"You won't see any lobbyists running the White House when I am in office..."

[Bread and Circus]

Famous last words.

Look, I really like President Obama. I think he means well. I think he'd be more liberal if he could but....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/policy/06insure.html?_r=3&hp

White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost

Published: August 5, 2009

WASHINGTON — 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.



... is really, really sad.

I supported Obama all the way back to the Iowa Primary days. I don't think any of the others would be doing one wit better. Maybe Kucinich...who knows. It's just all so very sad.

It's like we traded Kings, Queens, and Vassal Lords for Corporations and McGovernment.

:(

[provis99]

1. yeah, well, Obama lied to us.

[Bread and Circus]

2. Was it an (intentional) lie, or he is a victim of running a corrupted government?

That's what I'd like to know.

[depakid]

12. Does it matter?

If the white house blocks this- it would be tantamount to bankrupting Medicare.

[JayMusgrove]

33. Of course it matters! Or are you only here to make us feel bad that

we didn't elect Sarah Palin?

Does it matter?

Tell us your REAL motivation in asking stupid questions and not wanting reality to rain on your fantasy parade.

Only you and Sarah Palin don't want to deal with reality and want your way all the time.

6 months and you are ready for Sarah Palin to be VP... you are a true progressive.

Maturity requires patience and understanding, when you get some, send us a note, OK?

[quakerboy]

44. in what way does it matter to people

who cannot afford the jumped up drug prices, or to a country that cannot afford them either?

[Richardo]

3. Will Durst re Bush: "Oooo shocking! The President lied - what's that, 43 in a row?"

Update it to 44.

[Eric J in MN]

4. We need legislation to lower drug prices.

Let Medicare negotiate, and have the public option pay the same amount.

Promises from drug lobbyists are unenforceable and should be ignored.

[MarjorieG]

8. If unenforceable and they don't behave, we have immediate cause to negotiate. Let's get beginning

legislation first.

[PolNewf]

5. So he got $80 billion

and one less enemy to fight. He did the same with the hospitals, AMA and tried with the insurance companies. Seems pretty strategic to me.

[Jim Sagle]

6. Change we can buy a cup of coffee with.

[Cha]

13. No, it's strategic but you knew that..

What you don't know is..the primaries are over.

[Jim Sagle]

17. Dana Milbank, is that you?

[Cha]

18. No it's me..and the Obama team is trying

so hard to get the jobs done and the mess cleaned up. We need all the help we can get from good Dems..not snark.

[Jim Sagle]

20. Trying to get the job done?

Is that why they took single payer off the table before negotations began? Get real.

[mkultra]

25. oh yeah, they took SP off the table because people dont want it

Go ahead and quote your stupid ass poll showing support above 50% when SP and nothing are the options. But you will have to ignore that poll that showed 71% support for public option when it is introduced into the same poll.

In summary, Your candidate lost so your policies will not be implemented. (e.g. republican anger at town halls)

[Jim Sagle]

28. The people DO want single payer, and everybody goddamn well knows it.

[mkultra]

29. well, to be fair, some people do.

And i think it would probably be good. But im not going to begrudge him doing what the majority want. The only thing i care about is that some kind of care for the poor be established.

[quakerboy]

45. as to your EG

So far, as far as I can tell, the astroturfed protesters at the town halls are getting exactly what they want. Far as anyone told me, there is no health care reform passed, and what is still being batted around may not even include a public option

[earth mom]

50. Meanwhile Rahm is telling all of us to shut up! How can you justify that?!

That ain't no hope or change. It's exactly what * did for 8 years! :puke:

[geek tragedy]

41. Harriet Christian, is that you?

Or are you John Bolton?

[create.peace]

15. at wall drug, south dakota, maybe....,nt

[Eric J in MN]

10. A promise of $80 billion, which can't be enforced, isn't $80 billion. (NT)

NT

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

35. Another one trillion four hundred and twenty billion....

and we'll have health care.

Thank God McCain didn't get elected and we'd have the White House appeasing corporate lobbyists.

[MarjorieG]

7. We still don't know how much this impacts future anything if costs don't come down.

We can't limit their advertising, etc., real cost savings to us.

Let's get this passed. We already have too much oppostion over a plan just coming together. Imagine pharma not wanting this at all.

[depakid]

9. We most certainly can limit their advertising on TV

and did so for 60 years, until Clinton changed the rules.

[Eric J in MN]

11. What were the rules before Clinton? NT

NT

[depakid]

14. DTC (Direct to consumer) advertising required full discosure

Prior to 1997, the FDA rules said, “Advertisements promoting the medical use of prescription drugs must contain a "brief summary" of all important information about the advertised drug, including its side effects, contraindications and effectiveness. In addition, advertisements broadcast over radio, TV or through telephone communications systems must include a "major statement" prominently disclosing all of the major risks associated with the drug.”

Prior to August of 1997, print advertisements for prescription drugs were able to meet the "brief summary" requirement by including the risk-related sections of drug labeling together with the advertising copy. As the drug companies looked wistfully at the enormous marketing potential of television, they saw that there was no way to provide the required information about the drug in 30 second or one minute television ads.

You're probably seen "brief summaries" before in magazines or as inserts with your Rx.

[masuki bance]

16. Was this done in secret? nt

[Vidar]

19. Yeah, that's about the biggest of Obama's lies.

[depakid]

21. Now that's a bit too harsh

President Obama's having a go with some very powerful forces- and unlike a parliamentary system, he not only has to play the hand that he's been dealt- but the administration also has find a way to counteract the influences that PhARMA and the the "health" insurers have in various districts.

When the president spoke some months ago about persistence and turning a large ship around, it wasn't hard for anyone who's ever taken the helm of a lil a ski boat to know what he was talking about.

That deal is called inertia- and one doesn't need a physics class to "get" what that is.

Crash into the dock one time- or watch when some other fool does.

Point being that we can do this- if we really want and people all around the world are rooting for us.

Can we do this?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. What's that got to do with lobbyists running the White House?

This is fucking stupid.

[SpartanDem]

23. White House Says It Cut No Deal With Drug Makers

A senior White House aide told Democratic senators Thursday that the administration did not make a deal with the pharmaceutical lobby that would prevent Congress from using the government's clout to negotiate for lower drug prices, according to three Democratic senators who were in the meeting.

The New York Times had reported on Thursday morning that the White House affirmed that a deal barring price negotiations had been struck.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) asked two top White House aides, David Axelrod and deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina, if the administration had cut such a deal with PhRMA.

"He says there's no deal. I take him at his word," Brown told the Huffington Post

It contradicts what Billy Tauzin said told the drug makers, but Billy Tauzin has not always been all that straight with the truth," said Brown, referring to PhRMA's president, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana. Tauzin pushed through the original law that barred the government from negotiating for lower prices. Shortly thereafter, he left to lobby for the drug makers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/dem-senators-white-house_n_253502.html

[grantcart]

27. But most in this thread puts more credence in Tauzin than Brown

Curious isn't it?

[mkultra]

24. You seem confident that this is true

even if it is, it just sounds like he cut a deal with them to cut drug costs by $80 billion dollars. How that equates to lobbyists is beyond me.

[uponit7771]

26. ****WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT CUT NO...NO DEAL !!!!****

[mkultra]

30. tell that to our in house MSM trolls

[FrenchieCat]

31. What is really, really sad is that you deliberately choose to believe

"March to War" New York times, and Republican Tauzin over this administration.

That's what really really sad.

It's like the Corporate media and the GOP saw your gullible ass coming from miles away.
Just gargle, swallow and repeat as they applaud the chumps and the chumpettes.
Hoodwinking can be so easy in America.

[Clear Blue Sky]

32. "We'll close Gitmo", "We'll get out of Iraq", etc etc

[laugle]

34. Don't forget,

We'll get rid of 'DADT,' we'll get rid of Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest people; we'll lower taxes for the middle class except smoker's of course; we'll create 500,000 new jobs; we'll keep unemployment down @ 8%; and the list goes on............

It's not surprising that people are starting to lose confidence in the POTUS and his policies.........

[Clear Blue Sky]

37. Another typical politician with empty promises...

[geek tragedy]

40. Another typical DU whiner. n/t

[geek tragedy]

39. You live in a fact and analysis free world.

1) Congress defunded any attempt by him to close Gitmo.

2) His promise was to withdraw from Iraq carefully, not carelessly as you would like him to do it.

[polmaven]

48. But....ummmm....

It's been 6 1/2 whole MONTHS? Where are those 500,000 jobs?


:sarcasm: (I figured, with my avatar, I'd better use this)

[geek tragedy]

51. I assume Hillary supporters are Obama supporters.

After all, they are part of the same party and administration.

The PUMAs were false Clinton supporters--they supported the symbol, not the real political figure.

[polmaven]

54. Thank you...

you are correct. Hillary supporters are Obama supporters. There are still many here, however, who will never put the primaries behind them, so I just find it easier to be sure. :hi:

[Honeycombe8]

36. Some in W.H. say there was no deal, one person says there was. Congress says...

doesn't matter if there was...they didn't make a deal, so they wouldn't honor it, and they don't care if there was a deal.

I suspect there was some sort of agreement reached. Tauzin went to the press to report it. You gotta ask yourself...if there WAS a deal, would he really do that? Nah. He wouldn't. That would spoil the deal.

And that's the name of that tune.

[Aragorn]

38. kneel serf

I am your king - and you chose me.

[invictus]

42. Obama is a chess player. LOL!

[newinnm]

46. Actually, I think he is an illusionist

What he has done is taken what is a very important issue, healthcare, and successfully used it as a shield to block peoples view to everything else that is going on in the country. What many dont see is the corporitism that is going on in the background.

Hey america..look over hear at healthcare while I do the bidding of the corporations where you arent looking.

[bvar22]

55. Chess....

A game where The Pawns are sacrificed to protect The Royalty.

Well YES! It does appear that Obama is playing Chess!

Sucks if you are a Pawn like me,
but the Wall Street Royalty and the Kings in the Health Insurance Industrial Complex like it just fine.

[ima_sinnic]

43. that was a blatant lie. List of lobbyists in the Obama administration:

just as of February 3, 2009:

* Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm .
* Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association.
* William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.
* William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use.
* David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.
* Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.
* Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.
* Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.
* Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
* Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.
* Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.
* Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005.

This doesn’t count Tom Daschle, who never registered as a lobbyist but got paid millions for his political connections in pursuit of preferential treatment for his clients in the health-care industry.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/03/the-list-of-lobbyists-in-the-obama-administration/

[newinnm]

47. Not sure Id be using that source

Hotair.com is run my Michelle Malkin

[ima_sinnic]

49. oops, sorry. I did not know that. my apologies.

I googled and it was in a convenient list. There might be another source with a more up-to-date list.

[pinb1212]

52. Whatever...Was the list wrong.

You can hate the source,but.... is this list correct????

[boppers]

53. Unrec. Blaming the white house for legislature.

Fundamental failure to understand US government.