Bush Skips AARP Meeting
I found an interesting little story on page 20 of yesterday’s New York Times. The AARP had 25,000 of its members at a meeting today in Las Vegas. They invited Kerry and Bush to speak. Kerry accepted, and his talk there today was on the news tonight. But Bush declined the invitation, even though he was already in Las Vegas, and sent Laura Bush in his place. So he passed on the opportunity to get the same kind of news coverage that Kerry got tonight. Why would he do that, especially since he was touting his prescription drug coverage plan in the debates?
Ed Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said public opinion polling showed that the prescription drug law was unpopular among older Americans. “No presidential candidate wants to risk being booed off stage by thousands of seniors,” Mr. Coyle said. “This drug benefit is not the victory for seniors the president plugs it to be, and the president and his handlers know that to be true.”
Many seniors have been unhappy with the AARP supporting the plan – around 10,000 tore up their membership cards because of it. Part of the reason is that the AARP is no longer strictly a senior advocacy group. It now receives royalties from the insurance companies that market to its members. Another part of it is simply that many members think it’s a lousy and needlessly confusing plan.
