In yesterday’s Carolina Journal Online, Karen McMahan tells about the exodus of AARP members. Bill Garner, spokesman for AARP’s North Carolina office estimated 60,000 to 70,000 members had left the national organization in the last three months because they don’t appreciate its support of Obamacare. Garner claims for every member that leaves, five join. Said Garner:
Most of the drops are coming more from the very conservative side, the ultra-conservative membership. They are racist. It seems to me they are mostly the ones who are sore that the election didn’t turn out their way. . . . A lot of these people just aren’t very sophisticated about what they understand. They just sound like what they hear on talk radio.
Garner argues, “We’re nonpartisan, and there is no Obama healthcare plan.” Obama says AARP supports his plan. Most members appear to be leaving because of the group’s lobbying for healthcare reform. Higher ups say they will not support legislation that cuts senior benefits, and yet versions of HR 3200 have been interpreted to do so. In addition to lobbying for healthcare reform, AARP has used its members’ contributions to lobby against global warming and other issues from the Socialist Left.
The article plugs the American Seniors Association. Feedback on this and similar organizations would be appreciated.
