"Frivolous" Lawsuits News

The Club for Growth: Senior-Bashing Group That Opposes Medicare Now Pretends To Care About Seniors’ Health

In the final days of the 2004 Election cycle, a 527 organization calling itself “The Club for Growth” has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into various political campaigns.

“The Club” has purchased broadcast ads that falsely attack the trial bar, claiming that lawyers and certain Democratic candidates supported by lawyers are responsible for the shortage of flu vaccine.

The Truth About The Club for Growth

The Club for Growth (CFG), which has attacked senior citizens as “dangerous” and “the most selfish group in America”¹ and believes Medicare has been “catastrophic” and has done “damage to our country’s freedom,”² is now pretending to care so deeply about the health of seniors (and the other groups most vulnerable to the flu) that it is spending millions of dollars on a television advertising campaign in order to help candidates who will support its real agenda—still lower taxes for corporations and the richest Americans and the dismantling of Social Security and Medicare.

CFG is an extreme right-wing group that finances only ultra-conservative Republican candidates, often against other, more moderate Republicans, including heavy-handed assaults on Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Olympia Snow (R-ME), and George Voinovich (R-OH). Even some Republicans have referred to CFG as “cannibals” and “fratricidal purists.”³

Who They Are

President—Stephen Moore
Formerly director of fiscal policies at the Cato Institute, and an adviser to Dick Armey. Circulates guillotine pictures amongst his allies⁴. Described as, “a voodoo economist ... [who uses] especially devious methods to torture the data,”⁵ and his career as “marked by a pattern of errors, deception and falsehood.”⁶

Founding Committee Member—Harlan Crow
Longtime Republican benefactor. Donated at least $25,000 to the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Trustee of the George Herbert Walker Bush Library⁷, trustee of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)⁸, patron of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.⁹

Founder—Larry Kudlow
Of CNBC’s Kudlow and Cramer. Kudlow is also a member of the trial lawyer bashing Citizens for Sound Economy’s Economic Council.¹⁰

Board Member—Richard Gilder
Former chairman of the Manhattan Institute, a group that has made attacking trial lawyers its raison d’etre for decades, and which was started with seed money from a “group of extremist multimillionaires whose family foundations nurtured the rest of the ultra-right’s agenda.”¹¹

Where Their Money Goes

The Club for Growth has both a 527 and a federal PAC. In total, CFG raised $9.2 million for its activities during the 2002 election cycle.¹² The Club for Growth.net reported raising $1,655,287 from 10/20/04 to 10/26/04. During the 2004 election year, they have made a total of $6,766,624 in disbursements thus far.¹³

The Club for Growth has spent $1,417,855 for ads that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a specific candidate. They also gave an additional $130,184 from their PAC. The graphic below indicates the proportion of money given to candidates of each political party.¹⁴

What They Have Said

“The most selfish group in America today is senior citizens. Their demands on Washington are: 'Give us more and more and more.' They have become the new welfare state, and given the size and political clout of this constituency, it's very dangerous. One of the biggest myths in politics today is this idea that grandparents care about their grandkids. What they really care about is that that Social Security check and those Medicare payments are made on a timely basis.” –Stephen Moore on the elderly.¹⁵

“…Every American taxpayer knows full well the fiscally catastrophic impact of programs like Medicare, Medicaid and other blank-check redistribution programs.” –Stephen Moore on Medicare.¹⁶

“There is no excuse for creating an entitlement for prescription drugs; it will inflate federal debt, rob money from future generations and socialize health care.” –Stephen Moore on prescription drugs.¹⁷

“We do eat our own sometimes.” –Stephen Moore on his attitude to fellow Republicans.¹⁸

“A sushi eating, Volvo driving, "New York Times" reading, body piercing, Hollywood loving left wing freak show.” –Club for Growth ad attacking Howard Dean.¹⁹

“I really believe that this is driven by motives of selfishness and self-promotion. He'll do anything to get on a TV camera.” –Stephen Moore discussing John McCain.²⁰

“The Specters of the world are the last of a dying breed of Rockefeller Republicans, an endangered species that muddies the conservative message…. . And we won’t fully arrive as an organization until we have a major scalp on the wall.” –Stephen Moore on Senator Specter.²¹

“Of course, the biggest beneficiaries of Mr. Daschle’s gridlocking maneuvers are the oil ministers of the Middle East. We might as well be writing checks directly to the agents of terrorism.” –Stephen Moore on Senator Daschle and the GOP energy bill.²²

Notes

1. Right Wing Watch–Club for Growth, People for the American Way (PFAW), http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=9345 (Accessed October 28, 2004)
2. Detroit News, 7/21/03
3. Now it’s Republicans quarreling as right wing targets moderates, Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 6, 2003
4. Now it’s Republicans quarreling as right wing targets moderates, Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 6, 2003
5. Less is Moore, Jonathan Chait, The New Republic, June 30, 1997
6. The deceptive advocacy of Stephen Moore, Brendan Nyhan and Ben Fritz, Spinsanity, September 22, 2003, http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20030922.html (Accessed October 28, 2004)
7. George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, http://www.georgebushfoundation.org/bush/asp/OverView/Trustees.asp (Accessed October 28, 2004)
8. American Enterprise Institute, Trustees, http://www.aei.org/about/contentID.20038142214500073/default.asp (Accessed October 28, 2004)
9. Retirement Rumors and Pricey Gifts Reach High Court; Are Protesters Next, Tony Mauro, American Lawyer Media, June 10, 2002, http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1022954292436 (Accessed October 28, 2004)
10. The New Stealth Pacs, Public Citizen, http://www.stealthpacs.org/agent.cfm?Org_ID=162#12 (Accessed October 28, 2004)
11. Look Who’s Behind Tort Reform, Dan Zegart, The Nation, October 6, 2004
12. www.pfaw.org
13. www.politicalmoneyline.com
14. www.opensecrets.org
15. Right Wing Watch–Club for Growth, People for the American Way (PFAW), http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=9345 (Accessed October 28, 2004)
16. Detroit News, 7/21/03
17. Detroit News, 7/21/03
18. Now it’s Republicans quarreling as right wing targets moderates, Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 6, 2003
19. Bush Campaign Ads Under Attack, Dan Rather, CBS Evening News, March 4, 2004
20. John McCain–A rare breed in the political battlefield, Terence Samuel, August 20, 2001, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/heroes/mccain.htm (Accessed October 28, 2004)
21. Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/6/03
22. Washington Times, 1/10/02

October 28, 2004