Heavens open again, Novak corrects HIMSELF

But continues to lie at the end.

On Inside Politics minutes ago, Novak corrected his own statement, that Dean said Social Security payments would have to be reduced by 80% in the future.  He said, rightly, that benefits would be able to be paid out at 80% of current numbers.

But then he said "But Dean still sees that there is a problem, and that's not the party line for the Democrats."

Bull.

The 80% figure in the future has been exactly the stated party line, based on nonpartisan CBO figures, for as long as I can remember.  Furthermore, what needs to be stated is that 80% of future benefits is MORE in actual dollars that the benefits which are paid out currently.  For some reason, that last part has been dropped from the debate.

So, yes, Novak did a mea culpa, but basically tried to say "I didn't get the numbers right, but my point still stands."  Which, you know, is the douchebaggy way of apologizing, so it is consistent.