May 9, 2005
LONELY AT THE TOP:
On Social Security, a Search for Rivals (RICHARD W. STEVENSON , 5/09/05, NY Times)
Having now outlined the two biggest components of his approach to Social Security - cutting benefits from promised levels for most workers and establishing investment accounts - President Bush is trying to turn the focus to another aspect of the debate: where are the Democrats?The White House and its allies are increasingly prodding, imploring, mocking, daring and threatening Democrats in the hopes of forcing them to put on the table their ideas for dealing with the retirement system's projected long-term problems.
Good time to recycle an old political play--they should start running those ads where a pack of hunting dogs are charging around trying to sniff out their prey with no success. I think Russ Feingold may have won a race using that ad. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 9, 2005 11:53 AM
"cutting promised benefits for most workers"
The NYT didn't have enough space to note that the plan has lower income workers unchanged but higher income workers mostly affected?
Posted by: AWW at May 9, 2005 11:56 AMIt was Mitch McConnell in his first race, against Jim Huddleston. Great commercial by the way.
Posted by: Jeff at May 9, 2005 12:49 PM"... in the hopes of forcing them to put on the table their ideas ..."
Where were the New York Times' copy editors on this one?* One puts something ONTO a table, not ON it. And when one desires a single thing, one has HOPE, not HOPES.
For that matter, the entire sentence should have been recast:
"The White House and its allies are increasingly prodding, imploring, mocking, daring and threatening Democrats, hoping to force them to present ideas that address the system's projected problems."
(*Not to mention, why did the writer make these errors in the first place? Having worked in professional publishing and journalism my entire career, I am continually astonished by the large number of "writers" who lack a fundamental grasp of grammar and usage rules. It makes no sense. It's akin to a carpenter who can build a desk without knowing how to properly use a hammer.)