i wonder how many lies the bushies are going to get caught in. seems one gets exposed just about every week. they're desperate. and to think, they've got faux, cnn, msnbc, nbc, abc, radio.... and untold millions in PR work, and STILL cant win. that's pathetic if ya ask me.

from today's des moines register:

The dispute is whether FDR believed Social Security should eventually be replaced by personal retirement accounts. Some backers of President Bush's proposal for personal accounts make that claim.

Careful reading of Roosevelt's original messages doesn't support the claim.

The confusion arises from FDR's January 1935 message to Congress that accompanied the recommendations of the committee on which Wallace and Hopkins served. One sentence from the message refers to "the old-age pension plan, which ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."

That sounds as if Roosevelt wanted Social Security to someday be replaced by private plans, but in the context of his entire message that's not what he was saying. The "old-age pension plan" he wanted to supplant was not Social Security. It was a temporary measure to provide relief in the interim before Social Security could take effect. The "self-supporting annuity" was not a reference to private accounts. That was how FDR referred to Social Security itself - as an annuity self-supported by workers through payroll taxes.

In other words, Roosevelt was saying the temporary plan for old-age relief should be supplanted by Social Security. He was NOT envisioning private accounts replacing Social Security. (The texts of all presidential messages on Social Security are available on the Social Security Web site - www.ssa.gov/history).