Today we're launching a 30-second ad that will counter Bush's State of the Union spin on Medicare. We know the ad makes a big impact on the people who see it. Can you help us get it in front of millions of Americans?
Dear MoveOn member,
A year ago, President Bush told the nation that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." It wasn't true, of course, but it did serve as a critical piece of the spin campaign that led the country into war.
Tonight, in preparation for the upcoming election, the President is again getting ready to tell the nation something that simply isn't true. According to news reports, the President will declare victory in the fight to provide the nation's elderly and disabled with health care. He'll point to the Medicare bill that he and Congressional Republicans pushed through Congress. But there's one small problem: the Medicare bill won't help Medicare, and it won't help seniors. In fact, it's designed to do the program in.
That's why we've prepared a 30-second alternative version of tonight's speech which exposes how the nation's drug companies backed and bought this bill. We've asked one of the country's most respected polling firms to test the ad, and we know it makes an enormous impact on the people who see it. But we'll need your help to get it out there. If you can help us reach our $10 million goal, we'll put up a $1.7 million buy and make sure millions of Americans in swing states know the real deal.
You can watch the ad and contribute by credit card or check at:
https://www.moveonvoterfund.org/donate/sotu.htmlAs the ad opens, we see a series of photos from previous State of the Union addresses, cut quickly together to resemble a movie. We hear the voice of someone who sounds like George Bush. "My fellow Americans," he says, "My Medicare bill has real drug benefits…but not for you. For my contributors at the big drug companies. My bill actually forbids Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices...so you'll probably have to pay more for your prescriptions than you do now; and you won't be able to get cheaper prescriptions from Canada."
One thing that President Bush probably won't mention in his speech tonight is how the bill came to pass. In the House, the vote was extremely tight: even some Republicans knew they couldn't justify the bill to their home districts. So, House Leaders held the vote open for three hours in the dead of night while they twisted the arms of the last few hold-outs. Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI), a retiring Congressman whose son will run for his seat, was one of them. Here's how the Associated Press reported the events that followed:
"On the House floor,
Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat."
Bribing House members on the House floor is, of course, a felony, and Rep. Smith has confirmed that this account is accurate. No special investigation has been launched. The bribers are still at large.
The story, in the end, is pretty simple: drug companies and insurance companies gave millions of dollars to push through legislation. The bill will greatly increase their profits while pulling the rug out from under our seniors. President Bush is trying to spin that huge sell-out as a benefit to the American people. And we won't let him.
Sincerely,
--Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
January 20th, 2003
P.S. We've added a few resources below that give more details on the Medicare sell-out and tonight's speech in general.
The Campaign for America's Future's Medicare Fact Sheet:
http://www.moveonvoterfund.org/ourfuture-medicare.html
Rep. Sherrod Brown's editorial on the Medicare arm-twisting:
http://www.moveon.org/r?481
Leaders Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle's State of the Union Pre-Buttal:
http://democrats.senate.gov/%7Edpc/releases/2004116B38.html
The Center for American Progress's "State of the Union Viewer's Guide":
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=22520
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