Bush Offers New Social Security Plan - Yahoo! News
As one astute observer put it, "The clothes have no emperor". I think George managed to piss off just about everybody last night.

WASHINGTON - After nearly 60 days on the road pitching Social Security changes, President Bush is offering a new plan to fix its finances by cutting benefits of more prosperous future retirees. Democrats still aren't buying it.

In a prime-time news conference, Bush refused to back off his desire to carve private retirement accounts out of Social Security. Democrats say those personal accounts are a deal-breaker that would keep most of them from supporting Bush's revisions.

But for the first time he proposed changes under which Social Security checks for low-income workers retiring in the future would grow faster than those for people who are better off.

"By providing more generous benefits for low-income retirees, we'll make this commitment: If you work hard and pay into Social Security your entire life, you will not retire in poverty," Bush said.

The White House said Bush's proposal could be accomplished with a "sliding-scale benefit formula." That would mean lower Social Security payments for future middle- and upper-income retirees than they are currently guaranteed — a fact Bush himself did not mention in his 60-minute session with reporters.

Bush would "gut benefits for middle-class families," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said in a joint statement.

They reiterated their opposition to Bush's desire to let younger workers divert some of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts. "All the president did was confirm that he will pay for his risky privatization scheme by cutting the benefits of middle-class seniors," Pelosi and Reid said.

Heh heh. I can hear the screams of middle America already.

Bush held his first prime-time televised news conference in more than a year as he scrambles to generate momentum for his stalled Social Security plans and to calm anger over $2-a-gallon gasoline prices. Those two issues have dragged his approval ratings down.

The president appeared at ease in the East Room of the White House as he fielded questions from reporters after a 7-minute opening statement. At times, he twisted the toe of his shoe on the carpeted riser.

On domestic topics, Bush said he understood that motorists and businesses were unhappy about gasoline prices that are expected to stay above $2 a gallon through summer. Increasing world demand for oil, particularly from fast-growing nations like China, and lack of new U.S. refineries are putting upward pressure on prices, he said.

He pledged to encourage oil-producing nations to maximize production and promised to protect U.S. consumers. "There will be no price gouging at gas pumps in America," Bush said.

He spoke on the same day the world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp., announced that its profit for the first three months of the year had risen 44 percent to $7.86 billion from the corresponding quarter a year ago.

He prodded Congress to get an energy bill to his desk by summer but acknowledged that measure was "certainly no quick fix" for high fuel prices. The House has passed energy legislation; a companion measure awaits Senate action.

Yes, the same energy bill that would give billions in tax breaks to companies that are announcing record profits. Good, George. Keep going, one more group to piss off-

Bush disagreed with the conservative Family Research Council's contention that his judicial appointments were being held up in the Senate because of their religious faith. "I think people are opposing my nominees because they don't like the judicial philosophy of the people I've nominated," he said. "Some would like to see judges legislate from the bench. That's not my view."

Back away from your most rabid supporters. Delicious.

Let's recap- cuts to Social Security benefits to give money to Wall Street, no relief at the pumps while the oil companies rake in billions to go along with their tax breaks, backing away from the Rabid Right who thought they were driving this bus.

Watch those poll numbers tank now.