MSNBC says that Pres. Obama has said today that if no agreement is reached,

[CleanGreenFuture]

he cannot guarantee that social security checks would go out.

How does that work?

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. It works by scaring your viewers into staying glued to the tube. nm

[CleanGreenFuture]

7. So, it's not true? He (or the administration) didn't say that?

[damntexdem]

33. No, it works by scaring the voters into pressuring the Repukes.

But it unfortunately also works by feeding the fantasy that SS is related to the deficit.

[kentuck]

2. But he can guarantee that veterans and the military will get theirs?

As will those that are due interest on our debt? As will Homeland Security? As will the ethanol producers? As will the Defense contractors? As will the Big Oil companies? But not the Social Security recipients? The one group that has paid for their benefits will be cut and all the others will be taken care of? Is that where we are going?

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. I am betting vets will not either

[mzmolly]

3. Hopefully it works by forcing Republicans to vote on a clean debt limit

increase.

[tsuki]

4. Will military retirement checks go out? Social Security is not part of

the budget, military retirement is.

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. Stop muddying the water! This is spin time, baby! Give all those seniors a heart attack wondering

where their pills will come from! How can they buy their cat food when they have no SS check?

[Yuugal]

5. It works like this:

There wont be enough money coming in to cover everything we need to pay out. So of course the stuff Obama loves like war will be paid for and the stuff he could give a shit about, like old people eating, wont get paid.

[PoliticAverse]

6. He did a similar thing during the threatened government shutdown...

a few months ago. But Social Security checks would have gone out anyway during any shutdown.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. Said in an interview with Scott Pelley of CBS News...

Obama says he cannot guarantee Social Security checks will go out on August 3

Text"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, according to excerpts released by CBS News.

He said it. The vido link is there.

[sabrina 1]

31. Maybe then he should not have taken those billions for war

to make sure that AMERICANS are covered in case of an emergency.


Scare tactics that if they do come about should cause every single one playing this game of chicken with people's lives, to lose their jobs.

[CleanGreenFuture]

32. Thanks for the link, Ozy!

[TheKentuckian]

9. Scare tactic that says pass whatever we say or Grandma doesn't even get catfood.

The military adventures will be funded and the debt will be serviced and the rest is debatable.

[Safetykitten]

10. Now if you could just see us tweaking SS just a itty-bit, the checks will go out, and I can...

then bargain for future itty-bitties on your behalf...

Very blatant scare- mongering for our President, don't you think? I would rather he scare republicans, not old people.

[global1]

18. Don't You Think This Is A Tactic To Scare The Repugs?.....

I don't think the Repugs want to incur the wrath of the seniors by shouldering the blame for them not getting their checks. That's where this is leading. The President and the Dems bent over backward to get this issue resolved but the Repugs want to cater to their rich friends that own private jets. I think that's how this is intended to be played out.

[democrat_patriot]

23. Yes it is. And a default give the President UNPRECEDENTED power.

Or rather the Executive Branch.

Obama can pick and choose what states get paid RED vs. Blue. What programs liberal or conservative.

This makes the AARP ratchet up pressure on the GOP - which is good.

[gkhouston]

36. Actually, it may be a tactic to scare the Senate Dems. n/t

[KittyWampus]

37. Except the Republicans walked out on that deal. Aren't you even paying any attention?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. It works by getting seniors attention and draws focus on McConnell's foolish statement.

It in turn puts more pressure on the Republicans to appear to care about what their actions could cause.

It's all part of the theater that is politics.

[Safetykitten]

12. Ah...yes! The cuts come faster! That's the ticket.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. Another excellent example of political theater. nt

[dana_b]

25. yep. it seems like that is all

that this shit is! Scare the older folks/people on disability, have them jam the phone lines at the WH/Congress and then pass something quickly to appease us. What is passed, however, may be the beginning of the destruction of the very social program that is sending out those checks.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

38. Playing politics with peoples lives.

Which is what all politics are about if we were to get to the point, they're about the lives of the people the politicians were elected to represent. The problem is far too many politicians do not see it that way. Raising the eligibility rate of Medicare by two years would in effect cause a massive health care crisis and financial crisis for those people whose lives are impacted. A longer and greater crisis than missing a SS check. Yet these words today will have a quicker impact to cause outrage by the masses and could soften the people to the concept of accepting the very thing they should have been raging about already.

The flip side of the coin is, now there's the possibility with the added leverage these word give the Democrats in Congress over the GOP, the Democrats may not be required to offer up as much to them in exchange for the raising of the debt ceiling.

[Inuca]

15. No? Really?

I thought it just means he hates old people.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. No. That translation will take at least one full news cycle to become the meme. nt

[Cali_Democrat]

14. WTF? Keep paying Social Security

How does it work? At that point it's up to the President to determine what bills need to be paid.

I say you don't write checks to the defense department and don't pay the bond holders.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. "We have nothing to use but fear itself"?

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. In the meantime, how many seniors will have a heart attack wondering how they will buy their pills

and cat food dinners with no SS check? This is IRRESPONSIBLE of him to do such a thing to senior citizens....just to score political points. Fucking disgusting, IMCPO. SS has NOTHING to do with the damn budget and he knows it.

[phleshdef]

21. This is exactly what he needs to be saying.

I swear to God, my 78 year old grandmother just called me about this and she is PISSED off at the Republicans. This is the kind of thing the bully pulpit is all about.

[democrat_patriot]

26. Agreed. Should have been saying this a month ago. How am I affected?

This is what people understand.

"How does this affect me?"

Instead of "the U.S. may deafault on it's debt obligations blah blah blah.."

[n2doc]

30. Yep. Until people are hit by the shutdown, they can afford to be idiots

There are a huge number of people in the red states who are dependent on SSI and medicare/medicaid. Let's see how they feel about their precious debt limit when those checks and services stop. I realize there will be pain, even deaths, but until something slaps these people in the face they won't stop believing Rush/Faux/etc.,

Obama should furlough all the military in the states, except emergency personnel, as well.

[Strelnikov_]

22. Why? Social Security is still in the black. n/t

[Ganja Ninja]

24. It doesn't.

That money is in the hands of the government in the form of Treasury Bonds. It's already part of the national debt. Not sending out those checks is defaulting on the debt. If they can't send out checks then they should send out the bonds themselves.

[bahrbearian]

27. If only we had a 'Lock Box' someplace to keep that money separate.

[On the Road]

28. This is the Right Tactic

As a practical matter, debt payments need to continue to prevent huge increases in the cost of borrowing, and because it takes away the GOP's major bargaining chip.

If there is no increase to the debt limit, the difference will have to come out of a variety of other payments: payments to vendors, federal employees and the military, medicare reimbursements, and checks to state and local governments.

This is where the heat is going to come from. If any of those payments are going to stop, including a federal government shutdown, the heat is going to go right back on Republicans. Despite what they think, THEY are going to get blamed just like they did under Gingrich in the 90s.

I am actually glad Obama said this. A short delay in SS checks is better than a long-term cut.

[otohara]

29. That Will Wake Up The Senior Vote

big time....blowback is coming to a GOP'er near D.C.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

34. McConnell first and foremost.

Obama's timing of the statement was designed to showcase McConnell's "no real deficit deal until Obama is gone" announcement.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20078766-503544.html

The heat in DC just went up considerably. More than a few broke out in a sweat after Obama spoke, of that I've no doubt.