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Moveon.org plans to disrupt Republican townhall meetings
Moveon.org email

Posted on 02/22/2005 4:27:49 PM PST by joshhiggins

Moveon.org sent this email today. It's rather lengthy, but does reveal how they plan to send their minions out to disrupt social security Townhall meetings.

Dear MoveOn member, Nearly 500,000 MoveOn members have signed our petition opposing Social Security privatization and benefit cuts. Now the battle for Social Security is coming to a town near you. The House Republican leadership in Washington is bragging about town hall meetings across the country. But after a round of phone calls we've identified only a couple dozen meetings that are planned -- one of those events is in your Congressional district.

The next few weeks may be a pivotal moment in this fight, as members of Congress come home to face their constituents on this issue for the first time. While he's home, Congressman Nussle is holding a town hall meeting to hear from constituents. If enough of us show up in opposition to Bush's plan, it will make it clear that the Republican effort to privatize Social Security is opposed all across the country -- not just in Democratic districts.

Across the country, thousands of us will be going to these meetings. Can we count on you to join us? Here are the meetings happening in your district.

Congressional Town Hall Meeting

Congressman Nussle

Wednesday, February 23, 12:00 PM

Student Life Room 2300 of Scott Community College

500 Belmont Road

Bettendorf, IA 52722

Congressional Town Hall Meeting Congressman Nussle

Friday, February 25, 11:30 AM

Waterloo Center for Arts in Peterson Town Hall

225 Commercial St.

Waterloo, IA 50701

We want to make sure you're prepared to attend and participate in the town hall meeting. So, after you RSVP for the event we'll send you access to the Social Security Town Hall Meeting Guide for MoveOn Members. That guide includes questions you can ask at the meeting and tips on what to expect. You'll also even be invited to join an optional but helpful 20-minute conference call about the meetings.

This is our best chance to reach members of Congress on this issue while they're in your community instead of in Washington. Local news reporters will attend these meetings to see how they go -- you can help prove that there's a large constituency opposing the Republican effort to cut benefits, privatize Social Security, gut a sound program and create trillions of dollars in new debt. We can't let members of Congress duck the hard questions about Social Security.

Attending a town hall meeting is easy. You can speak from the heart about why Social Security is so important to your family or you can use the resources you get after you RSVP. It is important for your representative in Congress to see people are paying attention to this issue and watching how he votes.

Thanks for all you do.

Sincerely, --Tom Matzzie, Eli Pariser, Noah T. Winer, and the whole MoveOn.org team Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005 P.S. Once you RSVP, you will receive a Town Hall Meeting Guide and an invitation to join a conference call by email.

The Town hall meeting guide they sent in response follows.

Social Security Town Hall Meeting Guide for MoveOn Members

Your Top Goals

The most important things you can do are:

1) Express opposition to the President’s proposal verbally during the question and answer period; and

2) Ask pointed questions that put the representative or senator on record on important issues like benefit cuts, raising the retirement age and new debt necessary to pay for privatization.

You’ll do great. Just decide on your most important point in advance, and then speak from your heart.

What to Expect

We know a lot about what your member of Congress might say about Social Security but the format of the meeting is up to him/her.

Some town halls will have the member of Congress as the principal speaker with a question and answer session to follow. Others will invite some “experts” or commentators from the community to sit on a panel and the member of Congress will moderate the event. At some events representatives from the Social Security Administration, AARP and local Offices on Aging have appeared. In either case they’ll probably run through a heavily biased presentation and then take questions. Some town halls will show a video provided by the Republicans to their representatives.

What They’ll Say

Their presentation will express the rap that Social Security is on a collision course with demographics and that without radical changes it will go bankrupt. They’ll also claim, falsely, that private accounts (they’ll call them ‘personal’ accounts) are a solution. There are some key facts that are helpful for debunking this below but it is more important to steer the conversation towards the reality of privatization—that it has huge costs and risks that aren’t being discussed. If the town hall becomes about the costs of these harmful changes instead of about what sounds like a free lunch you’ve made a difference.

We can’t let the discussion be, “All dessert and no spinach.” The truth is that privatization has huge and harmful costs, like benefit cuts and new debt, which need to be discussed.

Asking Questions

There is almost always a question and answer session, and the single best way for you to get your message out is to ask a question during the Q&A. This might seem intimidating, but it's incredibly important. Here are some tips:

1. Decide in advance what you want to ask, and keep it as short as possible. Ask questions that force your representative to clearly come down on one side or the other.

2. There will be more questioners than slots—and many will be chosen to be supportive of the Republican plan. So start trying to ask your question as soon as the Q&A period starts.

3. Republicans—particularly the Bush administration—have a reputation for stacking their events with supporters and eliminating dissenting voices. So if you are planning to ask a question, try not to wear buttons or t-shirts that indicate your political views.

4. Figure out if there are specific rules for how questions are asked so you can have your turn. They might require you to write down your question or wait in line at a microphone to ask a question. Figure out once you’re there what the protocol is and see what it takes.

5. There might be a sign-up in advance, so get there early and find out when you arrive how the Q&A will work, and whether you need to put your name on a list.

Civility

This is a public forum and there will likely be a lot of press there. Incivility by our side makes our issue look bad. Don't shout or argue. Please use the same language you’d use in front of children.

Here are some questions you can ask:

• Since taking money out of Social Security to pay for private accounts makes the projected long-term problem worse, not better, how would you make up the new deficit?

• Would you cut Social Security benefits from what is currently promised for future retirees? Future retirees currently under 55?

• Would you borrow trillions of dollars to pay for the private accounts?

• Even the President admits that Private Accounts won't do anything to improve the solvency of Social Security—shouldn’t we focus on basic steps to improve the health of the system, instead of borrowing trillions of dollars to set up risky private accounts that don't even solve the problem?

• Do you support President Bush’s proposal? (Insist on a Yes or No answer if you can.)

The Press

It is likely that the press will attend and report on the event. If you ask a question during the town hall you may be approached after the meeting by a member of the media. It is your choice as to whether or not you want to talk to them but it is a great chance to get the message out. When talking to the media the most important thing you can do is speak from the heart about why Social Security is important to you and what your objections are to the Republican plan.

If you have the chance to only say one thing, say:

“The Republicans would cut benefits, privatize Social Security which would gut a sound program and cost trillions of dollars in new debt.”

Reporting Back

After you participate in the town hall meeting please let us know what happened by completing our online feedback survey at the link below.

http://www.moveon.org/socialsecurity/thfeedback

HOW TO TALK TO A CONSERVATIVE ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY (IF YOU MUST)

From: www.thinkprogress.org

The White House and their deep-pocketed allies have launched a $35 million public relations effort to spread misinformation about President Bush’s Social Security Privatization scheme. This fact sheet will arm you with all the facts you’ll need to take them on.

FISCAL OUTLOOK

CLAIM: “By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt.” [President Bush, 2/2/05]

FACT: In 2042, enough new money will be coming in to pay between 73-80 percent of promised benefits. Even with this reduction, new retirees will still receive more money, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than today’s beneficiaries. [WP, 2/5/05]

CLAIM: “In the year 2018, for the first time ever, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than the government collects in payroll taxes.” [President Bush, 12/11/04]

FACT: “In 14 of the past 47 years, including 1975 to 1983, Social Security paid out more in benefits than the government collected in payroll.” [MSNBC, 1/14/05]

FACT: Under Bush’s plan, expenditures will begin to exceed revenues even earlier, in 2012. [New York Times, 2/4/05]

CLAIM: “Under the current system, today’s 30-year old worker will face a 27% benefit cut when he or she reaches normal retirement age.” [GOP Guide to Social Security Reform, 1/27/05]

FACT: According to the Congressional Budget Office, younger workers would receive better benefits from Social Security as it exists now, even if nothing changes, than from President Bush’s private accounts plan. [EPI, 2/05] THE PRESIDENT’S PLAN / PRIVATE ACCOUNTS

CLAIM: “As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers. And the best way to reach that goal is through voluntary personal retirement accounts.” [President Bush, 2/2/05]

FACT: Analysis of the plan so far does not prove the accounts would be a better deal for anyone not working on Wall Street. Workers who opt for the private accounts would recover forfeited benefits through their accounts only “if their investments realized a return equal to or greater than the 3 percent earned by Treasury bonds currently held by the Social Security system.” But CBO factors out stock market risks to assume a 3.3 percent rate of return. With 0.3 percent subtracted for expected administrative costs on the account, “the full amount in a worker’s account would be reduced dollar for dollar from his Social Security checks, for a net gain of zero.” [WP, 2/4/05]

CLAIM: “You’ll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in your personal account, if you wish, to your children or grandchildren.” [President Bush, 2/2/05]

FACT: Most lower-income workers will be required to purchase government lifetime annuities, financial instruments that provide a guaranteed monthly payment for life but that expire at death. Money in these annuities cannot be passed on to heirs. [NYT, 2/3/05]

CLAIM: “We must pass reforms that solve the financial problems of Social Security once and for all.” [President Bush, 2/2/05]

FACT: “A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity [said] that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system’s long-term financial problems.” The long-term gap in revenue would “have to be closed through benefit cuts that have yet to be detailed.” [LAT, 2/3/05; WP, 2/5/05]

CLAIM: “A personal account would be your account, you would own it, and the government could never take it away.” [President Bush, 2/8/05]

FACT: Bush’s Social Security plan is a far cry from the private ownership he’s touting, however. For example, instead of private plans that let Americans control their own investments, there are tight restrictions on which conservative stocks and bonds the public will be allowed to buy. And, as the New York Times reports, “the more restrictions there are, the harder it would be for people to achieve the outsized returns the administration has generally promoted to sell the public on private accounts.” [NYT, 2/6/05]

CLAIM: “Best of all, the [private] accounts would be replacing the empty promises of government with the real assets of ownership.” [President Bush, 2/8/05]

FACT: Social Security trust funds “hold nothing but U.S. Treasury securities,” recognized as “the safest, most reliable investment worldwide.” [Century Foundation, 1/26/05]

CLAIM: “The problem that we now face is not one that we can tax our way out of, for a very simple reason: The costs and the current program are growing faster than the underlying tax base. So if we were to raise taxes today to deal with it, and the costs of the program continued to grow faster than the tax base, then in the future, future generations would simply have to come back and raise taxes again.” [Senior White House Official, Press Conference, 2/3/05]

FACT: An alternative proposal by Peter Diamond and Peter Orszag would resolve Social Security’s funding problems directly and permanently through modest tax increases. The Congressional Budget Office states that, “under Diamond-Orszag, the trust fund balance would always be positive and scheduled benefits would be fully financed.” [CBO, 12/22/04] HISTORY

CLAIM: “Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th century, and we must honor its great purposes in this new century.” [President Bush, 2/2/05]

FACT: Conservatives have been trying to gut Social Security since its inception. Both Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan endorsed privatization in 1964. In 1983, the Cato Institute laid out a privatization plan similar to President Bush’s, stating, “We will meet the next financial crisis in Social Security with a private alternative ready in the wings.” [Miami Herald, 2/7/05]

RHETORIC

CLAIM: “I think it’s important for people to be open about the truth when it comes to Social Security.” [President Bush, 2/4/05]

FACT: The Bush administration has lobbied hard for privatization while being notably closemouthed about the details. [WP, 2/6/05] FACT: The Wall Street Journal reports the White House is quietly assembling a coalition of deep-pocketed allies “that will privately raise $35 million for an advertising and lobbying effort to push the politically risky measure through Congress.” [WSJ, 2/4/05]

CLAIM: “The role of a President is to confront problems – not to pass them on to a future President, future Congress, or a future generation.” [President Bush, 2/4/05]

FACT: Dick Cheney admits trillions of dollars in future borrowing will be necessary to cover the cost of establishing private accounts. This deficit would have to be repaid by today’s younger workers. [NYT, 2/6/05]


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: moveon; traitors
Okay I'll admit it. I have visited the dark side and somehow they've come to think I'm a fellow traveler. But seriously, I am interested in any suggestions anyone might have to disrupt the disrupters.
1 posted on 02/22/2005 4:27:49 PM PST by joshhiggins
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To: joshhiggins

Don't disrupt the disruptors. Everytime they do something like that they further destroy what little credibility they have left.


2 posted on 02/22/2005 4:32:29 PM PST by cripplecreek (The crippled stool is the cadillac of poopin stools.)
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To: joshhiggins
Hello
I'm just curious. You are a new member to Free Republic and a member of Moveon.org? You received this email?
3 posted on 02/22/2005 4:34:47 PM PST by GodBlessUSA (No, just because my user-name was on that thread-I'm not a troll. 4 years of posting and 1+lurking.)
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To: joshhiggins

Same tactics as Hitler's Brownshirts when we had the American Bund before WWII. These democrats are not just trying to INFLUENCE voters, they will try to trash the political process...as anarchists are wont to do.


4 posted on 02/22/2005 4:42:59 PM PST by NetValue (Be a democrat; oppose, lie, subvert, obstruct , and sabotage progress and ideals in America.)
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To: joshhiggins
FACT: In 2042, enough new money will be coming in to pay between 73-80 percent of promised benefits.

Hey, dude, that's like still under 100%! Sounds to me like the system's going broke.

FACT: “In 14 of the past 47 years, including 1975 to 1983, Social Security paid out more in benefits than the government collected in payroll.” [MSNBC, 1/14/05]

MSNBC, huh? Who was that? Keith Olberman?...Of course, in those years that the government took more in than paid out in SS benefits, the Democrat congresses stole the surpluses for other programs. How safe is that?

FACT: According to the Congressional Budget Office, younger workers would receive better benefits from Social Security as it exists now, even if nothing changes, than from President Bush’s private accounts plan.

Let's see...The federal government knows better how to invest my money than I do? It's trackrecord says otherwise.

FACT: Analysis of the plan so far does not prove the accounts would be a better deal for anyone not working on Wall Street.

Private investment accounts would be voluntary. You keep your funds locked up in a federal account that doesn't even keep up with inflation, and I'll take my chances on the market, thank you.

FACT: Most lower-income workers will be required to purchase government lifetime annuities, financial instruments that provide a guaranteed monthly payment for life but that expire at death.

Everything's on the table, meatball. Structure the system so that lower-income workers WON'T be required to purchase these government lifetime annuities. You're making assumptions about the SS reform before it's even in law.

FACT: “A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity [said] that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system’s long-term financial problems.”

Yeah. The only way to truly save the system is to allow individuals to have control of ALL of their SS taxes confiscated from their paychecks, and let them invest it as they see fit. It's called "freedom" and "choice."

FACT: Bush’s Social Security plan is a far cry from the private ownership he’s touting, however.

True. So let's join forces and make sure we all get FULL OWNERSHIP of our Social Security contributions.

FACT: Social Security trust funds “hold nothing but U.S. Treasury securities,” recognized as “the safest, most reliable investment worldwide.”

Also the lowest return on investment.

FACT: An alternative proposal by Peter Diamond and Peter Orszag would resolve Social Security’s funding problems directly and permanently through modest tax increases.

Oh, why am I not surprised that this is your solution!?

FACT: Conservatives have been trying to gut Social Security since its inception

And Democrats have been using doom-and-gloom scare tactics from forever to keep granny in the Democrat fold. Stop lying about Republicans, and perhaps we'll stop telling the TRUTH about Democrats.

5 posted on 02/22/2005 4:48:25 PM PST by My2Cents ("Friends stab you from the front." -- Oscar Wilde)
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To: GodBlessUSA

I guess Moveon views me as a member. Somehow I got on their email list and they have been sending me their crap regularly. I find it interesting to see what the dark side is doing. I am sincerely interested in any thoughts any one has as to how to make life more interesting for the moveon crowd.
It is true that I only recently signed up, but I have been a long time lurker, and if you don't believe me all your bases will belong to me. ;)


6 posted on 02/22/2005 4:50:11 PM PST by joshhiggins
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To: joshhiggins
and if you don't believe me all your bases will belong to me. ;)

You pass the test.

7 posted on 02/22/2005 4:53:01 PM PST by My2Cents ("Friends stab you from the front." -- Oscar Wilde)
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To: joshhiggins

The only think I would ask the BowelMoveOn crowd is, "Did you oppose private accounts when Bill Clinton announced support for them in 1997?"


8 posted on 02/22/2005 4:56:52 PM PST by My2Cents ("Friends stab you from the front." -- Oscar Wilde)
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To: joshhiggins
Welcome Josh
My instinct is to not be concerned about them. They have been in attack mode for a long time and I don't think they can pull it off.
9 posted on 02/22/2005 5:03:31 PM PST by GodBlessUSA (No, just because my user-name was on that thread-I'm not a troll. 4 years of posting and 1+lurking.)
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To: My2Cents

Thanks for all your comments.
Perhaps some of us Republicans can craft our own "Loaded" questions that directly refute theirs.
Something along the lines of "In view of the fact that US treasuries give the lowest rate of return, and the only way these poor returns can be redeemed is by raising taxes even higher what benefits do you see in shifting some of the future burden of social security into personal savings accounts."


10 posted on 02/22/2005 5:04:44 PM PST by joshhiggins
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To: joshhiggins
Incivility by our side makes our issue look bad. Don't shout or argue. Please use the same language you’d use in front of children.

Some of them wont be able to help themselves and WILL be quite uncivil. If they're afraid of looking bad, they shouldnt have come up with this idea in the first place. Now its too late.

11 posted on 02/22/2005 5:05:17 PM PST by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

Good point. In my experience when ever you question one of their so called facts thay usually turn red and start calling you a Nazi. At least thats what my poor unfortunate democrat sister usually does.


12 posted on 02/22/2005 5:08:46 PM PST by joshhiggins
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To: joshhiggins

Keep your friends close and your enemas closer.


13 posted on 02/22/2005 5:11:17 PM PST by cripplecreek (The crippled stool is the cadillac of poopin stools.)
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To: joshhiggins

The phrase, "Sod off, Swampy," is running through my head right now.


14 posted on 02/22/2005 5:19:07 PM PST by Celtjew Libertarian (Shake Hands with the Serpent: Poetry by Charles Lipsig aka Celtjew http://books.lulu.com/lipsig)
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To: joshhiggins

I love to get on the leftists e-mail lists. I get e-mails from the DNC, Friends of Hillary, PETA, Natural Resources Defense Council, my local Peace and Justice group, The Brady Campaign, etc.

Get to know your enemies. Besides, I get the heads up on local events so I can go FReeping with my buddies.


15 posted on 02/22/2005 5:28:41 PM PST by Trteamer ( (Eat Meat, Wear Fur, Own Guns, FReep Leftists, Drive an SUV, Drill A.N.W.R., Drill the Gulf, Vote)
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To: Celtjew Libertarian

Ah, yes. The infamous "British Butt Whomping" incident.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1344874/posts

A toast to our friends across the Atlantic. With more like them, Great Britain will be free from the clutches of Communism.



16 posted on 02/22/2005 5:39:49 PM PST by Killborn (It's called C4. Use lots and lots of it.)
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To: joshhiggins

That's actually an excellent question!


17 posted on 02/22/2005 7:41:49 PM PST by My2Cents ("Friends stab you from the front." -- Oscar Wilde)
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To: Conservativegreatgrandma

bump


18 posted on 02/24/2005 7:38:37 AM PST by Iowa Granny
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To: joshhiggins
Josh: The Wed. date has passed. What happened? Did they succeed in disrupting the event?

My daughter somehow receives the House Dem. weekly update. She has no idea how they got her e-mail address and she can't get them to stop sending it.

19 posted on 02/25/2005 3:34:43 AM PST by Conservativegreatgrandma
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