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We started this whip count effort on June 23 because it became clear that in the course of making their deals with stakeholders, the Baucus Caucus (who were negotiating on behalf of the White House, with the participation of the White House) had very likely already dealt the public plan away. On May 11, "stakeholders" including the AMA, PhRMA, the hospitals and the device manufacturers delivered proposals to the White House promising to "voluntarily" reduce cost increases over the next 10 years. In an effort to keep them "at the table," Baucus's Chief of Staff Jon Selib and Finance Committee...

Obama is a "charming liar" - and that's the good part! This audio is priceless. "It makes me puke that we've just been 'Cheneyed' by a guy named Barack Obama." "What if the people out there screaming and breaking up the discussions at the town hall meetings are correct?"

Here is a new Naked Emperor News video that plays audio from the Left-Wing "Air America" Radio Network actually exposing President Barack Obama's "back room" deal with Big Pharmaceutical companies to support his ObamaCare plan. The Left is furious with Obama. In this audio, they say Obama is a "charming liar." A caller also says what Obama is doing is "fascist" because of the merging of political power with corporate power to impose their will on the nation. The audio is intermingled with flashbacks of Obama condeming the Pharmaceutical companies and saying he would be transparent in his administration. Interestingly,...

"It makes me puke that we have just been 'Cheneyed' by a guy named Barack Obama."

Progressives Turn on Obama as Air America Exposes ‘Fascist’ Drug Deal Charming Liar’: Progressives Turn on Obama as Air America Exposes ‘Fascist’ Drug Deal http://www.breitbart.tv/charming-liar-progressives-turn-on-obama-as-air-america-exposes-fascist-drug-deal/

The top Republican in the House of Representatives accused PhRMA of “appeasing” the Obama administration, which he cast as a bully who “asks for your lunch money.” In a terse response, PhRMA SVP Ken Johnson said the group's pro-reform campaign was “completely consistent with our core principals, reflecting a belief that every single American should have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare coverage and services. “Appeasement rarely works as a conflict resolution strategy,” Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wrote to his former Republican colleague, PhRMA CEO Billy Tauzin. “This is as true in the arena of policymaking as it is in...

Ah yeah....hopey changey: (h/t Hugh Hewitt) Two firms that received $343.3 million to handle advertising for Barack Obama’s White House run last year have profited from his top priority as president by taking on his push for health-care overhaul. One is AKPD Message and Media, the Chicago-based firm headed by David Axelrod until he left last Dec. 31 to serve as a senior adviser to the president. Axelrod was Obama’s top campaign strategist and is now helping sell the health-care plan. The other firm is Washington-based GMMB Campaign Group, where partner Jim Margolis was also an Obama strategist. This year,...

Deputy Assistant Under-Minister of Truth Linda Douglass tried her best to dodge the questions from Wolf Blitzer regarding the 150 million dollars PhARMA is agreeing to pay for advertising to support ObamaCare socialism: BLITZER: Did PhRMA, in exchange, make a promise of $150 million to pay for advertising to help the president's plan go forward? DOUGLASS: What -- what you have, Wolf, is this deal that is $80 billion. And we are very pleased, obviously, that -- that the pharmaceutical industry agrees with us, that there's an urgent need for comprehensive health insurance reform that's going to protect Americans from...

Drug Companies Resist White House Call to Reduce Rights to Exclusive Drug DataFOXNews.com Thursday, August 13, 2009 Drug companies that had agreed to support the Obama administration on health care reforms have found themselves once more at odds with the president, this time on exclusive rights to produce drugs that treat illnesses like arthritis, cancer and multiple sclerosis. **SNIP** The debate has rattled a deal that had been made between the White House and the drug companies to get the pharmaceutical industry on board with health care reform. In that deal, PhRMA agreed to cut its expected costs for drugs...

You know the messiah is tumbling back to earth when HuffPo puts up a investigative post about the collusion between Obama and big Pharma: 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...

Here's the link. 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.. 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. "The Speaker put enormous pressure on the White House, [saying], 'We weren't a...

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...

A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall. The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union. The ads start airing at about 11 a.m. ET Thursday. The group is likely to be the biggest spender in support of health reform. The campaign will serve as...

President Obama and Congressional Democrats continue to attack the “special interests” that have lined up to oppose Obamacare.  It’s the usual Obama disinformation campaign: the special interests heavily invested in -- and looking to profit from -- Obamacare are on the air nationwide with high-priced television commercials and high-pressure tactics. And, despite its members’ opposition to Obamacare’s tinkering with their Medicare benefits, AARP is one of the rent-seekers pushing Obamacare hardest.   For Obama’s allies -- especially the rent-seekers such as AARP, SEIU and PhRMA -- the other guy is the “special interest” not them.   As HUMAN EVENTS reported...

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG THE BLOG TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009 AT 6:55 AM Facts Are Stubborn Things Posted by Macon Phillips Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, "facts are stubborn things." Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions. In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to...

WASHINGTON — The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday. The unusually large scale of the industry’s commitment to the cause helps explain some of a contentious back-and-forth playing out in recent days between the odd-couple allies over a deal that the White House struck with the industry in June to secure its support. The terms of the deal were not fully disclosed. Both sides had announced that the drug industry would...

House Tri-Committee Bill Would Hurt Patients and Kill Jobs WASHINGTON, July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Senior Vice President Ken Johnson released the following statement after the Energy and Commerce Committee mark-up of the House Tri-Committee bill: "PhRMA remains committed to working with the Administration and Congress to help enact comprehensive health care reform this year. Our policy agreement with the White House and the Senate Finance Committee, which provides $80 billion in meaningful cost-savings over 10 years, clearly demonstrates that commitment. We share the same goal of helping ensure that all Americans have access...

Report criticizes National Sleep Foundation for drug industry financing, but ignores backing for Public Citizen, as well as its own advertisements. by Dan Gainor March 30, 2005 CBC Evening News employed an obvious double standard in its coverage of a new study indicating Americans aren’t getting enough sleep. Rather than simply focus on the study, reporter Sharyl Attkisson attacked the group that did the research because it gets funding from the sleep industry. According to Attkisson, the issue was “Whether America's sleepiness is a real epidemic or just a pipe dream of the drug industry.” She relied on comments from...