Others here have already more than adequately addressed Alan Simpson's comments and the obvious contrast between the kid glove treatment he has received compared to the combat boots routine that Shirley Sherrod received. That double standard is so obvious than any 11-sided chess player could see it in a moment. The real question, however, is a bigger one: Why was Simpson appointed in the first place?
What is it about Alan Simpson that would lead anyone advocating "Change" to appoint him to co-chair any commission? Have they all forgotten how, along w/ Sens. Specter and Hatch, he savaged Prof. Hill during the Thomas confirmation hearings in 1991? In addition to the utter viciousness that was unleashed upon a demure law professor who never sought the spotlight, there was the minor fact that Simpson helped a visibly unqualified partisan hack get a lifetime seat on the SCOTUS. The current VP chaired Senate Judiciary at the time--he might've recalled the event.
Even if one wished to ignore this sordid event, as per Open Left, what's in Simpson's background to make him an expert on deficit reduction:
Like so many other Obama carry-overs of the Nixon/Reagan/Bush regime, this commission is dominated by the "logic" of trusting the mess-makers to clean up the mess, so Simpson's Co-Chairmanship is a perfect fit. He served in the House from 1964 to 1977, and in the Senate from 1979 to 1997, serving as Republican whip from 1985 to 1995. In short, he was right in the thick of things as Senate Republicans helped Ronald Reagan put an end to fiscal responsibility with his massive tax cuts and bloated Pentagon spending, which continued indefinitely despite the oceans of red ink they unleashed.
Let's also look 2 snippets of the transcript of Simpson's exchange w/ Stephen Lawson of Social Security Works earlier this year:
SIMPSON:Listen. Listen. It's 2.5 trillion bucks in IOUs which have been used to build the interstate highway system and all of the things people have enjoyed since it has been setup.
LAWSON: Two wars, tax cuts for the wealthy.
SIMPSON:Whatever, whatever. You pick your crap and I'll pick the real stuff. It has to do with the highway system, it was to run America. And those are IOUs in there. And now there is not enough coming in every month.
and
LAWSON: No, I understand that. But in my understanding from actually looking at the 1983 commission, they actually started prefunding the retirement of the baby boom by building up that huge surplus.
SIMPSON: They never knew there was a baby boom in '83.
Let's look at that utterly mind-boggling quote again:
SIMPSON: They never knew there was a baby boom in '83.
As a boomer myself, I sure as hell knew there was a baby boom in 1983. I suspect that Alan Greenspan and everyone else who engineered the grand compromise on SS in 1983 knew about it, too, as the baby boom ended, at the very latest, in 1964. Simpson may've been the only member of either house in 1983 who was unaware that, starting in 2011, the largest population bulge in American history would start reaching age 65.
So, we have a Rethuglican who played a key role in Clarence Thomas becoming a swing vote in Bush v. Gore being named to co-chair a commission that's clearly addressing SS. This Rethuglican showed an appalling ignorance on SS in an interview after his appointment. To add (literal) insult to injury, he has now made an appalling comment that, were he a mid-level Ag Dept employee, would've led to his immediate termination.
After initially supporting Edwards, I jumped aboard the Obama bandwagon in early 2008. Our family attended a rally at the local NHL arena in 5/08. We had a "Change" sign on our front lawn and my son and I canvassed our neighborhood in the fall. On election day, I provided legal assistance at a local precinct.
In hindsight, I'm not sure what I expected that our country would get in an Obama presidency. I am certain, however, that I never dreamed that we'd get the ongoing travesty of the Simpson appointment. If this WH has any hope of getting the base back, it needs to jettison Simpson and appoint Elizabeth Warren ASAP.