The real debate

Way to go, Joe.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you more, Senator Biden, by Robert Samuelson.

"Bush wants it both ways: He wants to appeal to younger voters by offering personal accounts; and he doesn't want to offend older voters, (including baby boomers) by cutting their benefits. This may be smart politics, but it's lousy policy. ... Democrats, like Bush, aren't acknowledging the unpopular choices posed by an aging baby boom generation."

Can you say today...

SEN. BIDEN: I think he's right on both scores.

MR. RUSSERT: So the Democrats should step forward and say, "We may have to..."

SEN. BIDEN: No.

MR. RUSSERT: "...reduce benefits, we may have to raise taxes"?

SEN. BIDEN: No. Or raise retirement age or raise the income of which is taxable, all of which relates to--there's--you know, the president of the United States--let's get one thing straight. No matter how you cut it, this real debate on personal accounts is about the legitimacy of Social Security; it's not about the solvency of Social Security. This does nothing not only to not make it solvent--the lines meet, as Rick says--it makes it less solvent. It makes it less solvent. You've got to come up with $2 trillion in order to accommodate the president's plan that he put out there, about 4 percent. [emphasis added]

Now, I'm ready, willing and able to listen to anything the president has to put on the table about the issue of how he's going to deal with the solvency of Social Security, and it will require a combination or one of all the things you mentioned. But on private accounts, that only exacerbates the problem, exacerbates the problem, doesn't help the problem.

Exactly right. Biden has the argument framed as it should be, and the flailing around by Santorum, the WH's main "puppy" on this, shows how badly their talking points are failing them.