Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said Tuesday that "revenue, tax reform, spending and entitlements" must all be on the table when considering ways to trim the deficit, as Congress heads for a showdown over the budget.

"The American people deserve a serious dialogue about our fiscal situation, discretionary spending, entitlements, and revenues," Kerry said on the Senate floor while discussing budget negotiations. "We need a long-term solution to reduce both our current budget deficit and our staggering debt."

"To do this, we'll need to reduce federal spending and make appropriate changes to our entitlement programs. To do it right, everything - revenue, tax reform, spending and entitlements - must be on the table. We must find a way to share the sacrifices necessary to balance our budget while making the kind of investments that will create new industries and jobs."

and this:

[T]he real problem for our country is not the short-term debt. We can deal with that. It's the long-term debt. It's the structural debt of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid measured against the demographics of our nation.

of course, you could always say that John Kerry doesn't really believe these things, & that he's just playing along because he really wants that SoS job - but caving to pressure, whatever his motive?

yeah, i think so

i said "seeing Democrats in Congress & A-list bloggers endorse a Democratic president's efforts to weaken the social safety net"

i said nothing about "Democrats in congress caving to pressure from a president Obama to eliminate the social safety net"

as it happens, i do believe that the interests whose water Obama is carrying are intent on eliminating the social safety net

but that's not what i said in the comment you misquoted

with respect to the social safety net, i hope that Obama & the Democrats will not act in ways that would harm early Boomers like myself, or future seniors of younger generations, particularly people in so-called Generation X, many of whom have had a pretty raw deal all their adult lives

i hope that Obama & the Democrats will not act in ways that would nullify the political philsophy underlying the social safety net, or in ways that would nullify the work & sacrifices of your dad & all our forebears

i wish i could be as sanguine as you are, but in fact i think that for Democrats even to talk of putting "entitlements" "on the table" crushes the hopes i've just expressed

i will say this: raising the age of Medicare to 67 doesn't sound so unreasonable if the plan is to do it on a very protracted basis over, say, 20 years, & i could accept a delay of a few months for myself (even though i have not had a real job since 2003 & find myself all but unemployable at 62 & am now living on savings that were meant for much later in life while i attempt in this climate to get a small business off the ground)

i agree that we need to know more about what is being or may be proposed, though i also have to say that Obama's style of negotiating (if that's what he's actually doing) does not inspire confidence

i believe & sense that ours is a nation in steep decline, that our so-called leaders are feckless & clueless when they're not venal & corrupt, & that future generations on the whole may not be as healthy even at 62 as i (luckily) am now

Unemployment getting progressively worse since he took office (yes, I know, it has nothing to do with him or his policies <snark>)

not standing up for the weakening of labor in this country and using  those people like teachers when it's convenient

calling Social Security an "entitlement"

waffling on environmental issues and offshore drilling

expanding secrecy and the loss of civil liberties

not trying to fill judicial vacancies in a timely manner

appointing Republicans to high posts, including as US Attorneys

holding secret meetings with Big Pharma and health insurance companies to help write one of the worst pieces of  major legislation in a generation - one in which insurance premiums are already skyrocketing

....