Laura Ingraham

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Preview of 2004: See
how Dick runs!

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Whatever political sense House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt may have had seems to have gone the way of his eyebrows - i.e., disappeared.

No doubt frustrated by the President's steady and strong approval ratings (82 percent according to Zogby) and a lack of political traction against the GOP on everything from the economy to the war against terror, No-Brows is reaching back to the ancient Democratic standby-scare-mongering on Social Security.

And it gets more pathetic.

He's now using Mommy to sell his message of doom and gloom. U.S. News reports that Gephardt recently enlisted the help of his 94-year-old mother Loreen, who lives in a St. Louis retirement home, to rail against Republicans.

"She called me last week. She said, 'Dick, I bounced four checks. . . .You have got to come help me work on my checkbook.' "

(Mrs. G. receives a $1,200 monthly Social Security check, covering just a third of her expenses, and heroes Dick and his brother pay the rest.)

Gephardt intones that this sob story shows us why it perilous to allow taxpayers to put even a small percentage of their Social Security in private investments.

Huh?

Amazing how his mother seemed to provide him with the perfect quote - "She kept saying to me," he recounted, " 'Dick, what if the Social Security check were to stop coming?' "

If this is the best that Gephardt has to offer voters, I can't wait for the start of the 2004 Presidential race.

WORD OF THE WEEK

Casuistry, n. (CAZ-u-istry) Specious argument; rationalization.

No casuistry on the part of Democrats on Social Security will help them make make significant in-roads against Republicans in November.

JWR contributor Laura Ingraham is the host of a radio show syndicated nationally by Westwood One Radio Network. Comment by clicking here.

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