Was AARP blackmailed by ROVE/US NEXT to support Bush Medicare Proposal?

iconoclastNYC

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:04 AM
Original message

Was AARP blackmailed by ROVE/US NEXT to support Bush Medicare Proposal?

A lot of people couldn't make any sense of AARP supporting the Bush Medicare prescription benefit plan.

Maybe they got blackmailed?

"Support the president or we'll turn you into the ACLU and divorce you of 50% of your members"

I wouldn't put it past this gang of thugs.

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Coastie for Truth

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:09 AM
Response to Original message

1. Nothing surprises me about Bushco

as the Corsi-USANext-GOPUSA attacks on the AARP clearly show.

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Gyre

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:14 AM
Response to Original message

2. AARP

Has got to grow some balls, or it's going to suffer the same fate as the unions. I won't join unless it begins to protect it's members in substantive ways. That means protecting SS and not rolling over to the admin when their policies clearly cut against seniors.

Gyre

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BurtWorm

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:15 AM
Response to Original message

3. AARP's president is a Gingrich associate.

He's the Novelli of the PR firm Porter-Novelli. (I keep wanting to call him Peter, but maybe it's because of the Porter he works with.) The American Prospect did a piece on him last year, suggesting that there was a stealth takeover of AARP, which wasn't difficult to do, considering it's basically a glorified insurance company.

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iconoclastNYC

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:17 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. Yes great points....

But then why are they so against the Bush plan if they are in Bush's pocket?

There was a large uproar after thier support of the medicare deal, and i just think that they woudln't have risked that unless they were getting thier arm twisted.

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BurtWorm

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:23 AM
Response to Reply #4

5. My theory is that the membership is cracking the whip a little louder

this time. They did lose some members after the Medicare prescription thing. They would probably suffer a major exodus if they came out of the closet on SS provatization. Plus they don't have any dogs in this hunt, compared with the last one, in which they did have an interest as an insurance company.

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RaleighNCDUer

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Fri Mar-04-05 11:21 AM
Response to Reply #5

9. They lost me, that's for sure.

And when I'm convinced that they are more than shills for the insurance industry, I might consider returning.

The stand against piratization of SS is a small step in the right direction.

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Cleita

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Fri Mar-04-05 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #5

12. They lost a lot of members.

I was at a meeting locally back then where the AARP representative was trying to justify the prescription plan and people were tearing up their AARP cards in front of him. The point he tried to make was that seniors could join Medicare HMO's and get drug coverage. However, no doctors in our county will take any of the HMO's as coverage anymore and that was loudly pointed out to the AARP representative. Since that fiasco AARP has retreated to it's pre-Bush position.

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KittyWampus

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Fri Mar-04-05 11:12 AM
Response to Reply #3

8. Yup, A GOP Lackey Was Installed At The Top. Seems To Be The Trend

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elehhhhna

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:25 AM
Response to Original message

6. They were also Mum about the gutting of Greenthumb--

which helps find and even subsidize employment for destitute seniors...like 80 year od women who can and must work becasue that big fat 500 per month SS check isn't enough to live on. My Mom lost her job as a job developer (she was the tops in placing people in Northern Il.) and had to inforn many, many elderly participants that they were cut off.

The rules changed so nobody qualifies, anyway. If you lost your house & live with your kids, their income now counts as yours. Your grandchilds' STUDENT LOAN qualify as "family income".

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Squeech

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Fri Mar-04-05 10:58 AM
Response to Original message

7. Hmmm...

Don't forget that a lot of Democrats, and not just the pink tutus, also supported the Medicare bill-- on the theory that any bill that opened the door to a prescription drug entitlement was a precedent worth supporting, and that the bill's obvious problems could be ironed out later. Maybe that was AARP's theory as well.

Of course I believe that with BushCo, the incidence of lip movement correlates perfectly with untruths, so I didn't support the bill, and I didn't join AARP (I had just become eligible, old fart that I am) for that reason. But now that they're being targeted by Swift Boat Veterans for Unaccountable Executive Power, I'm gonna join.

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Coastie for Truth

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Fri Mar-04-05 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #7

11. I am a confirmed Bush Hater (almost as much as Nixon)

Edited on Fri Mar-04-05 01:18 PM by Coastie for Truth

but I kinda supported the Medicare Bill because I figured it was a "foot in the door" and our next Democratic President - with a Democratic Congress - would clean it up.

BTW - My five favorite doctors are:

5a. Cyril Wecht MD - he got me into Democratic politics
- when you go drinking with Cyril - he's a cool dude

My least favorite med school graduates are Mr. Bill Frist, Mr. Tom Coburn, Mr. Dave Walton.

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Toucano

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Fri Mar-04-05 11:56 AM
Response to Original message

10. There doesn't need to be a conspiracy

when the reality is so plain.

The AARP thought the flawed prescription drug bill was better than no prescription drug bill. That's what they said at the time, and that's what they were wrong about.

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iconoclastNYC

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Fri Mar-04-05 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #10

13. I guess you are right.

It's just this US NEXT thing is so ridiculous it made me put on the tin foil.

Someone on the left needs to figure out how to counteract smear campaigns, it seems to the the right's most effective weapon.

I think for each person who voted for bush over kerry because of the swifties, 2 voters just stayed home who might have voted for kerry.

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rockedthevoteinMA

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Fri Mar-04-05 02:01 PM
Response to Original message

14. I was at a town hall meeting a few weekends ago

with my local congressman about social security, and there was a rep there from AARP.

One of the seniors stood up in the midst of the woman from AARP's speech and asked, "Are you gonna sell us up the river again like you did on the Prescription Plan?" I laughed so hard, it rocked to see someone's grandmother stand up and give it to AARP.

The rep said in defense, that the DC branch made the decision to support it - and on the SS privitization plan they are all in agreement, that it's a BAD thing.

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