February 21, 2005
OLD AND IN THE WAY:
A New Target for Advisers to Swift Vets (GLEN JUSTICE, 2/21/05, NY Times)
Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security.The lobbying group, USA Next, which has poured millions of dollars into Republican policy battles, now says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing the private investment accounts at the center of Mr. Bush's plan.
"They are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts," said Charlie Jarvis, president of USA Next and former deputy under secretary of the interior in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. "We will be the dynamite that removes them." [...]
USA Next has been portraying AARP as a liberal organization out of step with Republican values, and is now trying to discredit its stance on Social Security. USA Next's campaign has involved appearances by its leaders, including Art Linkletter, its national chairman, on Fox News and various television programs. Its commercials are to be broadcast around the country in coming weeks.
AARP, the largest organization representing middle-aged and older Americans, is considered a major obstacle to Mr. Bush's Social Security plan in part because of its size and influence with the elderly. Though it is officially nonpartisan, and it stood beside the administration to help pass a prescription drug bill in 2003, many Republicans have long characterized the group as left-leaning.
Ohio Gay Marriage Supporters Gain Powerful Ally (365Gay.com, October 4, 2004)
The American Association of Retired People has announced its opposition to a proposed amendment to the Ohio state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.
They're just another special interest lobby and it's long since time someone took them on.
MORE:
AARP only REPRESENTS that it represents its 'members'.
Most who send in the nominal annual fee do so only for the discounts and deals they can get.
They have no stake in AARP's political blatherings, are not asked for their opinions to create any consensus, and have no idea how AARP comes up with its positions.
Sadaam also claimed to represent the people of Iraq ... with just about as much justification.
Posted by: rudy at February 21, 2005 7:41 PMAARP only REPRESENTS that it represents its 'members'.
Most who send in the nominal annual fee do so only for the discounts and deals they can get.
They have no stake in AARP's political blatherings, are not asked for their opinions to create any consensus, and have no idea how AARP comes up with its positions.
Sadaam also claimed to represent the people of Iraq ... with just about as much justification.
Posted by: rudy at February 21, 2005 7:42 PMBoy, will they whine when they get attacked.
"Please, don't hurt us! We just want what is ours."
But a few ads with pool boys following merciless old women around and teenage girls being yelled at (and slapped) by old men, and the point will be made.
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 21, 2005 8:01 PMWhat does gay marriage have to do with Retired People?
Posted by: ray at February 21, 2005 8:18 PMIf you're an opponent of gay marriage, that chart has got to have you worried as you contemplate, say, the state of things in 2025.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at February 21, 2005 8:19 PMAARP has had a bad record on the RKBA, despite the fact that a lot of older folks are deeply rooted in the gun culture. The reason for this is obvious: the people who run this outfit are stuck in a Marxist dream of a united "front," or grand coalition of contrarian splinters being cobbled together to take on civil society.
The idea was that old folks should join forces with the Negroes, homosexuals and schoolteachers to seize control of the apparatus of state coercion, etc., etc. As always, the test of where a person or organization stands on the man versus the state continuum is the right to keep and bear arms.
Posted by: Lou Gots at February 21, 2005 8:22 PMDamn they annoy me. Have for years. They ahve very consitently campaigned for raising FICA rates, Rasing benefits and lowering ammounts under private plans. They have been doing for 30 years and now they want me to join. Screw 'em.
The real trick is that they actually have some decent insurance products. Until a republican organization can put out competitive products they cannot compete with AARP.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 21, 2005 11:50 PMIt's coming w/in the next 2 generations. They had to push it instead of waiting.
Posted by: Sandy P at February 22, 2005 12:40 AM"If you're an opponent of gay marriage, that chart has got to have you worried as you contemplate, say, the state of things in 2025."
Only if the trend for the last few decades of people becoming more conservative as they get older were to suddenly reverse itself. (And it also reflects those people who are still under the influence of the propaganda put out by gov't run schools and biases of college.) Another way to look at the chart's left end is that that is the best the supporters are going to get, and that's from people who, unless they are true believers, are the least political lyinvolved.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at February 22, 2005 1:38 AMRaoul:
Sandy is right. That left end has been moving right over time.
They should have waited instead of resorting to the courts.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at February 22, 2005 9:21 AM