Printable Version
Retirees Launch TV Ads on McCain Social Security “Disgrace” Comments
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
For Immediate Release
Retirees Launch TV Ads on McCain Social Security “Disgrace” Comments
Wilkes-Barre Ad, Wednesday Protest to Coincide with McCain Visit
Washington DC - The Alliance for Retired Americans today launched a television advertising campaign to respond to a recent statement by Senator John McCain that Social Security is “a disgrace.”
The issue ads will run this week in
Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Clarks Summit PA,
coinciding with a McCain visit to Wilkes-Barre
on Wednesday.
The Alliance,
working with area seniors and community groups,
plans a protest event on Wednesday to spotlight
Senator McCain’s position on Social
Security.
Who: Alliance
for Retired Americans and Labor
2008
What:
Seniors and Working Families
telling John McCain is WRONG about Social
Security
Where:
Public Square in Wilkes-Barre (where Main
St. and Market St.
meet)
When:
Wednesday, July 23rd at
10:30am
Contact: Adam
Swope at 202-341-7821
Click here to view the advertisements. The three-day heavy ad buy will run during shows popular with older audiences. The Alliance hopes to run similar ads in other cities in the coming weeks.
“Forty Two million Americans receive Social Security benefits – these are our nation’s elderly, our widows and widowers, and our young children who have seen a parent die. Helping them is not a disgrace. Social Security has kept millions out of poverty, and is one our nation’s greatest success stories,” said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans.
Speaking at a July 7 town hall meeting, Senator McCain said, “Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.”
According to Jean Friday, President of Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans, “Senator McCain’s disparaging remarks toward Social Security – as well as his support for throwing a privatized Social Security system on the roulette wheel of Wall Street – show a lack of understanding of the challenges facing retirees in Pennsylvania and across the country.”
Last week media accounts revealed that despite Senator McCain’s views toward Social Security, he received $23,157 in Social Security benefits in 2007, an average of $1,929.75 each month.
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Contact: Marcie Kohenak (202) 637-5178 or mkohenak@retiredamericans.org