Words Fail Me
So in a previous thread today, I commented that sometimes I find that I ignore God because I’m too busy being outraged at the brokenness of the world around me to listen.
But that was before I discovered that old people hate America and love homosexuals.
If you’ve read the New York Times or been anywhere in the liberal blogosphere today, you’ve no doubt come across this story. Apparently, a conservative lobbying group has begun an ad campaign targeting the AARP, largely because the seniors’ organization has opposed President Bush’s hazy plan to carve private accounts out of Social Security.
Now I’ll admit that as someone who is decades away from even considering joining, I know little to nothing about the AARP. I have no real affection or animosity for them whatsoever. But whoever they are, it certainly doesn’t warrant the opening salvo in USANext’s forthcoming barrage.
I don’t even think I can bring myself to post the ad, so I’ll describe it. The ad contains two photos above a caption promising “The REAL AARP Agenda” and a plea to click for more details. The photo on the left is of a soldier in desert uniform. The photo on the right is of two men in tuxedos kissing. After you’ve been given a second or two to digest the ad, a big red X appears emblazoned over the soldier photo. Then, a big green checkmark appears over the two men kissing.
That’s it. That’s the first ad in what may end up being a $10 campaign to attack the AARP because of their stance on Social Security. It has nothing to do with Social Security. Nothing on the USANext home page makes the same connection. And not that you really need me to tell you this, but I could find nothing on the AARP site that suggested they took any stance on our military or on gay marriage. So the ad is specious. It’s so blatantly a smear campaign, it’s almost parody. And I simply don’t have enough synonyms for just how absurdly beyond the pale this is.
So who are these fine citizens at USANext? Josh Marshall has made the Social Security issue a bit of a personal crusade, so it’s not surprising that he’s the go-to source for this. The group has ties to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Reagan and Bush I administrations, the pharmaceutical industry, and — wait for it — they’re headed up by the former Executive Vice President at Focus on the Family.
My site is too new for me to have had the time to write about the Social Security issue. But now that I’ve seen this ad, I sure don’t want any of my money to go to them soldier-hatin’ gay-lovin’ fogies.
Sheesh.
Literary Update: If you’ve read this far and you’re a Vonnegut fan (and by that, I mean a Vonnegut fan who’s even read the short stories), then you should check out Publius’ USANextian spoof of “Harrison Bergeron” over at Legal Fiction.
Additional Update: It looks like the ad has been pulled from the American Spectator site, where it had appeared yesterday. I’d like to think someone had a change of heart. But USANext seeks to be the ”dynamite” that removes the AARP as a “boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts.” So it could always get worse. In any event, is the President’s plan in so much trouble that some of his supporters have to resort to these tactics? If his Social Security ideas are indeed the right thing for our country, he should be able to play all his cards face up and win the argument on the merits. That would be refreshing, wouldn’t it?