The oxymoron of the week is a conservative nonpartisan organization.

Any organization that claims to have both of these things under its belt clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of conservative and nonpartisan.

I have decided to outline its meanings. I hope you’re listening 60 Plus Association. I’m talking to you.


According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, nonpartisan means “free from party affiliation, bias or designation.” According to anyone who can count higher than their fingers and toes, a nonpartisan organization and a conservative organization is not the same thing.

The 60 Plus Association calls itself just that.

On the group’s Web site, 60 Plus brags that it’s the conservative counterpart of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). This self-promoted “nonpartisan” organization has made it its mission to end the federal estate tax and save Social Security for the young. The association’s latest attempt to do this is by a television ad showing their strict opposition to President Obama’s health care reform.

Thanks to a sweet little thing called the First Amendment, organizations (and people too) like 60 Plus Association are free to market their ideas…just as long as they’re not encouraging people to go against the government. That’s basically the only requirement. Obviously, nothing libelous is allowed; that’s common sense kind of stuff. Still, everyone is free to vocalize their ideas even if they’re wild.

Ah, the joys of the marketplace of ideas.

This brings us to back to the TV ad placed by 60 Plus. This minute-long commercial is, like the organization itself, full of misconceptions and contradictions.

According to Factcheck.org, the ad itself is false. One claim is that Congress will cut more than $500 billion in Medicare when in actuality it will be about $220 billion from the “projected growth of Medicare spending over the next 10 years.” The numbers and statements in this advertisement are exaggerated, yet presented as fact.


What is especially amusing about these exaggerated assertions is that the AARP disputed the claims directly in a “Myths v. Facts” rundown saying, “Fact: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.”

Factcheck.org also claims to have contacted 60 Plus for confirmation concerning the validity of the claim that seniors will use their doctors. They never heard back.

The narrator says, “It’s a cruel joke.” I think he’s trying to say that the possible overhaul is a joke. What he meant to mean is that what they’re trying to get across is that advertisement is a cruel joke.

It just isn’t true.