Does anyone else find it hilarious (as I do) that history is so soon forgotten? Wasn't it just over a year ago that the AARP was being bombarded with attacks for supporting the President's Medicare Drug benefit? I guess that now the AARP has decided to do the right thing and not support the President's Social Security, uh hem (Clear Skies, Healthy Forests, fill in any Orwellian adjective here) "overhaul," the advocacy group is no longer welcome to the party. To be fair, Democrats lambasted the AARP for supporting the Medicare benefit, only to surely rally around the group over the current PR problem. But I find it interesting that the AARP is getting "Swift Boated," which I view as the nuclear option.
So here's an overview. The AARP decides to work against the President over the Social Security "overhaul" issue. The GOP loads a chamber and pulls the trigger. Out comes USA Next, headed by Charlie Jarvis.
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."
But just 14 months ago, the AARP was the darling of the conservative community. Here are a few examples.
The first is from an issue of Time. Senate Majority Leader Senator Bill Frist picks the AARP for his handball team...(Subscription only)
Frist was dogged, tracking down AARP executive William Novelli at home or on the road to trade ideas by cell phone on reforming Medicare. "I don't think they were used to that," Frist told TIME, noting that Republicans had traditionally seen the group as being too close to Democrats. "But I made it clear I needed them." It worked. AARP--which boasts 35 million members--threw its weight behind the G.O.P. overhaul.
And then we have House Speaker Dennis Hastert singing their praises (through his spokesman).
As John Feehry, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., put it, "The AARP is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval when it comes to seniors' issues."
It seems kind of disloyal to go after a former teammate so harshly. Especially when the President recognized the players so vocally.
But the groups that speak for the elderly did fantastic work on this legislation. See, there was a lot of pressure not to get something done -- for the wrong reasons, I might add. But Bill Novelli, the CEO of AARP, stood strong in representing the people he was supposed to represent and he worked hard to get this legislation passed. And, Bill, I want to thank you for your leadership. [...]Charlie Jarvis, the Chairman and CEO of United Seniors Association, worked hard.
So there you have it. No one is safe. But you've got to love the irony.