Posted on 02/15/2005 7:44:14 AM PST by SmithL
The lies never stop. They lie not only to you and me, but also to their friends and colleagues, Republicans as well as Democrats.
I speak (as you might guess) of those masters of deceit in the Bush administration. A few months ago they told our senators and representatives that their bogus Medicare prescription drug bill would cost $400 billion over the next 10 years. Now that the bill has become law, they've revised their estimate: Now it's $724 billion.
Two questions: Why is the difference in estimates important, and why do I call the drug bill "bogus"?
The bill barely squeaked through Congress. The biggest objection to it was its cost. In the end, it passed only because it was deemed, at $400 billion, affordable. Had its cost been higher, it almost certainly would have failed.
What is bogus about the law? Three things: It prohibits the importation of drugs from Canada and other countries; it prohibits the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices; and it provides benefits for everyone, regardless of income or financial status. Do the heirs of Sam Walton really need our help buying their prescription drugs?
That drug law should be repealed immediately. It's not an effort to help seniors at all. In fact, it's nothing more than a scam designed to enrich pharmaceutical companies. Sen. John McCain, the one Republican who acts like a Republican, calls it "outrageous." He's right.
By the way, almost immediately after the drug benefit bill became law, the price of prescription drugs went up. These people have no shame.
In vaguely related news, the Queen of Chutzpah, our lovely secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has just completed a whirlwind tour of the known world in which she tried to convince everyone she met to fear...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Forgot the barf alert!!!
Funny to hear anyone, Republican or Democrat complain about the Medicare prescription drug bill. Wasn't that what everyone was screaming about in the 2000 election? Well, they got it.
Dang. From the title, I thought this was going to be a zot thread..... I'm dissapointed.
San Francisco Comicle Girly-man crying in the dark Alert
Yes, just look at the newspaper name and city it comes from. End of discussion.
Good. Maybe now the drug companies will have the incentive to invest heavily in research of AIDs vacines, Cancer cures, etc.
Post - need a little Freeper help, as incentive doesn't appear to translate into Liberalese...
ROTFLMAO
And if the White House had been right on the cost early on, would this doofus have made any stink at all? I doubt it. Somehow I can't see a liberal crying over large sums of money being spent for entitlements.
How many DemoRats sat on the committee?
Yeah, right on! I just love that McCain/Feingold crap.
FMCDH(BITS)
This has been thoroughly debunked. The original $400B estimate was for a 10-year period that included the 2-year phase-in period.
The $724B amount is for the 10 years after the bill is in full effect, and also includes estimates of inflation and additional usage as the population ages.
Not that either is not an ungodly amount of money!
The Dims were especially incensed that the bill wasn't generous enough. The new numbers are a twisting of thefacts and due to the MSM not allowing for the 2 years for the bill to take full effect.
When did Al Jazeera buy control stock of SF Comical?
Never would have guessed!
Now that time has passed, the multi-year cost begins in a year when THE PROGRAM EXISTS. Some costs are greater than no costs.
Sorry for shouting, but this writer is so clueless and so incompetent as to make me shout.
Congressman Billybob
Welcome to Harley's World.
The Democrats originally complained that spending less than a trillion on a Medicare drug benefit was "shortchanging our seniors". Now the Republican bill amounts to overspending?
Should be a reminder to certain Republican Senators that there is no point in trying to get along with this bunch. Facts are fungible depending on what political points need to be scored.
The bill should get scrapped. Maybe I am too cynical but I believed that the bill was to get the AARP endorsement for the 2004 election.
Well in the end it didn't, so scrap it, take the savings and say the deficit is now 100 billion and it will be gone in the next three years. When the Dems scream about taking away from the elderly, explain that they didn't want the bill in the first place and the administration is agreeing with the Dems.
Strategery is a good thing.
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