Deficit Commission: If You Won't Fire Simpson, Hands Off Social Security.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have now called for Senator Alan Simpson, co-chair of the White House deficit commission, to step down - after he insulted the head of the Older Women's League, Ashley Carson, by implying that her dedication to protecting retirees was not "honest work" - and then he revealed what he thinks of Social Security: "a milk cow with 310 million tits."

Simpson eventually apologized, and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs stood by Simpson, making it clear that the Obama administration would not send him packing back to Wyoming - unless perhaps the clamor gets louder. At least Gibbs had the smarts to distance President Obama from the substance of Simpson's remarks. But the silence from commission co-chair Erskine Bowles and commission members like economist Alice Rivlin, Democratic Senator Kent Conrad and Republican Paul Ryan has been deafening. They should be a little worried about his obnoxious style, but the truth is Simpson speaks for a large number of deficit commissioners who want to cut Social Security.