Olds Abandon AARP For More Conservative Senior Cabal
The most fearsome paramilitary organization in the country, the AARP, has seen a precipitous decline in membership since they declared that maybe our nation's health care system needed a tweak or two. Blasphemy! Between 50,000 and 60,000 members have quit the AARP in disgust since July 1.
OK, so that's a drop in the bucket compared to the 40 MILLION olds who still belong to the AARP. But we are not Nate Silver here, so we'll just call it a "precipitous decline," because it sounds scarier that way!
So who are the angry codgers who have forever renounced the seductions of AARP: The Magazine (the world's largest circulation magazine! Remember that, Ifill, for your next game show appearance) and sweet discounts on Reeboks? They are, presumably, the sort of nutters who everybody laughs at for warning Obama to keep his filthy government paws off their Medicare.
Many of the defectors have destroyed their AARP cards and are switching to a relatively new group called American Seniors Association, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to AARP.
[...] The A.S.A. is appealing directly to disaffected AARP members, urging them to cut or tear up their AARP cards and join A.S.A. at a discount. It is also playing on the fears of many in the over-50 crowd who are worried that an overhaul will end up costing them money and lowering their quality of care.
Well, shit. Maybe an overhaulwillcost people money or lower their quality of care. Fortunately, the Death Panels should be able to institute some pretty dramatic cost-cutting measures.
A Mini-Mutiny at AARP Over Health Care [NYT: Prescriptions]