text: What's Really Behind Maddow's 'Green Weenie' Obsession? - TheBlaze
  What's Really Behind Maddow's 'Green Weenie' Obsession?
  The "green weenie" comment made on Sunday morning's CNN appearance by former Senator Alan Simpson has burrowed deep into Rachel Maddow's brain and taken hold.
  Last night's edition of TRMS featured over six minutes of the news channel's prime time programming dedicated to the military colloquialism used by the former senator and key member of the President's bi-partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility. Why? Why would a program focus on the comments of a retired Senator who is serving as an advisor to the President? Ms. Maddow's intro to the segment give obvious clues to her real intent;
  Let us examine that introduction a bit closer;
  "Former Senator Alan Simpson, one of the bi-partisan co-chairs of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, a.k.a. the cat food commission, a.k.a. the thing a lot of of people are worried will be the vehicle for cutting back social security, which is among the most beloved of American Institutions for a reason. Former Senator Alan Simpson, because of his key role on the "oh God, please don't cut social security" commission, pretty much everything he says in public now is closely scrutinized because people want to figure out what he is going to do to this revered institution, that thing most Americans feel very strongly about protecting."
  After dismissing the ad hominem swats taken at Alan Simpson by calling this commission the "cat food commission," Ms. Maddow should know that the NCFR cannot DO anything to Social Security. The benefits received, taxes levied to generate the funds and the date at which one becomes eligible to receive those benefits will not be set by this commission. They are set by elected officials in Congress (the House & Senate), a place where Mr. Simpson used to work.
  This was the start of a six minute effort to discredit the work being done by Alan Simpson and the commission he co-chairs. Ms. Maddow is couching her message in an attempt at comedy, but at the core of this is an attack on a retired public servant who has honored his country by accepting an invitation from the President to return to service and do the very difficult work that so many in our Congress refuse to do or are too frightened to do; propose reductions in government spending.
  Alan Simpson and the other co-chair, Erskine Bowles are looking at the dire financial realities of our country and will deliver an unvarnished plan of what can be done to save us from the looming fiscal meltdown obvious to even the most uneducated among us. The President saw fit to appoint them to these positions, perhaps their review and answers will offer some solutions previously not discussed.