Will Saletan takes apart the administration’s conflicting Social Security pitches to minority communities on Slate. Up is down! Here’s the payoff:

In an op-ed written in Spanish and not made available in English on any federal Web site, the administration argues that Latinos, who live longer than whites do, should support Bush’s reform plan because upon retirement they rely disproportionately on Social Security. Meanwhile, in forums and private meetings aimed at blacks, the administration argues that blacks, who upon retirement rely disproportionately on Social Security, should support Bush’s reform plan because they don’t live as long as whites do. Only once has Bush slipped up and alluded to one group in the course of making his pitch to the other. And on that occasion, at best, he seems to have conveyed—and failed to correct after its publication—an impression that helped him politically but was contrary to the truth.

(Note: Saletan exposes more doubletalk in the full article – it’s worth a look.)