One day after Rep. Joe Sestak’s campaign launched its first TV advertisement of the general election, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee came to his aid Wednesday with another round of supporting fire.
No surprise, the new spot portrays Republican Pat Toomey as a running dog of Wall Street, using the same strained argument that DSCC’s did in its first ad -- that Toomey’s trading in currency-rate swaps and other derivatives during the 1980s helped send the global economy down the tubes in 2008.
This time the DSCC links the Wall Street tag to Toomey’s desire to privatize Social Security, a potentially potent new attack. Speaking in Harrisburg Aug. 23, Toomey denied that he wants to privatize the federal old-age insurance program. However, Toomey was a prominent backer of former President George W. Bush’s unsuccessful proposal to replace Social Security with personal savings accounts that would be invested by younger workers. Needless to say, if such a system had existed when the markets crashed two years ago, a whole lot of people would have lost a pile of retirement money. The issue is back in the midterm elections because Rep. Paul Ryan (R.,Wisc.) has issued a Republican “roadmap” to control federal spending, a plan which includes a partial privatization of Social Security.
So does Toomey support privatization of Social Security? It all depends on how you define the term. He and his campaign say that he does favor allowing younger workers to put a portion of their payroll taxes into private accounts, but such an approach doesn’t count as privatization becausemost of the program would still be controlled by the government, which also would closely regulate the private accounts.
Democrats around the nation are using Social Security privatization attacks, hoping to buck bad midterm polling trends. In this ad, the DSCC points out that Wall Street would stand to gain billions in fees from privatization, a way of tying both attacks together.
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Posted 5:02 PM, 09/01/2010
Hmmm, funiding shortfall predicted when the baby boomers retire. Republican answer: Make the situation worse by allowing younger people to reduce their contributions so they can invest in 401K type retirement plans. Great idea genious. Then what? Borrow more money from Communist China? Could you imagine if we only had 401Ks and the stock market crashed like it does every 20 years? Lots of homeless retirees.
0 like this / 0 don't •
Posted 6:13 AM, 09/02/2010
The first attack and smear ad by the DNC worked so well. Toomey's lead in the polls increased. How long before the DNC pulls plug in Sestack? Nice editorilization by Fitz in this "news" piece.
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About Commonwealth Confidential team
Commonwealth Confidential gives you regularly updated coverage of the state legislature, the governor and the workings of the state bureaucracy. It is written by correspondents in the Inquirer's Harrisburg bureau, based right in the statehouse, and by the newspaper's far-flung campaign reporters.
Angela Couloumbis (left) joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998, and has covered government and politics in New Jersey, Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania, including Gov. Rendell’s 2006 race against former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann.
Amy Worden (right) joined the Inquirer in 2000 and has covered governors, gubernatorial races, U.S. Senate races and three presidential campaigns. When not covering politics she can be found filing dispatches from disaster scenes or digging into local stories of national import.
Hmmm, funiding shortfall predicted when the baby boomers retire. Republican answer: Make the situation worse by allowing younger people to reduce their contributions so they can invest in 401K type retirement plans. Great idea genious. Then what? Borrow more money from Communist China? Could you imagine if we only had 401Ks and the stock market crashed like it does every 20 years? Lots of homeless retirees.— MikeP
