Right-wingers have been amusing themselves recently with a post at the blog Right Wing News: "The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2004." In at number 31 is Hillary Clinton:

"Many of you are well enough off that...the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

Hillary said this back in June at a Bay Area fundraiser attended by "several hundred supporters -- some of whom had ponied up as much as $10,000 to attend," according to an AP report. In other words, she said this to Democrats who are really, really rich.

I find it amusing that this infuriated so many conservatives when she said it, and infuriates them now -- but these same conservatives all plan to get behind the Bush Social Security rollback:



That's what's going to happen to projected payouts under what is almost certain to be the Bush plan (according to The Washington Post).

"We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

Hillary said that to very wealthy people; she was talking about a tax windfall. Bush is saying that to everyone in America who's middle-aged or younger; he's talking about benefits promised as part of the program that forms the core of America's social-insurance system. When Hillary said it to the rich, right-wingers howled in outrage. When Bush says it to the vast majority of ordinary Americans, they approve.

*****

By the way, the best news of the day is from the L.A. Times:

The Democratic Leadership Council, the party's leading centrist organization, and Third Way, a new group working with moderate Senate Democrats, expect to issue statements soon opposing Bush's push to divert part of the Social Security payroll tax into accounts that individuals could invest in the stock market, officials of the groups say.

I grumble about these people, but the "liberal" media respects the hell out of them, so their return to the fold on this issue makes it somewhat less likely that the media will present the debate as Reasonable People Who Understand the Need for Drastic Change vs. Crazy Out-of-Step Liberal Throwbacks.