A lot of critics of Bush’s Social Security plan, including me, thought it’d be great to see some Harry-and-Louise style ads out there, undermining the White House scheme.
Fortunately, some of our well-financed allies apparently agree. When Bush touches down in Iowa today, TrueMajority will have a radio ad there waiting for him. It’s called “The Kids” and, according to The Note, will run in Iowa’s 1st, 2nd, and 4th congressional districts. Here’s the script:
Female voice: This is terrible Frank. When President Bush and his Wall Street pals privatized Social Security, they never told us we could actually lose our money.
Male voice: Please don’t cry, Honey. But that’s the stock market for you, it goes up, but now, that we need the money, it’s down.
Female voice: How much of our Social Security have we lost in the market?
Male voice: I can’t even think about it. I can’t believe that this is what privatization did to Social Security — instead of guaranteed benefits, now we’ve got this mess, Social Insecurity.
Male announcer voice: This could be you when you’re getting ready to retire. Only Social Security, and not the stock market, can guarantee you the retirement benefits you’ve worked for all your life. For decades, millions of retired Americans have received the monthly checks they counted on. By privatizing Social Security, President Bush is gambling with our futures.
Female voice: Frank, what are we going to do?
Male voice: Maybe the kids will take us in.
Announcer voice: Call Congressman Jim Leach … and ask him to oppose the scheme to privatize Social Security. This ad has been paid for by TrueMajority Action.org, which is solely responsible for its content.
(You can also hear the radio ad online.)
The Conscience Caucus doesn’t have any members from Iowa yet, so maybe the ad will do some good. Stay tuned.