Gmail - Progress Report: President Shills For Insurance Industry

SOCIAL SECURITY – WHITE HOUSE MEMO DETAILS RESOLVE TO CUT BENEFITS: A private White House memo sent Monday to top conservative allies seeks "to avert a split in Republican ranks" by taking sides in a growing conservative fissure over whether Social Security privatization plans should include drastic cuts in benefits for future retirees. The memo says President Bush will push ahead with his plan to cut benefits, and claims the plan's success would be "one of the most significant conservative governing achievements ever." Still, after Senate Republicans reported being "scared to death" of the political fallout of privatization plans during a private retreat yesterday, the White House responded by "emphasizing the importance of unifying behind whatever plan has the best chance of being signed into law." In other words," American Prospect fellow Matthew Yglesias writes, the White House doesn't mind what passes "as long as they can replace Social Security with something else. Anything else."