If Congress splits town after they pass this bill, maybe we can all celebrate by reviving the “burn your AARP card” party. We’re certainly going to keep it alive, so that when the cuts start coming or seniors don’t get their cost-of-living increases, they’ll know who to blame.

No company takes on this kind of brand damage for nothing. AARP’s support for benefit cuts is a stalking horse. And they would not be doing this unless a) it was already in the works, and b) they expected something in return.

Then again, maybe they already got it.

What’s important to note is that AARP says it opposes cuts to Social Security as part of discussions on how to reduce the deficit. Notice they don’t say anything about opposing cuts to Social Security anywhere else — only where it pertains to deficit reduction. That’s a pretty weak defense, if you ask me.

If AARP is really opposed to cutting Social Security benefits as part of a “grand bargain” to reduce the deficit, you’d think they’d come right out and say it. Instead, they’re just recycling all of President Obama’s weasel-word tactics about “supporting” the public option (and we all know how well that worked out).

The Wall Street Journal recently reported the AARP will support benefit cuts to Social Security. The AARP responded by saying that “our position has not changed on Social Security.” That’s actually true. For years, the AARP has been open to cutting Social Security benefits. Below is the proof of AARP’s clear willingness cut Social Security.

Documents and interviews unearthed in recent months by Brave New Foundation researchers illustrate a $28.4 million Koch business that has manufactured 297 commentaries, 200 reports, 56 studies and six books distorting Social Security’s effectiveness and purpose.

Together, the publications reveal a vast cottage industry comprised of Koch brothers’ spokespeople, front groups, think tanks, academics and elected officials, which have built a self-sustaining echo chamber to transform fringe ideas into popular mainstream public policy arguments.

AARP admits they have been quietly hinting at being willing to support cuts to Social Security benefits for months.

The National Organization for Women accused AARP of implicit corruption in their statement, recalling the 2003 prescription drug benefit battle. NOW brings up Medicare Advantage, the privatization scheme that ultimately passed as part of that bill.

fter AARP’s policy director, John Rother, told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that they were open to cutting Social Security benefits, AARP issued a clarification supposedly “denying” that this was true. Or at least that’s how most people interpreted it. “Oh, don’t worry, that was a gaffe. AARP has clarified for the record that it’s not true.”

A closer look at AARP’s damage control statement, entitled “AARP Has Not Changed Its Position on Social Security,” reveals it to be a non-denial.

I was so disgusted to read that AARP now supports cutting Social Security benefits today that I wrote the following email to them cancelling my membership.