NOW to President Obama: Alan Simpson Must Go

NOW to President Obama: Alan Simpson Must Go
Statement of National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill
August 25, 2010

Alan Simpson is not fit to lead the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The ugliness of his disrespect for women is matched only by his dogged determination to dismantle Social Security by cutting benefits or increasing the retirement age. The National Organization for Women urges President Obama to take a stand on this issue and replace Simpson immediately.

Alan Simpson, the current co-chair of the president's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, wrote an embarrassing and inappropriate e-mail Tuesday to Ashley Carson, executive director of the Older Women's League (OWL), berating her and the organization's work to stop the Fiscal Commission's assault on Social Security.

Making no secret of his contempt for Social Security recipients, Simpson states, "I've spent many years in public life trying to stabilize [Social Security] while people like you babble into the vapors about 'disgusting attempts at ageism and sexism' and all the rest of that crap." Simpson's hate-drenched message continues to vilify Carson by saying, "take a look at the chart on Page 6 which I hope you are able to discern if you are any good at reading graphs."

Simpson's surreal meltdown concludes with a wholesale condemnation of Social Security recipients: "We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!"

A "cow with 310 million tits"? For those who believe Social Security belongs to the workers who earned it, not to the government and certainly not to the Fiscal Commission, NOW announces its "Tits for an Ass" campaign. NOW will be asking our 500,000 members and supporters to use our website or Twitter account to help us buy baby bottle nipples, which we'll hand deliver to the White House with a letter urging President Obama to fire Alan Simpson. And while he's at it, the president should replace Simpson with a leader who will actually try to address the federal budget deficit, instead of using it as a subterfuge to cut Social Security benefits.

On this eve of Women's Equality Day, we celebrate 90 years of women's right to vote, but Simpson's rant is a nasty reminder of how ageist and sexist some of our leaders still are. If Simpson does not have the decency to resign, then President Obama should relieve him of his duties.

Supporters who are on Twitter can participate by going to NOW's "Tits for an Ass" campaign.