The progressive group Social Security Works is calling on Alan Simpson to resign as co-chair of the White House’s Commission on Fiscal Reform for comparing the entitlement program to “a milk cow with 310 million tits.”
“Alan Simpson’s comments are offensive and sexist and clearly demonstrate that he is unfit to continue to lead the President’s Fiscal Commission,” says Eric Kingson, co-director of Social Security Works. “His comments not only show his true view of women and older Americans but also his disdain for the very program he claims he is trying to protect - Social Security. Social Security Works is demanding that he resign immediately. If he will not, the President must fire him. Alan Simpson has no business deciding the fate of hundreds of millions of Americans’ retirement future. He should have no power over Social Security, which provides vital economic support to millions of children and people with disabilities, as well as seniors and their families.”
Simpson, the former Republican Senator from Wyoming, was responding to this post, which accused him of pursuing Social Security cuts as a key source of deficit reductions. He responded to the author by email, insisting that he’s trying to save Social Security, and claiming, “I’ve made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know ‘em too. It’s the same with any system in America. We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!”
Simpson’s no stranger to unhinged responses to critics. In the below video he pops off at a critic from the blog Firedoglake from Social Security Works named Alex Lawson. Lawson happened to be armed with a video camera. The footage is hosted at Firedoglake.
Whether or not comparing Social Security to a milking cow is sexist or agrarian, we’ll leave to the reader.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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