The thing is that all of these programs, there's always someone who's deserving, but everybody in this room knows somebody who's gaming the system. What I tell people is, if you look like me and you hop out of a truck, you shouldn't be getting a disability check. You know, over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. (Laughter.) Who doesn't get up a little anxious for work every day or their back hurts. Everybody over 40 has a back pain. (our emphasis)Hahahaha. Spoken like a true objectivist reactionary! Of course, Paul is simply following what has been the script from Day One for the newly empowered congressional Republicans: pit people with disabilities against seniors in a race to cut Social Security benefits. This is every bit as disqualifying a sentiment as was Lord Mittens Romney's "47 percent" remark. It reveals a person who is happy to extrapolate anecdotal cases of fraud (shades of St. Ronnie of Rodeo Drive's "welfare queens") into belittling and minimizing the suffering of millions of fellow Americans, all in the service of advancing a Republican goal of the last 80 years -- gutting Social Security.
Once again, we would like to pause to thank all the Democrats out there who sat on their asses last November. This is your reward.
UPDATE: Even the
