More from the Whiskey Bar:
Whiskey Bar: End of the Line: I realize nobody cares about this any more -- since it has no obvious connection to Plamegate -- but the official (or at least semi-official) death notice for Shrub's Social Security "reform" fiasco has been quietly printed:
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) now thinks he may not begin consideration of Social Security legislation until September, an aide said. Thomas told an Associated Press reporter yesterday that, "The issue is dealing with more time-sensitive legislation first." He said Social Security "is not time-sensitive..."
It appears the Keystone Cops... haven't been able to decide which version of "reform" to get behind -- "ponies for everybody" (private accounts without benefit cuts or tax increases) or "root canal work for the middle class" (benefit cuts and tax increases with private accounts.) Thomas's stealth approach -- SS privatization would have been packaged with a grab bag of private pension goodies -- was the last hope for getting any kind of legislation this year that Bush could sign without putting a paper bag over his head.
But, despite the looming horror of a Social Security meltdown that would end civilization as we know it... the issue apparently is no longer "time sensitive".... So that's it. It's over: with the whimper instead of the bang.
