Last night Scott Eckersley used DC-style double speak to make a false claim about Billy Long.
Fact: Billy Long has never filled out a survey from Conservative Congress. In fact, there is no survey to fill out.
Fact: Billy Long does not support dismantling Social Security and has never said he does. He supports reforming Social Security so it will be there for generations to come.
Back in July, Scott Eckersley told the Joplin Globe all reform options were on the table, including raising the retirement age and increasing taxes. Now, Eckersley has issued an entirely fabricated attack twisting Billy Long’s call for reform to fit the Eckersley agenda. It appears that everyone except Scott Eckersley knows that Social Security must be reformed. He just wants to use it as a wedge issue, scaring voters by making false allegations that reform will mean doing away with retirement benefits altogether. Billy wants to have a dialogue on reform, not substitute fear-mongering for substantive debate on important issues.
Social Security has become one of the biggest expenses in the federal budget. As more people reach retirement age, the smaller pool of workers paying into the system is becoming unable to support the expense of benefits for a large pool of retired workers. According to David C. Johns of The Heritage Foundation, the Social Security system is already running a deficit due to a weak economy and is set to run a permanent deficit starting in 2016, though it is highly likely it will keep running deficits from now on. The Social Security trust fund cannot bail the program out, as liberals in Congress have repeatedly raided it for pork projects and filled the program’s coffers with nothing but IOUs. This has put the Social Security system in danger of going broke within a relatively short period of time, making Social Security reform an urgent issue.
The truth is Billy believes we need to honor our commitment to our seniors. Billy is not going to try to ‘dismantle’ Social Security. We won’t change benefits or increase retirement age for those who are already retired or close to retirement. What he will do is work for reforms that will ensure Social Security will still be around for future generations.
This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Long: Eckersley's lying; I do not support dismantling Social Security
In the aftermath of last night's Seventh District Congressional debate in Joplin, the Billy Long campaign fired back today against charges leveled by Democrat Scott Eckersley. From the news release:
It's not to hard to prove this blog wrong. http://www.conservativecongress.com/research
ReplyDeleteIt shows Long responded to their questionnaire and answered favorably to their questions about dismantling Social Security. I thought you were a journalist.
Randy, do you think maybe Long got the TWO conservative congress websites confused?
ReplyDeleteOne is "conservative-congress" the other is "conservative congress".
The first one, with the hyphen, has no questionnaire but does have a link to the other conservative congress whose questionnaire Long answered and is 'fully aligned with our issues statement' which includes: "Specifically, Conservative Congress supports candidates who seek to dismantle the Department of Education and
Social Security".
The phrase that Long wants to have a dialogue is just funny as he has avoided every possibility to debate and have dialogue. The more he is exposed to the public the more that the people will see that he doesn't know what he is talking about.
ReplyDeleteLong has no idea what he is talking about, but the voters don't care. They will vote for him anyway.
ReplyDeleteMost voters feel more comfortable voting for someone with little or no intelligence, they want someone on their level, the bottom of the heap.
I think you missed the real story: Billy Long is dumb enough to think "Hot Diggity Dog" is a real catchphrase.
ReplyDeleteFrom Conservative Congress issues statement page:
ReplyDeletehttp://conservativecongress.com/issues-statement/
De-Regulation of Federal Programs
In an ever growing and changing world, it is important that the administration of social programs be kept under the exclusive control of state and local governments. Conservative Congress supports candidates who are committed to de-regulating and dismantling wasteful federal social agencies and programs. Specifically, Conservative Congress supports candidates who seek to dismantle the Department of Education and Social Security, by and through constructive reforms, and who firmly oppose the expansion of federal control over our nation’s healthcare industry.
Got Long writing for you now Randy? Survey or not, the words are there on the website. If Long disagrees with the stance of "conservativecongress.com" then he can ask to be taken off their approval list. Eckersley's just reporting on the situation at hand and there's nothing dishonest in that.
ReplyDeleteWell, Social Security does not have to be "reformed" by cutting benefits and increasing retirement ages.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that CONGRESS stole (i.e. converted money into worthless Treasury securities) $2 trillio from the Social Security Trust Fund. Where is the outrage?
If we got out of Afghanistan we would save $159 billion a year. Add to that the $70 billion yearly to be garnered by ending the tax cut on the top 2 percent of Americans.
In ONE DECADE, with those monies--if contributed every year--we could replace the $2 trillion.
But we won't do that: We'll cut benefits from old people. We'll steal money from hard-working Americans while we pay off Wall Street millionaires who brought the U.S. to its knees.
The rich will grow fat while the hard-working American suffers due to Congress's irresponsibility. Benefits will be cut by the Debt Commission. The war will go on while our nation suffers?
Does Billy Long think it is "O.K." for Congress to steal that money? Does Scott Eckersley?
Who stands up by average Americans? Make that determination and vote accordingly.
Turner is just reporting that a press release was issued by Long's campaign
ReplyDelete