(Cross-posted from
my blog, Musing's musings.)
Via Mustang Bobby comes this disturbing bit of news:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 - The battle over Social Security has been joined by an unusual lobbyist, a 9-year-old from Texas who has agreed to travel supporting President Bush's proposal.
More below the fold.
The boy, Noah McCullough, made a splash with his encyclopedic command of presidential history, earning five appearances on the "Tonight" show and some unusual experiences in the presidential campaign last year. He beat Howard Dean in a trivia contest at the Democratic National Convention and wrote for his local newspaper about his trip to see the inauguration.
[edit]
In a sign of how far groups go to carry their message on Social Security, Progress for America has signed up Noah, a fourth grader, as a volunteer spokesman. He starts on spring break from James Williams Elementary School in Katy, Tex.
Progress for America, which spent almost $45 million backing Mr. Bush last year, plans to lay out $20 million on Social Security this year. It has spent $1 million on television commercials and is working to send experts around the country. Among them are Thomas Saving, a trustee of the Social Security Trust Fund; Rosario Marin, a former United States treasurer; and one really, really young Republican. Noah will not be eligible to collect Social Security for nearly 60 years.
Noah will travel to a handful of states ahead of visits by the president and will go on radio programs, answer trivia questions and say a few words about Social Security. Though he is obviously not an expert (and not really a lobbyist, either), officials say the effort is a lighthearted way to underline Mr. Bush's message.
"What I want to tell people about Social Security is to not be afraid of the new plan," Noah said. "It may be a change, but it's a good change."
(My emphasis)
Were I not afraid of the answer I might get, I'd ask just how low the anarcho-conservacons are willing to go to wreak their intended havoc on Social Security. The sentences I've highlighted at the end of the quote above suggest that it's pretty low. I mean, really: trotting out a nine-year-old who doesn't even understand what the hell he's talking about, just to tug at the heartstrings of the preznit's loyal lapdogs (the only ones who can get into presidential appearances, don't'cha know)?
Making matters worse, Noah isn't even going to get paid for his misguided efforts on the preznit's behalf. Worst of all, if he's successful, he'll have screwed himself out of his own retirement security, 60 years hence.
And how did little Noah come to the attention of the anarcho-conservacons? As you might expect, one of the biggest of the Assholes of Evil had a hand in the mix:
The trip was a brainchild of Stuart Roy, a former aide to Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, who recently joined the DCI Group, a political consultancy here with ties to the Republican Party and Mr. Bush.
The firm is heavily involved in Progress for America's efforts. The president of the organization, Brian McCabe, is a partner at DCI, and the organization contracts with the firm. In the 2004 campaign, the Progress for America Voter Fund paid DCI about $800,000, records show. Mr. Roy knew Noah because the boy lives in suburban Houston, part of Mr. DeLay's district, and the House majority leader has met him. "We'll have Noah there as the face of Social Security reform," Mr. Roy said. "It's about the next generation."
It is indeed about the next generation. And the generation after that, and the one after that, and so on. But what mini-Republican Noah and the shameless anarcho-conservacons who are exploiting him aren't telling him (or anyone else) is that there is not a problem with Social Security--and even if there were a problem, the Shrubbery's proposed solution would not only not address it, but actually make it worse.
No wonder they decided to use a nine-year-old to get their message out.