In Her First Interview After Winning A House Seat, Corrupt ConservaDem Janice Hahn Offers To Bargain Away Social Security & Medicare

Hahn (on the right) is the worst kind of Democrat, one who looks at her constituents as career stepping stones

Tuesday night liberals across the country were greatly cheered by the 6 clear cut victories by progressives-- 5 by landslides-- against Scott Walker's fake candidates in Democratic primaries across Wisconsin. What you didn't read-- not at this blog-- was any cheering for Democratic Party hack Janice Hahn, who won-- narrowly-- her election bid for the west L.A. congressional seat vacated by her disreputable and sleazy crony, Blue Dog Jane Harman.

Hahn, a Democrat in an area where her party enjoys an 18-point registration edge, defeated Republican Craig Huey, 54.6% to 45.4%. But she'll need to start campaigning again soon, as next year's primary is less than a year away.

In an interview Wednesday, Hahn, 59, said she was prepared for both the challenges of her new job and the rigors of a looming campaign.

And she immediately set out to reassure conservatives that they have no reason to not support her. Interviewed on KPCC soon after her sad little victory-- in which so many progressives just abstained-- over a lunatic fringe teabagger, Hahn made it clear that she's ready to take part in dismantling the New Deal, the decades long dream of rightists in America. When asked if she would vote to cut Social Security and Medicare in exchange for raising the debt limit she obfuscated and then let slip her willingness to bargain away the lives of America's most vulnerable citizens, the elderly and infirm. "Americans want us to get together and come up with common sense solutions... If compromises need to be made, I will certainly follow the lead of the President."

That's very different from what we're hearing from Democratic candidates trying to appeal to Democratic-- rather than Republican-- voters. In announcing his intention to run for Congress again, Alan Grayson, a stalwart champion of ordinary working families, made an impassioned speech aimed squarely at weenie-Democrats like Hahn.

Washington is now divided between the Meanies and the Weenies; that's the real two party system today... The Meanies want to take Social Security and Medicare away from grandma and grandpa and the Weenies are quite willing to go along with it and "compromise." Well, people need Social Security and Medicare to live and there's no compromise between life and death; there's no middle ground.

Hahn is exactly what the Democratic congressional caucus does not need-- another despicable lobbyist-driven weenie, pulling the caucus inextricably rightward in the direction of her corporate donors. At the same time she was offering to bargain away the lives of American seniors to avaricious Republican nihilists, the Blue America candidates were making it clear they are on the same page as Grayson-- standing and fighting not just to preserve Medicare and Social Security but to expand and strengthen them. I was especially impressed by a statement from central Florida candidate Nick Ruiz, a very different kind of Democrat than the execrable Hahn.

Whatever debt deal is struck between the two prevailing factions will be primarily a pact of collusion. Thoughtless aristocrats win-- at the expense of the majority of Americans who continue with record losses on a variety of levels. Exchanging cap feathers from largely connected paymasters, the political jesters will cartwheel out of Capitol Hill like ‘winners.’

Make no mistake-- both sides aim to deliver austerity down the barrel of a gun to the American people. And for us, it’s not a matter of whether or not any of the current crop of politicians will block it-- they won’t. It will be a matter of undoing what they’ve done in the next cycle. To do that, we will need more than token Democrats.

Will the U.S. default on its payments? Not likely. But if it does, you can bet all of the major financial interests will know it ahead of time and be short every financial instrument that seems set to implode. Robotic traders know many markets are due for a large correction-- what better way to precipitate it than with Grecian spectacle?

You won’t benefit from this-- but many of them will. And it is why we need a Public Trust-- to hedge against the hedgers.

In every sense, Capitol Hill has already defaulted on its people, and by every measure appears to enjoy the prospects of continuing to do so right through 2012 and beyond, notwithstanding exceptions, such as Bernie Sanders (I-VT) et al.

So what is the jigsaw falling into place for us? The New Deal legacy of widening prosperity is in default. Brick by brick, blow by blow, it is being dissembled under the auspices of ‘reform.’ Cutting Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, unemployment insurance; a paltry minimum wage that remains untethered to the CPI, and thus suppresses all other wages above it by keeping the bottom of the scale, anchored oh so low; a persistently bloated defense budget, rampant tax evasion by patricians and corporations, degradation of the atmosphere and environment, from CO2 levels to worldwide fish stocks-- the corporate hand of fate continues to turn the wheel.

Hoover thought nothing was possible after the Crash of 1929-- FDR everything. What tack would you take? It makes all the difference in the world.

Obama seems to have that Hooverian sense that Hahn can't wait to get behind. Bernie Sanders, an inspiration for every progressive political leader in the country, does not. Sanders, in fact is loudly demanding that Obama keep his campaign promises to protect Social Security and Medicare, promises that helped win him the election against McCain in 2008. This is from a press release from Sander's Senate office:

In a Senate floor speech, Sanders focused on the White House’s newfound interest in Social Security as a target for cuts. “Where does this come from?” Sanders asked. “The president understands that Social Security hasn't contributed one nickel to our deficit. In fact, Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus today, can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 25 years. Social Security is funded by the payroll tax, not by the U.S. Treasury.”
 
Sanders noted that during Obama’s campaign for president he made clear he would not cut Social Security: “The American people are sick and tired of candidates who run for office and say one thing and then, after they are elected, do something very different.”
 
Sanders cited Obama’s statement from Sept. 6, 2008, when he disagreed with  suggestions by Sen. John McCain’s campaign to raise the Social Security retirement age and to reduce cost-of-living adjustments. “Let me be clear,” Obama said at the time, “I will not do either.”
 
Changing how inflation is measured to determine Social Security benefits is one option the White House injected at the eleventh hour as part of the budget negotiations. Switching to a so-called Chained Consumer Price Index results in lower inflation levels than the current formula used to adjust benefits. The result would amount to a significant cut to Social Security benefits for today’s seniors. Beneficiaries who retire at 65 would get $560 a year less when they turn 75 and $1,000 a year less at age 85.
 
“So, Mr. President, when you ask why the American people are frustrated with politicians, and are increasingly cynical, it has a lot to do with candidates who say one thing and do another thing,” Sanders said.  “If you told the American people you're not going to cut Social Security, then don't cut Social Security. Keep your word.”

Contrast Janice Hahn's willingness to compromise away Social Security and Medicare with this speech yesterday by Bernie Sanders (I-VT):