RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events THE AARP AND THIER ANTI-SOLDIER/PRO GAY AGENDA

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Attacking AARP

In a previous post on this blog, AARP presented information about the neoconservative lobbying group named USA Next. There is a new development in the attempt by some to discredit AARP because of our stance on Social Security.

From the people who brought you the Swift Boat veterans campaign against John Kerry in 2004 comes "consultants to orchestrate attacks on AARP" as reported in the New York Times and reprinted online elsewhere.

These anti-AARP efforts are rooted in neoconservative ideology. Charles Jarvis is president USA Next and was deputy secretary for the interior in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. The true motives of these anti-AARP efforts are clear in this quote from him:

They [AARP] are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts. We will be the dynamite that removes them.

AARP calls your attention to these efforts because media coverage is clear about the aggressive tone of the language. We question why neoconservatives would choose these tactics.

AARP urges you to judge critically the motivations behind statements made against AARP. For example, whenever you see attempts to discredit AARP presented on Fox News Channel or other media outlets like talk radio shows that regularly carry the neoconservative lobbying group messages, AARP urges you to consider these important background facts:

• USA Next is a lobbying group that "has poured poured millions of dollars into Republican policy battles" as reported in the New York Times.

• As reported by UPI, USA Next has hired a public relations firm with "plans to spend as much as $10 million to counterattack Democrats opposed to changing Social Security, has hired Chris LaCivita, a former Marine who advised Swift Vets on its media campaign and helped write its potent commercials attacking Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass."

• Creative Response Concepts of Alexandria, Virginia is the public relations firm hired by USA Next. As reported by PR Watch, in 2004 "this firm used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt about President George W. Bush's National Guard services into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats."

http://aarp.typepad.com/socialsecurity/

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Pariah said:
I didn't know you went to Townsdale!

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Pariah said:
If that's the case, the outcome can be prevented by the investing individual. I don't see why government needs to delve into our finances when the whole idea is to do that ourselves.

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But Walker also said that the impact that private accounts would have on Social Security would depend entirely on how they're funded and what other steps are taken - such as pension-benefit cuts or tax increases - to shore up the system's long-term solvency. The GAO chief also said that action is needed soon to address the system's solvency problem before it worsens.

"...time is working against us. The sooner you act, the less dramatic the changes that have to be made."


Beyond that, he said Congress faces a larger challenge. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid combined "represent an unsustainable burden on future generations," said Walker, who heads the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional agency.


"Absent meaningful changes to these programs, the nation will ultimately have to choose among persistent, escalating federal deficits, huge tax increases, and/or dramatic budget cuts."

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How Bush Makes Sure They Agree

A memo illustrates the way the White House is selectively casting members of the under-30 set to promote its Social Security plan.

By Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writer


MILWAUKEE — As President Bush resumes his cross-country campaign to promote his vision of Social Security restructuring, it's no secret that he is relying on outside organizations to help provide the supporting cast.

Yet a memo circulated this week among members of one group, Women Impacting Public Policy, illustrates the lengths to which the White House has gone to make sure the right points are made at the president's public appearances.

"President Bush will be in Rochester, N.Y., for an upcoming event and has called on WIPP for help," said the memo to New York-area members, from one of the group's leaders. "He would like to visit with local workers about their views on Social Security."

The memo went on to solicit several types of people "who he would like to visit with" — including a young worker who "knows that [Social Security] could run out before they retire," a young couple with children who like "the idea of leaving something behind to the family" and a single parent who believes Bush's proposal for individual investment accounts "would provide more retirement options and security" than the current system.

The people solicited appeared to represent various arguments that Bush has been making for why Social Security should be overhauled. The memo requested an immediate response, because "we will need to get names to the White House."

Bush has proposed letting younger workers divert a portion of their payroll taxes into individual investment accounts that they would control. He has said the accounts should be part of a broader restructuring plan that would slow the growth of benefits to ensure Social Security's solvency.

The women's group memo said the White House was seeking only people younger than 29. It reflected the latest refinement of the White House strategy for promoting its Social Security plan: highlighting the benefits Bush sees for younger workers.

The theme was on full display Thursday as Bush took his campaign to Wisconsin, the 26th state he has visited to promote Social Security restructuring.

"You got any thoughts about Social Security?" Bush asked 22-year-old Concordia University senior Christy Paavola, one of five younger workers who appeared on stage with him at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

"Yes," Paavola said. "I don't think it's going to be there when I retire, which is really scary."

Many young people, the president commented, think they are paying into a retirement system that will never pay them back. He asked Paavola: "Got anything else you want to say?"

"I really like the idea of personal savings accounts," Paavola said.

"You did a heck of a job," Bush told her. "You deserve an A."

The participants in Thursday's event in Wisconsin appeared to mirror the criteria outlined in the memo to members of WIPP. In addition to Paavola, Bush was joined in Wisconsin by a preschool teacher, a small business owner, and a dairy farmer and his wife, who worked as a bookkeeper in a bank. None was older than 27.

WIPP describes itself as a bipartisan organization representing about 500,000 female business owners and employees. White House spokesman Trent Duffy declined to discuss the group's e-mail to prospective participants in the Rochester forum, an event that the White House has not announced.

Duffy said it was not unusual for the White House to work with such groups to identify people who could help Bush make the case for restructuring.

"Yes, the president is promoting his agenda," Duffy said. "Every president that preceded this one has used the bully pulpit to talk about their agenda. This president is doing the same."

But critics of the president's plan contended that the choreography of Bush's Social Security events deprived the public, and Bush, of the opportunity to weigh alternative approaches for dealing with the retirement system's financial needs.

"He's going around listening to people who agree with him," said Barbara Kennelly, a former House Democrat who heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, that opposes Bush's investment account plan. "It's unfortunate that this president never hears any opposition to a plan that has a lot of opposition."

Bush's Social Security events typically feature one policy expert and several workers or retirees who sit on stools next to the president and explain why they think personal accounts would be a good idea.

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