JONATHAN CHAIT MARCH 31, 2011
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
[Guest post by James Downie]
Before the war on unions has even finished, Republicans in Washington have already picked a new target: the AARP.
Republicans have launched an assault on AARP, which joins a growing list of groups supportive of the Democrats’ agenda that are being targeted by conservatives.
House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday released a report that accuses the influential senior citizens organization of having a conflict of interest because it will financially benefit from the health care overhaul that the group heavily lobbied for last year. AARP collects royalties from endorsing health insurance policies and other products. [...]
A GOP lobbyist suggested that the report is part of a pattern of House Republicans going after groups that worked against them on key legislation when they were out of power.
“There is certainly a sense of getting back at some of those groups that supported” health care reform, said Chris Lamond, a Republican lobbyist with Thorn Run Partners. “It is a little bit like, ‘We are in charge of the House side, we are going to hold their feet to the fire.'"
Remember, unions (and especially public employee unions) had declining poll numbers when Republicans started targeting them at the state level, yet politically the anti-union effort has been disastrous for the GOP, while boosting union approval ratings. On the other hand, the AARP is already popular, even among "get your government out of my Social Security" types. That at least some Republicans think the AARP would be a good target is just bizarre.
7 comments
Thank you for the excellent post, James, and for all of your fine reporting. The GOP is indeed losing it. This is not good strategy for them, nor has the Scott Walker road been productive. May this continue, I can only hope. Also, Republican groups would never dream of profiting from policies they advocate.
- liberalref
March 31, 2011 at 1:26pm
I heard a report on NPR this morning about this latest GOP attack. My first thought was "Are they nuts? They're going after their base!". I see I'm not alone in my thinking.
- tmmats
March 31, 2011 at 1:37pm
It's pressure like the K street project when Delay is supposed to have told prominent Lobbyists that the Republicans are in charge and they better make their contributions accordingly. I can't think of an occasion when Democrats did this sort of thing.
- Nusholtz
March 31, 2011 at 2:16pm
Excellent comment, nush.
- liberalref
March 31, 2011 at 3:48pm
Not bizarre to me. Anything which might resemble two or more distinct citizens uniting to improve their lot in life, instead of butting heads and trying to knock each other down, is a potential target for these people. They're obviously starting out with the stronger groups, but they'll work their way down the line if they're not stopped.
- GSpinks
March 31, 2011 at 4:00pm
This is all just freakin' nuts. The House Republicans and their demands are senseless. None of their ultimatums to defund this or that or else will improve life in America one bit and will likely make things much worse. So why shouldn't they go after AARP too? Who needs old people. Oughta drop 'em off on the ice. While we still have some ice.
- Sophia
March 31, 2011 at 4:18pm
I'd say that this move makes sense *if* they don't go too far. Okay, I just chuckled a little at the thought of Republicans not going too far but hear me out. The idea here is to enforce discipline among the GOP-aligned lobbyists and organizations. If the AARP, largely representing their base, can just go off script when they want to, there's no telling how disasterous that would be for their electoral chances because it would mean that their small-tent coalition would fracture on some issues and lead to - gasp! - conservative voters having to consider the pros and cons of voting Republican. This has been the general relationship model for conservative lobbying groups for the last few decades: give us your complete loyalty in messaging and donations and we'll consistently give you your tax exemptions, regulatory loopholes and access to elected officials. The AARP broke the rules and, therefore, must be punished. The bigger picture here is that the AARP doesn't really need the GOP. Their revenue is secure because it comes from millions upon millions of seniors paying dues from their fixed incomes and they can easily turn these same people against Republicans because the AARP is so trusted among them - whereas elected officials in general are not. These House members better tread real carefully in their dealings so as not to alienate the AARP while still sending a message to other conservative groups. Thankfully, I don't have much hope for their success given the heavy-handed, clumsy, and superficial manner in which they tend to approach most matters.
- NR857175
April 1, 2011 at 11:17am