In the spin room, after the debate, Obama communicationis director David Axelrod said
“We heard from Senator Clinton that she’d be open to cutting benefits for social security for people who aren’t receiving benefits now, which means that all the baby boomers could see their social security benefits cut. That was a new revelation on her part. We’ll see how voter process that. “
So, next, I grabbed Clinton’s communications director, Howard Wolfson, and said to him, “David Axelrod just said that Hillary, in the debate said that she was going to cut the benefits to people who don’t already have benefits. Now I know…”
Wolfson replied, “She didn’t say that.”
I answered, “She said that the people who do have benefits won’t get them cut, which suggests that she might…”
Wolfson cut in, “Oh, that’s such a ridiculous… Senator Obama is the guy who said, in the middle of this campaign, that raising the retirement age ought to be on the table, so that’s ridiculous. They’re really just clutching at straws because their guy had a bad night. "
I replied, “I wrote a note down when she said it, that it sounded like she was leaving that open. She’s going to get hit again with this one.”
Wolfson replied, “I’m not worried about that."
