15 Apr 2005 John Carlisle: The Games the AARP Plays

John Carlisle of the National Legal and Policy Center scrutinizes the AARP in a Washington Times op-ed:

In the ongoing debate over Social Security, AARP may claim that its mission is to defend the elderly, but its use of manipulative polls and inaccurate ads to needlessly frighten the public about the merits of reform raises serious questions……AARP is clearly out for itself and not the elderly.

It has gotten rich defending the Social Security status quo and is prepared to wage shameless scare campaigns to stop reform.

That may be good for AARP’s balance sheet, but it means catastrophe for retirees in the not-so-distant future.

Addendum 4/15: John has another good one in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which reports:

The policy director of the National Legal and Policy Center says organized labor is hypocritical to claim its campaign to pressure corporations to stop supporting President Bush’s Social Security reform plan ‘is necessary to protect retirees from corporate greed.’ John Carlisle points to labor’s ‘sordid history of raiding union pension funds for personal gain.’ Touche.