MSNBC: Preen forward #OhButIKid

 

Oh, but I kid MSNBC. I watch it every single day, and despite it being the only major cable news outlet I can tolerate (or appreciate), there are a few observations that I can no longer keep to myself. Gotta vent. Here's my (satirical) take on MSNBC daytime:

MSNBC Host 1: So welcome to my very own show. So, today's guests are Goldie Taylor, Howard Fineman, David Corn, Joan Walsh, Michael Steele, Jonathan Alter, Michael Eric Dyson, Nicolle Wallace, Mark Halperin, Michael Isikoff, Jonathan Capehart, Kasie Hunt, Eugene Robinson, Ezra Klein, Dave Weigel, Steve Schmidt, and all my fellow MSNBC hosts who are all here to talk about their very own shows! Every single one of them. So have I told you guys what a great job you do? GOD you're good. You all excel at your jobs! To call you stellar doesn't do you justice! I'm so proud to call you "colleagues."

Chuck Todd, Steve Kornacki, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Ronan Farrow, Krystal Ball, Karen Finney, Melissa Harris-Perry, Ari Melber: So, thank you, my friend! So, congratulations to us! So, group hug to Camera Three!

MSNBC Host 2: So when we return, we'll explore why every MSNBC commentator begins each thought with, "So..." We'll be back in 15 minutes after these messages from Cialis, Cymbalta, Lipitor, Abilify, Celebrex, Humira, Nasonex, and Lyrica.

Chuck Todd, Steve Kornacki, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Ronan Farrow, Krystal Ball, Karen Finney, Melissa Harris-Perry, Ari Melber: So you forgot AT&T, BP, Exxon, Citibank, catheters, vaginal dryness meds, and Christian Mingle!

One hour later...

MSNBC Host 2: So here to help us make some sense of our top story is the host of [insert any MSNBC daytime show here]. Thanks for being here, Other Host.

Other MSNBC Host: So I'm honored, my friend. You are awesome.

MSNBC Host 2: So no, YOU are, my friend.

Other MSNBC Host: No, YOU! So.

Luke Russert: Um, hello? So did somebody forget to intro Tim Russert's trying-to-fill-his-father's-big-shoes son over here on the monitor? So I've got an exclusive I'm dying to break right here on your very own show, MSNBC Host 2!

MSNBC Host 2: So we could never forget YOU, Luke, my friend, my brother. What's your scoop? You always have the BEST scoops! GOD you're good.

Luke: So, so are you. You are a FABULOUS host, as are you, Other MSNBC Host. You two are superb at everything you do. Nobody does it better. So I'm in tears. Seriously. So how cool is it that we're all such good friends? So who knew being this incestuous could pay so well?

MSNBC Host 2: So tell us your scoop, Amazingly Adept Luke, my brother, my friend, MSNBC's own Sage of Washington DC, Our Capitol Hill Crusader! So don't you just love these obvious displays of public camaraderie? It's like our own private little club! So whatcha got, my friend?

Luke: Well crap. I forgot.

MSNBC Host 2: So we'll be back right after these words from Cialis, Cymbalta, Lipitor, Abilify, Celebrex, Axiron, Humira, Nasonex, Lyrica,  AT&T, BP, Exxon, Citibank, catheters, vaginal dryness meds, Febreze, Aleve, Verizon, Samsung, Cliffside Malibu Rehab Center, Christian Mingle, GE, financial groups you've never heard of, and endless promos of other MSNBC programming and the new MSNBC website!

One hour later...

MSNBC Host 3: So now for more repetitive analysis, welcome back to the hosts of all of our other fantastic shows. You all do such great work. Nobody does it better than you, my friends. GREAT reporting! You all look GREAT! Our audiences should be tuning into each of your shows every single day and night, no matter what effect that much exposure to redundant political infotainment has on their personal relationships!

Chuck Todd, Steve Kornacki, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Ronan Farrow, Krystal Ball, Karen Finney, Melissa Harris-Perry, Ari Melber: So Rachel has a very special Special coming up! Let's plug it! Over and over and over again!

MSNBC Host 3: I was just about to. But first, may I just say, you guys really set a high bar for journalistic standards. GREAT reporting, guys! But now it's time for the Tweet of the Day from Chris Matthews, MSNBC's very own god. But first: So when is Ezra Klein getting his own show already? He may put us to sleep in seconds, but he does such incredibly GREAT work! GREAT reporting! What a find! Am I right, my friends? Hey Farrow, stop giggling. So I'll get your responses to this and more on the other side of the commercial break. We have a new sponsor: ZzzKlein, er, Quil.

Fade out.

(Laffy Note: I didn't forget to include Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, or Rachel Maddow in the Long Host List. While they do pop in on election nights or to promote a special or a book occasionally, they rarely guest on other shows as commentators/panel members.)

Billy Tauzin's golden parachute

By GottaLaff

A few million cents seems like a lot to me. Billy never had it so good:

Tauzin’s parachute has yet to be unfurled, but one person familiar with some details said that Tauzin’s landing will be so soft “he’ll feel like he’s still floating.” As head of PhRMA, Tauzin received a compensation package of about $4.5 million in 2008, including $1.5 million in deferred compensation, according to PhRMA’s IRS forms.

The former GOP congressman from Louisiana, who announced late last week that he will leave PhRMA in June, has been criticized by Republicans and some in the drug industry for working out a deal between PhRMA and the White House last year to support the Democrats’ health care overhaul in return for limiting drug makers’ hit from the legislation to $80 billion over the next decade.

Snuggling up to Big Pharma has worked out so well for health care reform, hasn't it?

It did for Billy.

Lobbyist spending jumps 5% in 2009 despite recession

By GottaLaff

The wealth has been spread alright... all in one direction:

Lobbyists enjoyed record revenues while the rest of the country was struggling amid deep recession, according to a report out Friday.

Last year saw a more than 5 percent increase in lobbying expenditures as compared to 2008, said the Center for Responsive Politics' campaign finance watchdog report.

And guess who gets first prize!

The healthcare debate took up much of the oxygen in Washington last year. So not surprisingly, the pharmaceutical and health products industry spent a record amount last year — close to $266.8 million — on federal lobbying.

That is the biggest lobbying expenditure ever by a single industry in one year, according to the report.

Aww, no wonder they had to raise my son's health insurance rates 39% this year. Someone has to pay for all those pesky meds. The industry needed the money, and they felt comfortable coming to my kid with their M#$@%&! F%@*%! hands out.

I'm thrilled to bits and pieces that we could F$@&*! help them out of their F&#*$! financial hole. I'm sure they'll be there for us when we're in need.

Like now.

Billy Tauzin resigns as president of pharma group

By GottaLaff

Via an e-mail alert, meet Billy the Quitter:

Former Rep. Billy Tauzin is resigning as president of the drug trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Under Tauzin's leadership, the group cut a deal with the White House on health care reform which would have capped the industry's total costs under the planned legislation to $80 billion over 10 years.

For more information...http://www.politico.com

Now what would have made him do that? I admit, I'm not well-versed. Any ideas?

UPDATE, via an L.A. Times e-mail alert:

A source close to Tauzin, a garrulous former Louisiana congressman who once chaired the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Tauzin left his post voluntarily after nearly 5 1/2 years in the job "because he wants to do other things with his life."

The source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the retirement, said that Tauzin was asked to stay by a majority of board members and that the decision was personal.

However, Tauzin has been under fire from the left and the right -- and from the mainstream of his fellow business lobbyists, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

More soon at: http://www.latimes.com/

He should have done "other things with his life" a long time ago.

Riding Coats-Tails: Dan Coats Tied to Chavez-Connected Oil Company

By GottaLaff

Just what we need more of in the U.S. Senate. What an attractive record:

Former Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN), who wants to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) for his old Senate seat, "lobbied for a Texas-based oil and gas company that partnered with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez," Politico reports.

The Hotline notes Coats has also "spent the past several years advocating on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, major health care firms and big corporations."

PhRMA pulling support from Health Care Reform?

By GottaLaff

Yeah, now tell us something that will surprise us:

The late afternoon news that PhRMA, the drug manufacturers lobby, will pull its support from Health Care Reform if it doesn't get further patent protections on its drugs is quite a commentary on the state of business in Washington today.

TPM has the details.

If you were waiting for them to screw us over, raise your hand.

Whew, just got a whoosh of air from all that arm movement.

Canadian drugs a possibility after all?

By GottaLaff

Bob Cesca brings us this glimmer. I'll tease, you pop over to Bob's house:

Susie Madrak has some great news on the Canadian reimportation issue -- directly from the White House.

What's that strange new feeling? Are the corners of my mouth starting to turn upwards?

Senate Says No To Importing Low-Price Drugs

By GottaLaff

We wouldn't want affordable meds, now would we? That might mean competition for Big Pharma, and like their brethren over at Big Insurance, they're doing all they can to prevent anything that would help Americans to stay, you know, alive:

The Senate voted 51-48 rejecting a plan to import low-price prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. The amendment was put forth by North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan (r).

Importing prescription drugs for personal use is a violation of federal law. Dorgan’s amendment would have lifted the ban, allowing access to low-cost medicines from developed countries where the government limits drug prices.

As a senator, President Barack Obama supported drug imports, but his administration now echoes the objections of the pharmaceutical industry that it would cause safety problems.

[...]

Both the pharmaceutical industry and the Obama administration were lobbying against the proposal, saying it would not protect people from potentially dangerous or ineffective drugs. Dorgan’s plan would cost drug makers billions of dollars and has bipartisan support.

You can pop over to Alan's place and read more.

Bowing to the drug industry

By GottaLaff

Earlier, Paddy posted a link to this story:

Washington Times: Clash over re-import of drugs stalls health bill The health care debate ground to a halt Thursday over a squabble among Democrats that could threaten the deal President Obama struck with pharmaceutical companies to earn their support for the health care overhaul.

A couple of sentences in the L.A. Times version of this story struck me:

But the seemingly popular proposal brought the Senate healthcare debate to a standstill Thursday, as Democrats divided over whether they should bow to the drug industry's fierce opposition.

And:

Despite Obama's support for importation, the White House fears that if the amendment is approved, the drug industry will oppose the bill.

It's not nice to fool Big Pharma.

Health care watch: White House visitor logs

By GottaLaff

The White House had visitors, as the logs reveal, and they were talking health care reform:

Top aides to President Barack Obama met early and often with lobbyists, Democratic political strategists and other interests with a stake in the administration's national health care overhaul, White House visitor records obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press show. [...]

The records show a broad cross-section of the people most heavily involved in the health care debate, weighted heavily with those who want to overhaul the system.

Here are a few on the list:

• Dr. David Himmelstein of Harvard Medical School, single payer advocate
• George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Health Plans
• Scott Serota, president and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Assoc.
• Kenneth Kies, a Washington lobbyist who represents Blue Cross/Blue Shield, among others
• Billy Tauzin, head of PhRMA
• Richard Umbdenstock, chief of the American Hospital Assoc.
• Laird Burnett, a top lobbyist for insurer Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
• Joshua Ackil, a lobbyist whose clients include Intel, U.S. Oncology Inc., and Knoa Software Inc.
• Alissa Fox, a lobbyist with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, met March 31 with Peter Orszag
• Mark Agrast, a lobbyist for the Center for American Progress Action Fund
• Amador "Dean" Aguillen, a former aide to Nancy Pelosi who is now with Ogilvy Government Relations, where he lobbies for clients including pharmaceutical companies
• Merribel Ayres, a lobbyist who appears to focus on environmental issues such as energy and climate change

There is much more information on these visitors and others here.

John Conyers: Obama Is Sucking Up To The Wrong People

By GottaLaff

Via Nicole at Crooks and Liars, we hear "I've had enough!" words about suckage from a frustrated John Conyers:

President Barack Obama is “getting bad advice from… clowns” on Afghanistan and “sucking up to the wrong people” on health care, U.S. Rep. John Conyers told a Detroit radio audience this morning, according to show host Rev. Horace Sheffield. [...]

“He wasn’t angry. He was just deeply concerned that some of the issues being focused on don’t address the human reality,” said Sheffield, who hosts the program “On The Line” on WGPR-FM radio.

Conyers voiced what many of us have been screaming about here, and that is, Big Insurance and Big Pharma are benefiting from health care reform legislation more than we are... by a long shot.

While it is encouraging that there is more progress on this issue than we've seen in decades, it is also cringeworthy to see Medicare for all/single payer and a strong public option go by the wayside, at least for now.

As for Afghanistan, Americans have had it with war, especially inherited, going-nowhere-fast ones that have dragged on for 8 years.

H/t: Pigboy

Health Care "Reform" that Will Enrich Insurance Companies, Big Pharma is What the WH is Fighting For Now

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash via my pal Mark Karlin:

This isn't "reform"; it's looting of the public treasury when Medicare has shown that a government option that negotiates and sets healthcare costs -- and doesn't need to make a profit -- dramatically reduces the costs of medical care.

Right now, the WH is leaking that it wants a deal, just about any deal. Obama can't afford to walk away without the appearance of a "win."

But the real winners will, it appears, once again be the corporations who pull the strings in D.C., with the cooperation of the White House.

Axelrod and Emanuel are also "anonymously" telling the press that it will be good for Obama to slap down progressives to show that he's a centrist.

But when given accurate information, more than 3/4 of Americans support a government option -- before FOX and Limbaugh get to them with lies.

Obama is buying the "centrist" mythology created out of a GOP disinformation campaign, as have his Democratic predecessors.

We need a Democratic President for Supreme Court appointments, but as far as anything related to Wall Street or business, it's business as usual.

Those excerpts don't do the piece justice. Please read the entire post here.

VIDEO: Bill Moyers on Health Care as a Human Right

By GottaLaff

Mandatory viewing. Why? Because this was just superb:

H/t: Heather at Crooks and Liars

Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma

By GottaLaff

I've posted conflicting reports about this. HuffPost provides some behind-the-scenes insight:

A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week.

The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.

It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government's leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada -- and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: "Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion." [...]

"This memo isn't accurate and does not reflect the agreement with the drug companies," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin. [...]

Critics on Capitol Hill and online responded with outrage at the reports that Obama had gone behind their backs and sold the reform movement short. Furthermore, the deal seemed to be a betrayal of several promises made by then-Sen. Obama during the presidential campaign, among them that he would use the power of government to drive down the costs of drugs to Medicare and that negotiations would be conducted in the open. [...]

In order to learn more about its origin, HuffPost agreed not to reveal the name of the lobbyist who originally received it.

"That is the PhRMA deal," said the lobbyist of the outline. He then clarified, "It was the PhRMA deal."

The deal, as outlined in the memo:

Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.

1. Agree to increase of Medicaid rebate from 15.1 - 23.1% ($34 billion)

2. Agree to get FOBs done (but no agreement on details -- express disagreement on data exclusivity which both sides say does not affect the score of the legislation.) ($9 billion)

3. Sell drugs to patients in the donut hole at 50% discount ($25 billion)
This totals $68 billion

4. Companies will be assessed a tax or fee that will score at $12 billion. There was no agreement as to how or on what this tax/fee will be based.

Total: $80 billion

In exchange for these items, the White House agreed to:

1. Oppose importation

2. Oppose rebates in Medicare Part D

3. Oppose repeal of non-interference

4. Oppose opening Medicare Part B

[...] The health care lobbyist said that what deal still exists is uncertain, as a result of House pressure. "Now the White House is backing away from it, as you know, because of pressure from the House, because the House was not a party to the deal," he said. [...]

Obama is walking a tightrope here. He wants to keep PhRMA from opposing the bill, and benefits by having its support, which now includes a $150 million advertising campaign. That's a fortune in politics -- more than Republican presidential candidate John McCain spent on advertising during his entire campaign -- but it's loose change in the pharmaceutical business.

Opponents of the deal with PhRMA hope that Obama is playing a multilayered game, making a deal in order to keep the drug makers in his camp for now, but planning to double-cross them in the end if he needs to in order to pass his signature initiative.

Big Pharma, however, is still comfortable. "As far as the pharmaceutical industry, PhRMA and its member companies, yes, they say a deal is a deal. We'll see what happens," said the health care lobbyist.

HuffPost has much, much more here.

Obama: No deal with Big Pharma after all

By GottaLaff

My original post is here, in which the New York Times reported a deal between the ObamAdministration and Big Pharma a "done deal".

Now, thankfully, there's been a reversal... during that very special Friday night news quiet time. Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but it was all just a big, silly, sit-com style misunderstanding:

Caught between a pivotal industry ally and the protests of Congressional Democrats, the Obama administration on Friday backed away from what drug industry lobbyists had said this week was a firm White House promise to exclude from a proposed health care overhaul the possibility of allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices under Medicare.

The reversal underscored the delicate balancing act the White House has pursued in its strategy of negotiating behind-the-scenes deals to win industry support without alienating liberal supporters on Capitol Hill.

Pressed by drug industry lobbyists, a White House deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, confirmed in an e-mail message on Wednesday that the White House shared the drug lobbyists’ interpretation of the deal: that any health care overhaul would not include allowing direct government negotiation of drug prices or require certain additional price rebates. Since Wednesday, other representatives of the White House had also stood by Mr. Messina’s statement as well.

After reading reports about Mr. Messina’s e-mail message, House and Senate Democrats loudly protested that they would not be bound by any such agreement to remove clauses allowing government negotiation of drug prices under Medicare — something Democrats have sought for years.

Several Senate Democrats said Friday that, in a private meeting, White House officials had told them there was no such deal, sowing yet more confusion. House Democratic leaders vowed to fight against it.

Then, after contending for two days that the Senate Democrats had misunderstood the White House aide’s comments, the White House appeared Friday night to back away.

In a telephone interview, Linda Douglass, a White House spokeswoman on health matters, said the question of government drug-price bargaining “was not discussed during the negotiations.” Asked if that meant such a provision was excluded, as the top drug lobbyists had previously said, Ms. Douglass declined to comment, repeating, “It was not discussed.”

White House officials said Friday that Mr. Messina, the deputy chief of staff who sent the e-mail message, had not intended to confirm that the deal ruled out price negotiations. [...]

[T]he drug industry lobby appeared to line up once again with the White House, perhaps satisfied that the White House had at least ruled out the price rebates in the House bill. [...]

The full terms of the White House agreement with the drug makers, like a similar deal with the hospital industry, have never been disclosed. [...]

As Mr. Tauzin spoke up, the White House initially chose not to argue. But faced with a chorus of Congressional complaints, the administration appears to have recalibrated its position.

Good for the Dems. More like this, please.

Lobbyists win: White House makes deal with Big Pharma

By GottaLaff

Thom Hartmann just said this on his radio show (some paraphrasing):

A very disappointing deal has been made that says the drug companies will not have to give up more than $80 billion over the next ten years... chump change for them.

The New York Times has the depressing details:

Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.

Drug industry lobbyists reacted with alarm this week to a House health care overhaul measure that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices and demand additional rebates from drug manufacturers.

In response, the industry successfully demanded that the White House explicitly acknowledge for the first time that it had committed to protect drug makers from bearing further costs in the overhaul. The Obama administration had never spelled out the details of the agreement.

“We were assured: ‘We need somebody to come in first. If you come in first, you will have a rock-solid deal,’ ” Billy Tauzin, the former Republican House member from Louisiana who now leads the pharmaceutical trade group, said Wednesday. “Who is ever going to go into a deal with the White House again if they don’t keep their word? You are just going to duke it out instead.” [...]

“The president encouraged this approach,” Mr. Messina wrote. “He wanted to bring all the parties to the table to discuss health insurance reform.”

The new attention to the agreement could prove embarrassing to the White House, which has sought to keep lobbyists at a distance, including by refusing to hire them to work in the administration.

The White House commitment to the deal with the drug industry may also irk some of the administration’s Congressional allies who have an eye on drug companies’ profits as they search for ways to pay for the $1 trillion cost of the health legislation.

But failing to publicly confirm Mr. Tauzin’s descriptions of the deal risked alienating a powerful industry ally currently helping to bankroll millions in television commercials in favor of Mr. Obama’s reforms. [...]

After reaching an agreement with Mr. Baucus, Mr. Tauzin said, he met twice at the White House with Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff; Mr. Messina, his deputy; and Nancy-Ann DeParle, the aide overseeing the health care overhaul, to confirm the administration’s support for the terms.

“They blessed the deal,” Mr. Tauzin said. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House was not bound by any industry deals with the Senate or the White House.

But, Mr. Tauzin said, “as far we are concerned, that is a done deal.” He said, “It’s up to the White House and Senator Baucus to follow through.”

"Chump" change, indeed.

Health care debate must be fought below the belt

By GottaLaff

Right in the middle of writing this post, I stopped and read this piece about how the White House and the DNC will now try to turn all those nasty town hall mobs and Drudge reports into gold. They plan on making them the face of the opposition by taking on these thugs in new ads, playing by new rules. Good.

Phil Singer, who worked on rapid response for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and dealt frequently with the largely unfavorable conservative site, said:

"To be sure, Drudge asserts a certain level of influence. But I think it is fair to say Obama exerts a little bit more. And one of the things that has been interesting to watch has been the way that the White House and before that the Obama campaign was able to turn some of the old media rules on their head and create a new media dynamic."

Now back to my current blog already in progress, and opinion piece by Dan Neil:

How could the left possibly be losing the debate on healthcare reform when its opponent is the roundly loathed health insurance industry -- an ongoing criminal syndicate, in my view, that demands protection money from sick people?

It's because the insurance industry's demagoguery is better and smarter than the reformists' demagoguery.

This is a gunfight to which the reform agenda has brought a dull spoon. [...]

You might as well have Spencer and Heidi advocate for the public option. [...]

The American public is being roasted in a caldron of bull like St. Antipas, and this ad calls for increased reasonableness and bipartisanship? With allies like Big Pharma, who needs enemies?

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee, through its Net-roots operation Organizing for America, has spent weeks and millions on the "It's Time" ad spot, a series of close-ups of people telling their sad tales of falling through the cracks of the healthcare system. [...]

Do these advertising strategists even live in America? When it comes to healthcare, appealing to the public's sympathy is a dead end. The whole healthcare debate is precisely about avoiding responsibility for less fortunate citizens. Then the kicker: "It's time for healthcare reform."

That's it? That's the galvanizing take-away? It's the emotional equivalent of "It's time to storm the Bastille." [...]

The insurance industry's ads are more effective. They are big, scary, threatening. Reform gets rolled like the British at the Somme by this ad.

Liberal progressives and advocates are going to have to get down and dirty if they want to win this fight. There's some hope on the horizon, though, in the ad from Americans United for Change [...]

[T]he female narrator asks, "Why do the insurance companies and the Republicans want to kill President Obama's health insurance reform?" Note the yoking of insurance companies to Republicans. Note also that it's Obama's health insurance reform. Evil insurance. [...]

The important thing is that the ad hominem ad is pointed, shrewd and manipulative.

And yes, it's class warfare. But then again, this is war.

Hopefully, after the aforementioned new efforts by Obama and the DNC, this is a war we can win.

Sick of drug ads? Try Damnitol!

By GottaLaff

Weary of all those repetitive drug ads? Take two Damnitol and call me in the morning. This blog post brought to you by....

In 1997 [...] the Food and Drug Administration -- encouraged by the Clinton administration -- relaxed its rules on this issue. The pharmaceutical industry was given a green light to bypass providers and market its wares directly to consumers.

To gauge the effect of that change, just follow the money. The year before the ruling, drug companies spent $595 million on DTC advertising, according to the Food and Drug Law Journal. Within a year of the change, their spending rose to $844 million. By 2000, it shot up to $2.24 billion. And an August 2007 New England Journal of Medicine article put the total for all drug-related marketing in 2005 at $29.9 billion, with $4.1 billion spent annually on DTC advertising. That's more than $11 million a day.

We'll be right back after this commercial break. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for Levitra. You should not take Levitra if your doctor determines that sexual activity poses a health risk for you. Men who experience an erection for more than four hours should seek immediate medical attention. Now back to our blog post.

If Congress is serious about lowering healthcare costs, including for vastly expensive (price-controlled) pharmaceuticals, it can start by reversing the 1997 FDA ruling and banning DTC advertising. That is because such costs are always passed on to providers, and then to patients, in the form of higher prices, co-pays and premiums. Even when insurance providers decline coverage for treatments such as "eyelash hypotrichosis," as mine does, they -- and eventually consumers -- end up subsidizing the treatments because the drug makers inflate prices on regimens that are covered. Above all, there are so many more urgent needs in pharmaceutical research, including dealing with the H1N1 virus and the spiraling rates of HIV infection.

We'll return to our blog post right after this: Stop taking Fosamax or Fosamax Plus D and call your doctor right away if you develop new or worsening heartburn, difficult or painful swallowing, or chest pain because these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems, which can include irritation, inflammation, or ulceration of the esophagus. If you develop severe bone, joint, and/or muscle pain at any time, contact your doctor. Digestive side effects in studies were generally mild and included stomach pain, indigestion/heartburn, or nausea."

Healthcare reform involves a lot more than the bottom line. It's also an opportunity to weigh priorities, push preventive care and reestablish our fundamental needs in public health. If the pharma ads on TV are any indication of our priorities, it's time for some serious discussion.

Stay tuned for more of our blog post right after this: As with all medications, you may experience side effects when you take Wellbutrin XL. The most common side effects are weight loss, loss of appetite, dry mouth, skin rash, sweating, ringing in the ears, shakiness, stomach pain, agitation, anxiety, dizziness, trouble sleeping, muscle pain, nausea, fast heartbeat, sore throat, and urinating more often. Seizures may occur.

Now back to The Political Carnival. Having trouble getting through this post due to depression, high blood pressure, anger management, bipolar disorder, or Republican Syndrome? Ask your family doctor about ...

White House won't disclose executive visits

By GottaLaff

It's getting more and more difficult to see the White House through all that transparency:

Citing an argument used by the Bush administration, the Secret Service rejects a request from a watchdog group to list those who have visited the White House to discuss the healthcare overhaul. [...]

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to the Secret Service asking about visits from 18 executives representing health insurers, drug makers, doctors and other players in the debate. The group wants the material in order to gauge the influence of those executives in crafting a new healthcare policy.

The Secret Service sent a reply stating that documents revealing the frequency of such visits were considered presidential records exempt from public disclosure laws. The agency also said it was advised by the Justice Department that the Secret Service was within its rights to withhold the information because of the "presidential communications privilege."

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics said it would file suit against the Obama administration as early as today. The group already has sued the administration over its failure to release details about visits from coal industry executives. [...]

As a candidate, President Obama vowed that in devising a healthcare bill he would invite in TV cameras -- specifically C-SPAN -- so that Americans could have a window into negotiations that normally play out behind closed doors. [...]

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics asked about visits from Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans; William Weldon, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson; and J. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Assn., among others.

Sigh. Someone want to talk me down?

VIDEO-- Shuster to Dem: How Can We Believe You're Not Influenced By All The Money You Get From Insurance Companies?

By GottaLaff



David Shuster needs his own show already. Okay? Okay.