Swift Boat Redux

[rodeodance]

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=100480&lftnav=progressreport#1

Swift Boat Redux

President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security by transferring risk onto the nation's elderly is proving a hard sell. Even administration officials and Republican congressional leaders "acknowledge that Bush's plan has yet to gain traction." A recent CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey of Americans showed 55 percent think the president's plan is a bad idea. And a recent poll by the Washington Post shows barely one in four Americans believe the president's claim that there's a crisis. Without public support, conservatives have turned to dirty tricks to try to sway public opinion. But no amount of deceptive advertising can mask the fact that Americans don't want this risky plan.

DIRTY TRICKSTERS BACK IN ACTION: The Swift Boat Veterans – who wreaked havoc on John Kerry's presidential campaign with untruths, innuendo and ugly rumors – are back and ready to focus their tricks on the Social Security fight. The New York Times reports the right-wing lobbying group USA Next is planning to sink $10 million in commercials and other back-room tactics to hit the AARP. ("They are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts," said Charlie Jarvis, the group's president. "We will be the dynamite that removes them.") In an attempt to manipulate public opinion, USA Next is rounding up all the usual suspects from the Swift Boat campaign. They've hired Chris LaCivita, the former marine paid $30,000 during the campaign to advise the Swift Boat campaign on Kerry attacks. They're looking to hire Rick Reed, a partner at the firm that put together attack ads for the Swift Boat group. Also back: Creative Response Concepts, the PR firm that backed the Swift Boat group, and Regenery Publishing, the group that published "Unfit for Command," the screed against Kerry's military service put out by one of the primary leaders of the Swift Boat vets. And Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo uncovered a link between USA Next and the United Seniors Association, a "soft-money slush fund for a single GOP-friendly industry: pharmaceuticals."

ATTACKING THE AARP: The Swift Boat vet group is already starting the attack. The AARP, a group that looks out for the best interests of seniors, has come out against the Bush plan. A new ad posted on the American Spectator purports to show the "real" AARP agenda. The weird ad shows a photo of soldiers in Iraq – with a big "X" through it – next to one of two men kissing – with a big green check. The group doesn't even pretend to provide the rationale behind the ad; clicking on the "click here for details" merely brings you to USA Next's home page, with nothing about either troops or gay marriage. Thus the ad exists just to spread the implication that AARP hates U.S. troops but loves gay marriage. (Thanks to DailyKos for finding the ad.)

"POOREST FACE MOST RISK ON SOCIAL SECURITY": The Washington Post exposes the truth behind the Bush Social Security plan: "no group of Americans would be affected more...than those earning the least." Today, Social Security is the largest – or only – source of retirement income for low-income workers. The program makes up more than half of retirement benefits for almost two-thirds of the nation's seniors. Further, "it is the only source of income for 20 percent of retirees." The Bush plan, which would transfer risk onto the individuals while cutting benefits, would be devastating to these seniors. E.J. Dionne points out the real agenda behind the Bush plan: "The real 'crisis' we face is created not by Social Security but by the administration's unrelenting effort to lighten the tax burden on the wealthy, which, in turn, creates a fiscal mess that forces cuts in programs – for poor kids and needy seniors alike."

LOOK TO THE STATES: Employees in seven different states were offered the opportunity for private accounts similar to the ones President Bush is touting. In many cases, these accounts proved to be both unpopular and unsuccessful. President Bush's plan assumes two-thirds of American workers will jump to set up private plans: in most of the states offering private plans, only about 5 percent of workers actually signed up. Much of the hesitancy was due to the risk involved. Take Nebraska, for example. State and local workers who used the do-it-yourself accounts made so many errors in investing that they "ended up making less than colleagues with fixed-benefit pensions – and less than what analysts have said is needed for old age." The Nebraska legislature got rid of the accounts two years ago. West Virginia switched teachers' retirement plans to private accounts over a decade ago. Today the state is looking into switching back, after finding the change "did nothing to solve the funding shortage and ultimately cost more money." As with Nebraska, West Virginia found teachers with private accounts had lower benefits than they would have with the traditional system. Want to weigh in on this? Visit ThinkProgress and tell us your thoughts.

[applegrove]

1. AARP has some real stockmarket power - more so than individual

corporations. So they were likely always targetted as a big enemy. Next they will be broken up.

The only big kids on the block will be the corporation in another 2 years. America will be gutted and in a huge recession. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED INDEED!

[colonel odis]

2. this could backfire on the swifties. they may have picked a shit with

someone they're better off leaving alone.

[Igel]

3. The swifties and the consultants they hired are two separate

groups of people.

Haven't seen anything about swifties getting involved in the SS tussle, and doubt I will; even if they did have something to say, why listen?

But professional consultants and campaign managers ... If I wanted to push my point of view and had the money, I'd look into hiring them.