Politics

NOW delivers ‘tits’ to protest Fiscal Commission co-chair Alan Simpson and his social security reform efforts

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The president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) delivered 1,500 baby bottle tops — meant to represent “tits” — to Fiscal Commission Co-Chair Alan Simpson this morning as part of its “tits for an ass” campaign to have Simpson removed from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform — a commission established by the President Obama to study the federal deficit.

Simpson sent the ladies of NOW into a fit of rage recently with an e-mail to Ashley Carson, executive director of the Older Women’s League (OWL), in which he compared Social Security to a “a milk cow with 320 million tits” and encouraged those who work to promote Social Security to “get honest work.”

Terry O’Neill, NOW president, presented Simpson with a bag of a portion of the bottle tops before this morning’s Commission meeting to show the group’s displeasure with Simpson’s perceived sexism and his role in Social Security reform efforts.

Simpson accepted the tops, saying that he would be donating them to charity. O’Neill then launched into a tirade about the importance of Social Security and her frustration with his hostility toward the program, saying she hoped his reform efforts failed. To which Simpson responded, “Let’s hope that you will help us keep Social Security solvent for the next 75 years instead of just drying up.”

“We can do that without cutting benefits, so if you take a pledge not to cut benefits, we can work together to make it solvent, not just for 75 years, but for far more than that,” O’Neill said.

Simpson concluded the debate by facetiously wishing O’Neill “Merry Christmas” and suggesting they work toward making Social Security actually effective. “How about just making it work, you wouldn’t mind that would you?,” he asked.

NOW and their coalition in support of Social Security — composed of such groups as Strength Social Security, the Don’t Cut It Coalition, and Social Security Works — also staged a protest in front of the Dirkson Senate Office Building, where the Commission was holding its meeting.

Although expecting a high turnout at the protest, there were but a handful of people protesting when Simpson entered the building. O’Neill said that part of the reason for the low showing was Capitol restrictions on the number of people allowed to convene.

Martha Perez, a self proclaimed “general” political activist, told The Daily Caller that she came all the way from Portland, Oregon to attend the rally. She said that in Portland there have been many similar demonstrations in favor of Social Security. “It’s exciting to say the least,” Perez said. “Big government is not always a bad thing.”

Susan Murany of the National Grey Panthers, also joined the protest. “I would tell Alan Simpson there should be no cuts to Social Security, no privatization, and there are no problems. There will need to be tweeks, but we need to focus on no tax cuts for the rich, and ending the wars,” she told TheDC.

After her titty delivery, O’Neill told reporters that she believed Simpson had heard her complaints.

“I think he heard that we are very concerned about it and I am hoping that he will hear that cutting benefits and extending the retirement age is not an option, so who knows. We’ll see what he says.”

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