Pretty ironic that seniors voted overwhelmingly for the party that wants to end Social Security

[scheming daemons]

I thought people gained wisdom as they got older?


Guess not.

[Kennah]

1. Republican death panels

[left coaster]

2. And we must remind any seniors we know, who voted that way...

..to start refusing their SS checks, and to burn their Medicare cards NOW..

[emulatorloo]

3. Most of Fox's viewers are Seniors.

So that's kind of a problem. I forget how many Seniors believed the Death Panel thing - saw polling, it is a pretty large chunk.

[MineralMan]

I didn't. Neither did most of the people I know who are in my age

group.

[flamingdem]

4. Boner wants to raise retirement age to 70 but it will not impact them

They've got theirs..

[pacalo]

24. Think about those who do manual labor who can't retire until 70.

Of course, those who create the law have no idea how the laborers would be affected.

[flamingdem]

31. People are too sheeplike on this. I attended a focus group and they were probing

on the issue of raising retirement age. Almost every person, some manual worker types included were saying: okay well I know I'm going to work until I drop so whatever. I was the only one saying it's unfair.

[pacalo]

36. After their bodies are no longer able to perform the work, will they be able to

collect unemployment checks for 10+ years until their pensions take effect? The thugs hate extended unemployment, too!

[Xipe Totec]

5. I guess we need to thin the herd

and they are most graciously helping that happen.

[brewens]

6. They know they will be grandfathered in on any major cutbacks.

As long as they got theirs, they are willing to screw everyone else. Like with medicare. Many of the ones that are against government run health care understand that medicare is also government run. They are afraid that a system that lets everyone be covered will ruin what they have.

[CTyankee]

13. I'm a senior and I know many seniors who do not feel that way at all.

We are protective of what we have, but not all of us would cut off our kids and grandkids from eventually having SS and Medicare! I do think seniors as a group (as I know them, not a scientific poll!) are nervous about losing what benefits they do have. We are all scared of running out of money as we get more dependent on having medical care and have no forseeable way of increasing our income.

We should have a STRONGER safety net, covering MORE people, not a shrinking one...

[riderinthestorm]

51. My mom's 78 yrs old, a teabagger and definitely feels that way

as do most of her peers. She goes so far as to even resent "paying for the education of other people's children". My mother is a staunch Faux News watcher, bigot, rethug extraordinaire, and totally exemplary of her circle of friends.

It's nauseating. The greatest generation is now going to be tarnished with this travesty.

[laundry_queen]

53. Did you go to public school?

My dad, not retired yet, is the same way about having to pay school taxes. It completely baffles me - does he not remember he had 2 kids that went through the school system? :wtf:

[riderinthestorm]

57. Yes, I did so I can completely relate

She's the same. I can only attribute it to brainwashing from Faux News? I am really disgusted.

[atreides1]

25. Grandfathered?

And was it the Republicans that made this promise?

We'll see how that works out, won't we?

[brewens]

37. I would have loved for seniors to have believed that any cuts

would take effect immediately. I mean why not? No one is more responsible in general for the mess we have than the people that have cast the most votes over the last several decades.
If they can't survive on a fixed income if they lose benefits, younger people can't afford to keep paying out to provide something we aren't going to get.

[raccoon]

67. I've run into seniors that think like that,

"Like with medicare. Many of the ones that are against government run health care understand that medicare is also government run. They are afraid that a system that lets everyone be covered will ruin what they have."

[Naturyl]

7. Nope, wisdom does not accrue automatically.

That's one of the feel-good Hallmark myths we tell ourselves, but it just ain't so.

Wisdom is cultivated. It is an intentional act. If one doesn't cultivate wisdom, it doesn't magically appear, even in 300 years.

Yesterday is good evidence of that. Seniors voted themselves cat food. Obviously that wasn't too wise.

[MuseRider]

17. How very true.

"Wisdom is cultivated. It is an intentional act."

That is what I told my kids as they were growing up. There is nothing more true than this. Just living a long time does not do it.

There really is no excuse for the ignorance in this country. All one has to do is try to be better but alas, we have told ourselves that we are just fine the way we are and there is no reason to worry about it.

[girl gone mad]

8. 1. Obama is targeting SS, too, and..

2. Seniors know that their SS will be safe, it's only the younger generations that will be forced to take losses.

[eilen]

50. They have been doing that for years.

passing the buck on done. That is why there are tiers to pensions. New classifications at the union halls. School budgets that fail in election years.

[cynatnite]

9. Dems want to pull the plug on grandma. Not ironic at all. n/t

[EnviroBat]

10. I never bought into that whole "Seniors possess great wisdom" bullshit.

In fact, more often than not, I find them feeble-minded, quick to scare, and resistant to progressive thinking...

[Odin2005]

23. It's a generational thing.

The so-called "Silent" generation born between the Greatest Generation and the Boomers (Silent as in Nixon's "Silent Majority") make up the vast majority of living retirees. And collectively as a generation have have mostly succeeded in kicking the can of problems down the road untill it blew up in us younger folks' faces.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Maybe it was the 'Dems are going to cut $500 billion from Medicare" that did it.

I think many GOP candidates used what Newsweek called the biggest misstatement of 2010 to scare the elderly. John Boozman used that in every TV ad I saw.


http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/26/the-biggest-misstatements-of-the-midterms.html

A common theme is that the law contains a $500 billion Medicare "cut" that will translate into less benefits, but that’s misleading. The law calls for reducing the future growth of Medicare spending over the next 10 years by about 7 percent. Plus, the law stipulates that guaranteed Medicare benefits won’t be reduced, and it adds some new benefits, such as improved coverage for pharmaceuticals.

[SweetieD]

12. Seniors voted for the party that wants to end Healthcare Reform not SS

Many seniors are scared that if gov't healthcare reform for all goes into effect, that it will decrease their medicare and ss benefits. So not ironic at all.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

14. I read a quote today from a senior who voted for

Linda McMahon because she likes her hairstyle !

Age and wisdom are not necessarily linked

[MadMaddie]

15. Well they watch Faux and have been told the Black guy in the

WH is the enemy and should be punished. When they are in soup lines after the Repugs finish off the job that the Bernie Maddoffs started.....it's really sad to think about it like this but it is what it is.

[glinda]

16. My guess is that most the people who voted for them do not have a clue on anything politically from

how the process works to what those cuts mean for them to what the Constitution actually says and the importance of the Constitution.
The idiot nation in full bloom. It is sad.
When they are asked why they voted the way they did they repeat the talking points of "big Government", "big deficit", on and on and do not know what has been done or how it is accomplished and by whom.

[Odin2005]

18. A one last "FU" by the Silent generation (folks born between the WW2 Gen and the Boomers).

They know they will be grandfathered in, so they don't give a shit.

[HughMoran]

19. Stupid fucks were next to me in polling station talking about how to vote

...for all Republicans.

[defendandprotect]

20. Right wing propaganda works -- !!

And, were Democrats pounding out messages to alert senior citizens?

Seniors aren't even organized in any way -- except thru AARP and insurance company!

[SoCalDem]

21. Here's why they did it

ANY change to SS is "future-oriented"...like for people who are now in their 20s to 40s.

People who are collecting retirement benefits now are at least 62.

Any real change will have to "grandfather-in" people who are 50+, or it will not pass.

Most people in the know, also know that SS is pretty much solvent until 2030something. Greedy oldsters (teaparty types) know they will probably be gone by then, so they don't give a shit about anyone else, as long as they can keep more right now..

[JoePhilly]

28. We have a winner ... they are voting for a "solution" the impacy of which ...

won't effect them.

And ... I think some of them are angry about the civil rights movement and their inability to use the N-word. Many of them remember when blacks knew their place. Obama does not know his.

[laughingliberal]

22. Their SS is safe. Those of us under 58 are the targets. nt

[mstinamotorcity]

26. Did they????

None I know Repug or Dem. Voted to give away their social security. One of the main reasons a lot of seniors came out to save it. At least the ones I talked to.

[scheming daemons]

43. Yes... exit polling shows they went overwhelmingly for Republicans

[mstinamotorcity]

63. Not my

peeps!!!!!!

[the redcoat]

27. I guess they all forgot about the 60's

when taxes on the rich were at 90% and you didn't have to put yourself in tens or hundreds of thousands of debt to buy a house, car, or college education...that damn evil socialism.

[thereismore]

29. They are not afraid. Their checks will keep coming. Just ours (younger people's) will not. nt

[CBR]

30. They got theirs so they do not give a shit about the rest of us.

That is what the GOP promotes -- selfishness.

[Stevenmarc]

32. It's obvious that age doesn't necessarily bring wisdom

[WinkyDink]

47. Remember you said that, as you grow older.

[taught_me_patience]

33. The old "I've got mine so fuck everybody else" mentality

completely selfish.. yes but not ironic at all.

[TexasObserver]

34. It's the children of the Depression - their fathers worked for WPA.

From their childhood until their eighties, Uncle Sam has taken care of them through liberal programs. The FDIC that protects their money if their bank fails. The Medicare. The Social Security. They have sucked down public support and resent it for others.

Why are the children of today's poor less worthy than the children of the poor in the 1930s?

I honestly do not understand the people who lived through the Depression but harangue against "government programs" now. It's my parents' generation, and even though they all came from WPA families, you'd think they were all birthed by Ayn Rand with John Galt as the father.

[WinkyDink]

38. My Democratic mother is 86. Do you MIND not generalizing?

The body of your post is so absurd in parts and in whole that the mind reels.

[ourbluenation]

41. My Democratic mom is 79 and my Democratic dad is 83. I concur. n/t

[felix_numinous]

35. As long a Fox keeps spiking their tea

they will vote against their own interests every time.

[hayu_lol]

40. It is amazing how you are attacking the seniors amongst us...

finally found a group that you can kick around have ya?

Many seniors are alive and well on these boards. We have been fighting the good fight against what has been going on while you were still looking for a dark corner of sunset to park in on date nights.

Ungrateful little wretches. We realize that it will take some adjusting when mom and dad plus mom-in-law and dad-in-law moves in with you. Maybe it is that which scares us...lol.

I find that there is little wisdom and almost no common sense in this thread. Nice of you all to attack those who came before you and PAID YOUR FUCKING WAY to this point of your lives.

Were the boomers spoiled? Doubtful, but sacrifices had to be made and they were the generation that benefited from the end of WWII. New marriages, new babies, new homes, new cars, fancy radios, finally...tv, and a good start in life because jobs were plentiful...didn't pay a lot but a little cash went a long way. Education...there for everyone for very little--at least in California it was.

A single-payer National Health Plan was the target. We didn't get that did we?

Think about it for a bit...way this works you see, is that the older generation supports the younger until you can take over. Then the situation reverses and the younger supports the older. Been that way for centuries. Too good for most of you apparently.

Some of the comments on this thread are as nasty as any about any group ever attacked.

DOB: 1935, downsized 2 1/2 years ago and no jobs available. Worried about things? You bet many of us are.

[felix_numinous]

42. I guess we all should be more clear with our language

I interpreted this thread to be against the tea baggers. Maybe I missed something.

I am frustrated with seniors (the same age as me!) who are voting against their own interest, but as far as I know they are not members of this forum.

[Kennah]

44. 43, working for now, and very little to look forward to ...

... except working till I'm dead under the New Corporate Reich.

I'm in the demographic who thinks the healthcare reform law didn't go nearly far enough. Did I want single-payer? Yes.

However, go back in time and show me the final bill two days before it passed and ask me whether it would pass. Without question I woulda said "No way that will pass. Impossible."

That Obama passed what I thought was impossible, and politics is the art of the possible, I'm very please with healthcare reform as a start.

[WinkyDink]

46. Agree almost totally-----But don't forget the 55,000 Boomers who died in VietNam.

[bullwinkle428]

39. How many Democratic candidates made this a central campaign theme?

My congressman did a so-so job with this, but I live in a pretty blue district where he'd really have to fuck up big-time to lose.

[mcar]

45. Isn't it ironic?

I'm waiting for January, when Rand Paul filibusters raising the debt ceiling and seniors don't get their SS checks.

Wonder who they'll support then?

[hayu_lol]

48. If the January SS checks don't arrive, then...

the kids of seniors who have moved back home because of loss of jobs--downsizing/offshoring will have to move back out into the street along with their parents.

[Evoman]

49. "I love SS...but...welll......black guy!" - Seniors

And no, not all of them. But quite a lot of them.

[ScreamingMeemie]

52. Not even "well...black guy!" My grandmother insists on calling him

our "colored" President. I've tried to stop her. She just doesn't give a shit.

[w8liftinglady]

60. my county has a HUGE senior population..50/50 easy

22,000 voted for Rick Perry/6,000 voted for Bill White.
They ... at least in my area...feel they must go with the "Christian" party...nd simply do not respond to questions about medicare.They don't see it as an entitlement program...even though most of them were rural residents with farming,constrction or something along those lines.I don't get it,either.(Even my dad,an Eisenhower Republican,supported care for the sick,poor and elderly...this is the religious right..God will provide)

[CreekDog]

54. Is it really so surprising? My grandfather, while collecting SS railed that others were included

like the disabled, children whose parents died, etc.

you know what that sounds like to me? sounds like, "don't give my program and benefits to anyone else --ONLY ME."

and the actions of those voters described in the OP sound similar.

[Initech]

55. Not if they're brainwashed by a 24/7 GOP propaganda network.

[krabigirl]

56. Oh no..they want all the social security for themselves! They just want to abolish it for the others

[eridani]

58. Our Social Security Works--WA coalition tried frantically to get our Dem delegation to run--

--very hard on this issue. Every single one of them ignored us, except Jim McDermott who was guaranteed re-election anyway.

[Enthusiast]

59. Seniors appear to have

bought into the right wing propaganda about death panels, etc.

[mmonk]

61. Older whites are easiest to scare and use racism as a wedge issue.

The right uses that effectively. If I am to be denied social security and medicare, then I want the Republicans to deliver on their promise to end entitlements NOW rather than later. Deliver what they promise to those that brought them to power.

[ellisonz]

62. The Greediest Generation

[we can do it]

64. Too Fucking Stupid To Breathe

I swear I will sue the next idiot on a government paid-for scooter the runs into me at the grocery store.

[ItNerd4life]

65. They want to END SS? Really? I heard they want to change it

but what's wrong with trying to improve it? Why not raise the age to 67? It was set at 65 when the average life expectancy was < 50. Now it's 70, what's wrong with raising the retirement age a little? There are Democrats talking about raising the age also.

I've never once heard from anybody they want to END Social Security.

[eridani]

70. Raising the age is a massive benefits cut which will sentence significant numbers of people

--to poverty, homelessness, and even death.

[barb162]

66. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE JUST DON'T PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER

They love that "cut taxes" mantra by the Republicans but they don't understand it will be the social safety net programs that will be decimated.

[uponit7771]

68. ******DNC MESSAGING WAS MISSING THIS ELECTION*******

[Donnachaidh]

69. two words -- catfood commission

Who was it that put that mess together --hmmm?

[Hannah Bell]

71. who ordered & staffed the deficit commission?

who put everything on the table?