Ed Markey on Social Security

Via the folks at Blue Mass Group:

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.: "The Bush administration's so-called 'Social Security crisis' is a worthy successor to the so-called 'Iraq nuclear weapons crisis.' WMD used to stand for Weapons of Mass Destruction. Under President Bush's Social Security privatization plan, WMD now stands for "Watch your Money Disappear."

In January, Markey was also on a panel in Revere where he gave a little history lesson on the GOP's stormy relationship with Social Security:

Such a successful program for the many has, nevertheless, generated an assault from some in the Republican party, led by George W. Bush, the President of the United States. The President has concluded that it is time to phase out (he would say "save") Social Security, the most universal, most popular and most enduring government program ever. The President is returning to an old Republican theme, that Social Security is a form of socialism. Henry Ford said it threatened freedom. Alf Landon called it a "cruel hoax." Barry Goldwater sought its repeal. Milton Friedman said it undermined personal liberty. Ronald Reagan’s budget director David Stockman called it a "monster," and now President Bush calls it "bankrupt" and inconsistent with his vision of an "ownership society." One of the gurus of the "ownership society," Stephen Moore, recently put it this way: "Social Security is the soft underbelly of the welfare state...If you can jab a spear through that, you can undermine the whole welfare state."

Read his full remarks here. (PDF)