Herseth Sandlin Never Signed Hyde Park Declaration, Never Pushed Social Security Privatization

Talk about a fake issue: On Sunday, Dakota War College tried to distract from Kristi Noem's flip-flops by floating the meme that incumbent Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin once supported privatization of Social Security. DWC author Pat Powers couched this fabrication in all sorts of may have and sounds like language, but his purpose was clear: settle the Noem rah-rah club's nerves after a really bad week, change the subject from Noem's support for Paul Ryan's radical budget, and tie SHS to past efforts to privatize Social Security.

This Republican spin is built entirely on a note on OnTheIssues.org that claims SHS signed onto the Democratic Leadership Council's Hyde Park Declaration of 2000.

In a departure from my usual lazy Googling, I thought I'd go right to the source to find out what gives. I spoke on the phone this morning with Edward Gresser, president of the Democratic Leadership Council. He explained that the DWC rumor is wrong on all counts.

1. The only signatories of the Hyde Park Declaration were Democratic officeholders in 2000. Stephanie Herseth did not become a Democratic officeholder until 2004.
2. The Hyde Park Declaration did not become a national party platform or uniting manifesto that Democratic candidates or elected officials were expected to sign.
   
3. Stephanie Herseth has thus never signed the Hyde Park Declaration.
4. Even if she had signed it, nowhere does the Hyde Park Declaration call for privatizing Social Security. The document acknowledges that Social Security is expensive, but makes a commitment to protecting the program. The document proposes Retirement Savings Accounts for low-income folks as a supplement to, not a replacement for, Social Security.

When OnTheIssues.org says "Herseth adopted the manifesto, 'A New Agenda for the New Decade'" and links to the Hyde Park Declaration as its source, the website makes a mistake. When DWC uses this erroneous report to drive the meme that SHS flip-flopped on Social Security privatization, DWC makes a mistake.

The candidates' positions on Social Security are thus as follows:

1. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: I'll protect Social Security. I've never supported privatization, never have, never will.
2. Kristi Noem: I supported a budget that would privatize Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Wait, really? Oh, I didn't know that was in there! All my Tea Party friends said Paul Ryan was really cool. Um, o.k., I guess I don't want to privatize Social Security. As for Medicare and Medicaid... oh, stop asking me hard questions!
3. B. Thomas Marking: Hang on while I take a web poll....

Is that clear enough for you?