On Monday, July 7, Senator John McCain told a Denver town hall meeting that Social Security, as originally conceived more than 70 years ago, is an "absolute disgrace."
"Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today," Senator McCain said. "And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace and has got to be fixed."
Senator McCain's comment is yet another example that he is out of touch. It is a disgrace that after being in the U.S. Congress for 26 years, the Senator doesn't understand how the Social Security system works. It's always been pay-as-you-go, with today's workers paying for today's retirees.
It's a disgrace is that this is news to John McCain.
Working Americans understand that Social Security is the contract between the generations. It has served our country well since FDR signed it into law. But multi-millionaires like John McCain and George W. Bush don't have to worry about making ends meet and they could care less a program that has proven its worth for generations of Americans.
What Bush and McCain want to do to Social Security is privatize it, destroying a system that works just to benefit the wealthy folks who bankroll their campaigns.
John McCain admits that he doesn't know a lot about the economy. Now we also learn that he doesn't know a lot about Social Security.
Earlier this week, he said he would balance the budget by the end of his first term, yet he doesn't tell people that the only way he can do that is by cutting Social Security and Medicare, health care and education funding -- all the programs working Americans rely on to help them navigate through their lives.
John McCain shares the same misplaced priorities of George W. Bush. These guys are two peas in a pod. They're the same on the economy. They're the same on Iraq. And they're the same on Social Security. Now, he's bringing in the Bush team to help him out. And he's bringing back the Bush goal of undermining Social Security.
Just like George W. Bush, McCain's out to destroy something he knows nothing about. When they combine ignorance with power, they leave it to the rest of us to pick up the pieces from the damage they cause. Bush tried to destroy Social Security and we fought him tooth and nail.
If John McCain thinks he can do what we kept Bush from doing, he's got another thing coming. The American people won't let him destroy Social Security.