Jay Carney: You Won't "Slash" Social Security, But will you Cut it? That's what I thought.

[jtown1123]

Briefing room word games: What's a 'slash' versus a 'cut' in Social Security?-CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. White House press briefings are often about dancing on the head of a pin. As in, asking the same question over and over until the press secretary says something quotable. Or slicing and dicing words so fine that they lose meaning. Or are reduced to hand gestures. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0707/Briefing-room-word-games-What-s-a-slash-versus-a-cut-in-Social-Security

VIDEO of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/slash-or-cut-carney-reporters-argue-semantics-on-social-security-20110707

[Enrique]

1. it's the "Carney Code" n/t

[jtown1123]

2. Exactly. Just be straight with us.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. I'm sick to my stomach over this. nt

[gateley]

4. If I understood Pelosi, BENEFITS won't be touched (or they

won't vote for it if that's what they're asked to do), expenses may be whittled. My question (because it sounds reasonable) why didn't they do this years ago? Cut away the superfluous costs?

If they can do that now, if that's truly beneficial to the recipients and the program, then that would be a good way to "give" a little but to ultimately benefit.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. Expenses are less than 1% of revenues

Their ain't nothing to cut there. It's a brutally efficient program.

What Pelosi is likely to mean (in my opinion) is that increasing the age of eligibility is cool, but decreasing the amount paid once eligible is uncool. Which, of course, is actually a cut.

[jtown1123]

8. Yes. The only place to cut in SS is benefits. Which is completely unnecessary.

[gateley]

10. Really, they just need to back away. I'm an Obama supporter

but he's GOT to see what even BREATHING on SS and Medicare will mean to his Presidency and to the Democrats as a whole. I just don't get it.

Jared Bernstein mentioned something about drug costs - so maybe that's an area where they could whittle (but if they negotiate lower prices, the Republicans' buddies in Big Pharma wouldn't be happy, so...)

What a fucking nightmare.

[jtown1123]

12. Exactly. You can find savings w/o hurting pple in Medicare. PArt D negotiation for example

Social Security? No no no. They have to realize people will go ape shit if these programs are cut and they will forever taint our party's name. It is just really frustrating to watch.

[gateley]

13. Both Howard Dean and Jared Bernstein expressed concern about Medicaid --

we're not hearing anything about that, so that's worrisome, too.

[Brickbat]

5. Yup. Define "slash."

If you define slash as "eliminate the program entirely," then you're good to do what you think you need to do.

[jtown1123]

The fact that cannot define it (won't) is disturbing

[slipslidingaway]

6. knr nt

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[jtown1123]

11. Here's the transcript of the Exchange if you're interested:

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/07/07/press-briefing-press-secretary-jay-carney-772011


MR. CARNEY: I’m not -- look, again, broadly, without addressing the specific question, the President and the Vice President created an environment in these negotiations where they have asked -- told everybody that they -- that there are no preconditions about what you can or can’t bring into the room and raise for discussion, on the presumption that you’re there in good faith to talk about issues that you think are important as part of this discussion.

So I don’t want to -- it does not behoove us to say something is on or off the table, something can or cannot come into the room. But what gets into the room doesn’t necessarily emerge from the room.

Q What does “slash” mean?

MR. CARNEY: Haven’t you got, like, a dictionary app on your iPhone?

Q Well, it’s a word that you use instead of “cut.”

MR. CARNEY: “Slash” is, I think, quite clear. It’s slash. It’s like that. (Laughter.) It’s a significant whack. (Laughter.)

Q So it means a significant --

MR. CARNEY: I’m not going to put a numerical figure on it.

Q So it means a significant cut.

MR. CARNEY: I think slashing is a pretty sharp, direct --

Q It’s not the same thing as cutting -- the point is, it’s not the same thing as “cut.”

MR. CARNEY: It’s slash. (Laughter.) And I don’t mean the guitarist. (Laughter.)

Q A pledge to not slash benefits is not the same thing as a pledge to not cut benefits.

MR. CARNEY: I’m not -- again, we’re talking about a policy enunciated by the President back in January, and that is --




Q This is a diction you guys have chosen.

MR. CARNEY: No, no, I get that, and we did choose it, and the President used it. But I’m not here to negotiate the semantics --

Q Just so everybody understands -- just so everybody understands, when you say “slash,” you don’t mean “cut.”

MR. CARNEY: We have said that to address the long-term solvency of the problem -- of the program, because this is not an issue that drives short- or medium-term deficits, that we would look -- the President is interested in looking at ways to strengthen the program and enhance its long-term solvency that protects the integrity of the program and doesn’t slash benefits.

Q Which is not the same thing as not cutting benefits.

Q Jay, can I have a clarification? You keep saying that it’s in the talks because anybody can bring anything up. Are you suggesting Social Security is a topic of the conversation not because the President made it one but because somebody else did?

MR. CARNEY: Can I just say that I’m just not going to talk about the contents of the conversation. All I’m saying is the story today way overwrote a simple fact that has been true since January, which is the President is willing to and interested in talking about ways to strengthen Social Security in the long term, and then separately but in a related way, because of the nature of the story, we have also not put any bars on the door to -- that disallow issues that people want to bring into the room.

[gateley]

14. That's another job I wouldn't want for all the money in the world --

those guys have their hands tied. There's only so much they can say, and probably only so much that they know.