Posted on 03/06/2005 8:18:39 PM PST by CHARLITE
Charles Jarvis, CEO of USA Next, likes to compare the conservative seniors group that he leads to David and the 35-million-member AARP to Goliath.
So it probably shouldn't be a surprise that late last month, USA Next flung a rock at the enormous seniors lobby, in the form of an incendiary internet ad. The rock missed its Goliath but infuriated the Philistine army standing behind him.
The ad ran for one weekend, Feb. 19-20, on the website of the American Spectator, a conservative magazine. (WORLD's website, worldmag.com, turned down the ad.) It was one of eight USA Next ads on the site and part of the group's $10 million campaign to build support for Social Security reform and, at the same time, peel members away from what Mr. Jarvis calls "the largest left-liberal lobbying organization on the planet."
And it was about as subtle and nuanced as a rock to the forehead. The ad featured a red X over a picture of a U.S. soldier and a green check over a picture of two men wearing tuxedos and kissing each other, and it was titled, "The real AARP agenda." The message: AARP isn't some mainstream group of gray-hairs but a radical force that opposes U.S. troops and fights for same-sex marriage.
The rock missed its mark, wide to the right. The evidence for the charge, according to Mr. Jarvis: AARP hasn't fought for veterans' causes, and its Ohio chapter campaigned against that state's amendment to ban same-sex marriage last fall—interesting things to know about AARP, perhaps, but hardly enough to constitute the "real agenda" of a national organization with a $700 million-plus annual budget.
The ad ran for only the one weekend on the one website, but it was produced for USA Next by the team that produced the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against John Kerry. That connection sent liberals into a frenzy.
Columnists from Molly Ivins to Maureen Dowd denounced the ad, Newsday labeled the Swift Boat consultants as "the most ruthless smear squad in American politics," and leftist bloggers called on President Bush to repudiate the ad. Indignant gay websites posted the ad, giving it much more exposure than USA Next did, and the two gay men pictured in it demanded an apology from USA Next for its use of their images.
One group not making much noise, however, was AARP itself. For two weeks the group shied away from the press on the matter (including a request from WORLD for comment). Finally, on March 2, AARP chief executive Bill Novelli broke the silence in a speech at the University of Texas: "USA Next are not serious people," he said. "They're not engaged in the debate and should be ignored."
But USA Next's larger point—that AARP is more liberal than a sizable minority of its members—is hard to ignore. Mr. Jarvis says that his group's survey of AARP members revealed that 40 percent consider themselves conservative. Meanwhile, AARP has supported increases in payroll taxes, opposed pro-growth tax cuts, and lobbied for vast expansions of federal spending. It also leads the opposition to free-market reforms of Social Security.
In other words, AARP consistently works for bigger government—even as it attracts members from across the ideological spectrum with membership discounts on everything from prescription drugs to hotels. (About those discounts: "We can offer everything AARP offers," says Mr. Jarvis, "and in most cases we beat them.")
This "real AARP agenda" may not be as sensational as supposed opposition to U.S. troops. But conservative seniors who joined AARP to get travel perks may still want to know about it. —•
AARP is liberal, even if it does not champion gay rights and oppose the war.
bttt
Sounds accurate to me. You can tell how effective you are by how loud your enemy protests.
AAAAAARRRRRPPPPPPP....
Oh, excuse me...
I get a lot of AARP mail. but never once have they asked my opinion on anything. Never a poll on what I would like to see them do. They just take the money and do what they like with it. Kind of like being disenfranchised, isnt it?
I get a lot of mail from AARP too. I put it all back in their free-mail envelope and send it back to them -- without a name or address.
I gave my mother-in-law a copy of USA Next because it had Art Linkletter's picture on it. 'Course she's very left-leaning. But she couldn't put it down and insisted on taking it home with her. I think he's a great person for the front cover...lots of interest with the over 65ers.
Furthermore, when you look at the 21 members of the Board, all but one of them are either public employees or in private employment that is paid by public money. Exactly one AARP board member works in the private sector depending on private money. ALL of them are tied closely to AARP. It has no "outside" board members, as the SEC requires of all corporations which sell their stock.
The Board members and their employments are all shown on the AARP website. NOWHERE on the website, however, is there any description of its election process. It took me 15 phone calls to dig out that information. AARP is a liberal organization whose control is strictly incestuous.
Congressman Billybob
The people we elect have got the medical system so screwed up, leaving one with so little choice nowaday. If I want to pick my own Doc, change when I feel it is my correct choice, I have to pay almost 3x's as much for my secondary insurance policy. Which is an AARP sponsored plan.
These same blank heads are so worried their cash cow will dry up they refuse to help correct the social security program and give us just a little of the choice they have chosen for themselves.
Can anyone answer whether congressmen/women who opted out of SS in the 80's will double dip when they retire if they have their 10 quarters in. I read Reid has his 10 quarters and is now under the investment plan. Will he get both retirements? Today do they have the choice between SS or a private retirement plan?
Yes.
But that doesn't mean we should lie about the AARP!
That fake ad looked more like a liberal plant than a genuine conservative viewpoint (but I'm ready to believe that very stupid people are part of the conservative movement, like every other movement, ever)
... AARP?
:^)
This is not true. They cannot lead an opposition to something that does not exist. What they have opposed is a vague proposal to allow for a small portion of an individuals Social Security tax to be invested in politically favored investment accounts.
The proposal does not allow for individual's account to invest in their own sole proprietorship business. Nor does it allow for the individual to invest it in a piece of land, or a building, or even a home for themselves to live in. In short , the proposed reform is anything but a "free-market reform."
Well said.
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