Yes, he actually said that in an email....and I'm hoping his frustration is a sign that he may not be getting his way - which is a good thing because if he's frustrated that may mean his plans to drain some of the "cow's milk" are not coming to fruition.
Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is "like a milk cow with 310 million tits," according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women's League Tuesday morning. Simpson co-chairs the deficit commission, which is considering various proposals to cut Social Security benefits.
Mr. Simpson was apparently responding to some criticism he has received of late...which should keep him busy indefinitely if he's going to respond to all the critical articles that have been around.
It's unclear from Simpson's email if he means Social Security is the milk cow or if he's referring to America in general. A Simpson assistant responded to a HuffPost email saying that Simpson was traveling and unable to comment immediately.
Simpson's tirade continues a pattern of erratic behavior that threatens to undermine the commission's work. In June, he unleashed a stream of error-riddled invective on a Social Security advocate wielding a camera outside a closed-door commission meeting, leading Paul Krugman to conclude (happily) that Simpson was killing the commission.
"Killing the commission"....I could definitely get behind that. Bottom line, he's showing his anger here and I will venture a guess/hope that he will be unable to wean America off of it's favorite "cow".
Update: h/t:burrow owl...the entire letter in pdf found here:
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com...
Update2: Atrios just tweeted the following (h/t:o the umanity):
Atrios
would not do this is catfood commission wasn't meeting in secret. say hello to alan simpson: alsimpson@vcn.com
Please use Mr. Simpson's recently released email addy to give him some feedback. :D