You can really tell that Russ Carnahan desperately wants to be seen as a smart man. Why else would he speak so forcefully about a topic without knowing much about it. That’s exactly what he did in his debate against Ed Martin.

Carnahan attempted to gain some political points against Martin by railing against Social Security privatization, tying his wisdom to the drop in the stock market during this recession. While doing so, Carnahan – apparently with a straight face – tried to claim that Social Security is “stable”. Yikes.

The crowd, as you can see in the video below, gave the Congressman a nice round of chuckles.

Much like Sharp Elbows, I think the Congressman could have a future as a comedian. Why not? We’ve seen plenty of jokers elected to Congress.

I sure hope Congressman Carnahan doesn’t look at every other program that he has helped to grow in the same light. On second thought, I’m pretty sure he’s just fine with our ballooning entitlement obligations. It’s pretty easy to have high hopes for a failing program when you have your head in the sand.

P.S. Ed Martin for Congress. He’s under no delusion that Social Security is sustainable as currently designed.