what a bunch of sick f*cks

From AOL News :

Flare-Ups in Battle Over Bush's Social Security Plan
Advocacy Groups Launch Attacks Over Strategy

WASHINGTON (Feb. 23) - The public relations war over President Bush's Social Security plan escalated on Wednesday, as a liberal advocacy group attacked the Republican chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee, and conservative groups fought among themselves over strategy.

The advocacy group, Campaign for America's Future, accused the subcommittee chairman, Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana, of conflict of interest, saying he had accepted nearly $200,000 in contributions over four years from securities firms and commercial banks that could benefit from Mr. Bush's plan to let workers invest in retirement accounts.

On Thursday, the group will begin running newspaper advertisements against Mr. McCrery under the headline "Who Does This Man Work For?" in his hometown, Shreveport. In addition, it is using the Internet to raise money for television advertisements.

Mr. McCrery responded by accusing the group, which is backed by labor unions and left-leaning philanthropists, including George Soros, of "extreme liberal bias."

As Mr. McCrery and his detractors traded barbs, supporters of Mr. Bush's plan battled among themselves. The Cato Institute, the libertarian research organization that has long been a leader in pushing for private Social Security accounts, lashed out at USA Next, a conservative lobbying group that says it plans to spend up to $10 million on commercials and other tactics attacking AARP, the retirees' organization.

"This is not very bright politics," Michael Tanner, the director of health and welfare studies at Cato, said in a telephone interview. In particular, he objected to an Internet advertisement by USA Next that tries to paint AARP as an advocate of same-sex marriage. "Introducing homophobia and other things that are not relevant to Social Security reform is not helpful," Mr. Tanner said. AARP says it has no position on same-sex marriage.

But Charlie Jarvis, the president of USA Next, said his group would not back down. "We are going to make sure their members know their position on that and every other issue," he said of AARP, adding, "They can run, but they cannot hide."

The accusations, counterattacks and internal debate demonstrate the great lengths outside groups are going to to build or demolish public support for Mr. Bush's plan. Groups like the Campaign for America's Future, MoveOn.org and AARP are spending millions to run advertising and generate opposition to personal accounts; on the other side, the Club for Growth, a conservative group, has pledged to raise $10 million, while Progress for America, which backed Mr. Bush in the election, is vowing to raise $20 million and has already run television advertisements promoting personal accounts.
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The group has hired some of the same consultants who worked for Swift Vets
and P.O.W.'s for Truth, the group that orchestrated the advertisements attacking Senator John Kerry's military record in last year's presidential campaign. USA Next's Internet advertisement, which ran on Monday as part of a test campaign, featured a photograph of a soldier in camouflage, crossed out by a red X, juxtaposed against a green check mark over two tuxedo-clad men kissing. The caption reads, "The real AARP agenda."

"You need to build a coalition to win this fight," Mr. Tanner of the Cato Institute said. "You're not going to get Social Security reform passed just through the right wing of the Republican Party. Groups like gays are disadvantaged by the current system, and I'd think we would want to bring them into the campaign, not insult them."
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"Our plan is to do a multimedia ad buy on McCrery, and we may use the same tactic on other members," Ms. Miller said. She called on Mr. McCrery to refuse future Wall Street contributions "or hand over his gavel."

According to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign spending, in the 2004 election cycle Mr. McCrery received similar amounts from health professionals and the insurance industry as he did from commercial banks and securities and investment firms. But in its report detailing Mr. McCrery's campaign finances, the Campaign for America's Future singled out the financial industry contributions, saying, "These financial ties call his impartiality on the issue into question."

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Every single freakin' day more and more BS and corruption is exposed on the conservative's side. Has there ever been a more f'k'd up and corrupt administration? Is there a single honest republican in Washington?! A SS subcommittee person accepting bribes and his defense is that the group exposing this has a "liberal bias"! Well, that explains everything!
They hire a PR firm to, once again, lie about the opposition, this time the AARP, and when called on their lies, they bring out the same old tired quote, "You can run but you can't hide"! Damn, you would think that they would get new speech writers by now!
Once again, it is obvious who has the money and the lock on the media - the conservatives already have $30 million. It is amazing that we have been able to fight as strongly as we have with all of the media and big businesses on the other side!