican still in need of convincing is Thomas, who supports the idea of individual investment accounts but raised eyebrows earlier this year when he predicted that the plan would be a "dead horse" on Capitol Hill.
...
Thomas has dismissed the idea of raising the $90,000 cap on payroll deductions, so that wealthier people pay more into the system, as a "job killer." Instead, he has suggested that a value-added tax - essentially a sales tax on goods and services - be used to finance Social Security. He's also floated the idea of adjusting benefits to take race or gender into account, which drew howls of protest from Democrats.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/11193379.htm

Be afraid! Be very afraid!

:scared:

Time to get out the Holy Water
and amulets of protection!
Bakersfield is only an hour or so away
from me...must shield heart and home
from waves of evil doer Dick!
Thanks for the warning!
BHN

you KNOW the bushies are in trouble - and Schwarzenneger is in major trouble here-he is toast. cheney hates CA and only comes here when he is forced to by rover and the boy

Bet he's here giving Ahnold new marching orders.

when the dick does come to cali, he usually stays far from the liberal parts (i.e., the coast), and sticks with the repuke inland valley.

If they need Cheney to come and preemptively lie to keep even Bakersfield/Kern Co. (a place I spent summers with my grandparents at as a child) in line, yes they are definitely in trouble!

The tickets to the event were given to conservative groups to be handed out to select members.

Don't believe the hype, it's another scripted event.

The fumes of evil coming off
Satan's helper may be hazardous to your health!
Hide the children and small animals!
Dick may get hungry and try to serve them
to the other evil doers for lunch!

and throw dog poop at him.

But the "free speech zone" is almost a half mile from where he's speaking and is not on the travel route.

We're planning a protest at the next Chamber of Commerce meeting since they were one of the groups who were given tickets and didn't give them to any of their more liberal members.

Shut down all of Stockdale Hwy?

to make a speech. He isn't going to change any minds, just fulfilling chimp's empty worthless promise to campaign in all the state for his dead ass issue.

Why not? It worked last time.



Which Cheney is scarier? :scared:

but he didn't tell anyone , and the media didn't tell us til
after he left ...

you KNOW how it would have gone if the word had gotten out...:evilgrin:

that there will be a dirty bomb go off in one of our cities." - D. Cheney (snark)

I am very skeeeeeeeeeeered - please, Dick, protect us!!!!

What the F? Is Thomas insane? The Bush claim that blacks are shortchanged by Social Security has been thoroughly debunked as a lie by SS's own actuaries. So Thomas is proposing to change SS to take into account a lie by the leaders of his party?

That chimpy's argument that blacks die sooner will just be used to give them less money.

if we don't follow thy Lord Bush? LOL

Well, I guess we can expect a good sized earthquake today. The state of California has much better taste than this. Hopefully she'll scare him out of here. :evilgrin:

Maybe I'll just get the eggs ready.