Billy and the Beanstalk (Billy Tauzin and idiocy of the pharma companies)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | August 13, 2009 | Editorial

[St. Louis Conservative]

As a political strategist, Big Pharma lobbyist Billy Tauzin is starting to look less like Dr. Faustus and more like Jack, trading away his industry for magic beans.

Last week Mr. Tauzin ostentatiously blabbed to the media that his industry's deal to help fund ObamaCare with $80 billion in prescription-drug discounts was really protection money. In particular, he bragged that he had secured promises from the White House that President Obama would fend off Congressional Democrats who want to "negotiate" drug prices, which in practice means price controls.

For days, the White House continued to confirm Mr. Tauzin's understanding: "We feel like $80 billion is an appropriate amount," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said as late as Friday afternoon. Then that evening, to placate House liberals, the Administration went into full-steam reverse: It claimed that price controls really aren't part of its pharma deal, after all.

You'd think that might cause some concern in the K Street corridor that Mr. Tauzin inhabits. Nope. In spite of the double-cross, the drug makers say they are still planning to spend some $150 million through autumn on a TV-ad drive supporting ObamaCare. That's more than John McCain spent on advertising in his entire campaign. And this new cash comes on top of the bundle Big Pharma has already spent with liberal pressure groups such as Families USA—on ads produced by White House consigliere David Axelrod's former media firm AKPD.

It's one thing to accept the Capitol Hill advice that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. But these politicians don't even have the decency to stay bought. Democrats obviously aren't going to submit to White House discipline—nor is it apparent that the White House is willing to exercise it in the first place.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Snicker.

[wafflehouse]

rather than the beanstalk story, i was thinking the scorpion and the frog

... the Capitol Hill advice that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. But these politicians don't even have the decency to stay bought.

doesnt get much more accurate than these two sentences

[Steely Tom]

I hear the sound of detaching wheels.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It’s Pelosi who would not be bribed.

[Intolerant in NJ]

What’s that old line about he who rides on the back of the tiger usually ends up in the tiger’s belly......

[Terpfen]

David Axelrod's former media firm AKPD.

Surely not coincidental that Axelrod's company's initials sound more than a little like NKVD.

[Ben Ficklin]

Many Americans buy their medications in Canada because the prices are cheaper.

The reason drugs in Canada are cheaper is because Canada has a single payer system and the Canadian govt is able to negotiate a better price with the drug manufacturer.