McCain To Elderly: Drop Dead (part 2)

John McCain at a town hall meeting in Denver on July 7, 2008 in response to a question about Social Security:

Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.

The McCain campaign has told ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper what it hopes people believe the Arizona Senator really said:

....the disgrace is our failure to fix the long-run imbalance in Social Security -- a failure of leadership evidenced by our willingness to kick to problem to the next generation of leaders. He’s also describing the looming and increasing demographic pressures confronting the Social Security system and Washington’s utter failure to address it.

Of course, that's not what the candidate said in Colorado. He did not criticize a "long-run imbalance" or "increasing demographic pressures" but about the compact between young and old, between generations, in America. In case we weren't sure we read (or heard) correctly, the presumptive Repub presidential nominee reiterated his point on July 8 to John Roberts on CNN's "American Morning."

So let's describe it for what it is. They pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees. That's why it's broken, that's why we can fix it. We can do it together, republicans and democrats alike.

Now we find out. Will the mainstream media analyze this policy issue or continue to dwell on a McCain joke about Iran/cigarettes and a Jesse Jackson swipe at Barack Obama?