It was already basically dead, but when the Bush administration finally-sorta-kinda got around to putting out their own actual Social Security plan, after months of the media and the Republicans blasting the Democrats for not being Very Serious and pre-emptively releasing their own plan to destroy Social Security, and the "transition costs" were, IIRC,* by their own admission north of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS, even the Villagers started to turn against it a bit.
And, yes, reporters should know this...
*The google and my memory are failing me now, but IIRC the only "plan" that was released was released in an on background press briefing by some administration official...
