Guaranteed head explosion: Billy Tauzin is now welcome at the White House

[Missy Vixen]

If you are on Twitter, David Sirota, that sexy, sexy wonk, was just Tweeting about this one.

I think I need a stiff drink and to lie down for a bit. Remember all the railing President Obama did about Billy Tauzin during the campaign?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Once-Obama_s-target_-lobbyist-Tauzin-now-his-pet-8722075-80746897.html

>White House visitor logs dumped late in the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve show that Billy Tauzin, the top lobbyist for the prescription drug industry and once a favorite target of Barack Obama, visited the White House at least 11 times in Obama's first six months in office.

The White House's open door for Tauzin, whom candidate Obama attacked as the embodiment of the revolving door and the corrupt collusion between politicians and industry, further dismantles the myth of Obama as the scourge of special interests. It also bolsters the conclusion that health care "reform" has become a boondoggle for the health industry, especially pharmaceutical companies.

During the presidential primary, in the spring of 2008, Obama ran a campaign ad aimed directly at Tauzin, chief executive officer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. In the ad, titled "Billy," Obama tells a small gathering of seniors:

"The pharmaceutical industry wrote into the prescription drug plan that Medicare could not negotiate with drug companies. And you know what, the chairman of the committee who pushed the law through went to work for the pharmaceutical industry making $2 million a year. Imagine that. That's an example of the same old game-playing in Washington. I don't want to learn how to play the game better. I want to put an end to the game-playing."

But Obama has played the game, and Tauzin was one of the first players he picked for his team. White House visitor logs show that between Feb. 4 and July 22, Tauzin visited his office an average of once every 15 days -- about as frequently as Tauzin probably collects that generous paycheck candidate Obama derided. We don't know how often Tauzin visited after July, because of the ad hoc nature of White House visitor log releases.<

"Angry" is not the word.

-MV

[Bluebear]

1. visitor logs show between Feb. 4 &July 22, Tauzin visited his office once every 15 days

Lovely.

[Missy Vixen]

2. Maybe they had a tee time

I wish I had something to post, but the following sums it up.

:mad:

:eyes:

[Bluebear]

3. 'the top lobbyist for the prescription drug industry and once a favorite target of Barack Obama'

Words fail.

[Missy Vixen]

6. Maybe he'll call George W. Bush for some advice

In the meantime, he evidently doesn't care what those of us who voted for him think about stuff like this, does he?

:eyes:

[TornadoTN]

23. Apparently not

But the Cheerleaders will call us every name in the book for not giving unconditional support to everything that is happening on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

63. Careful there --

I had a post deleted because I used the term "boosters" -- they are quick to hit the alert button. :eyes:

[sandnsea]

4. He's the head of PhRMA

I'm not quite sure how you get a health care bill without talking to him.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[laughingliberal]

38. Yes, or without giving him all the profit protection he asked for, either nt

[ima_sinnic]

5. *yawn* what else is new for the trojan horse?

wake me up when "change" starts to happen.

[TornadoTN]

19. We'll be waiting for a while at this rate

This is turning into a either a great comedy or an incredibly real horror movie. Not sure which.

[mmonk]

7. He is the poster child of corruption on the issue.

[ProSense]

8. More rehashing of old news.

CREW reported this more than once, including in November:

Former U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, had two meetings with deputy chief of staff Jim Messina among 11 at the White House.

Trying to spin this as a new revelation from the latest release is bogus.

[Missy Vixen]

11. The author of the above article got the information from visitor logs

released over the holidays.

Doesn't erase the facts: The guy was considered so dangerous that President Obama made a campaign ad going after him; now he's visiting on an average of every fifteen days, during the "negotiation" of a health care reform bill?

[ProSense]

16. It's still old news, and isn't being revealed for the first time. n/t

[emilyg]

42. Idon't mind old news.

[Land Shark]

53. It's new news to me. If news is "old" or a DU Greatest post drops, doesn't mean it's irrelevant

George Bush & wars of aggression and torture are all "old news." Shall we all yawn and move on?

[midnight]

56. I second your opinion......

[slipslidingaway]

12. So what was the deal - no negotiating of Medicare drug prices? n/t

[laughingliberal]

40. Yes. nt

[indypaul]

64. or let's kill drug reimportation and piss off Dorgan n/t

[slipslidingaway]

66. Yes, I believe both were part of the deal and IMO Dorgan might..

be wiling to run again if he thought we were moving in the right direction.

[Land Shark]

17. Hmm. But there's a reference to a Christmastime document dump in the OP, so it's creative re-hash

if rehash be what it is

[ProSense]

20. "so it's creative re-hash" Yeah, there is a word for that:

spin.

[Missy Vixen]

27. You're kidding me, right?

This was Tweeted by David Sirota less than an hour ago. He also asked a great question -- if this was Bush instead of Obama, what would the reaction be?

[Bluebear]

41. crickets

[Bluebear]

.

[Bluebear]

48. .

[ima_sinnic]

25. you seem annoyed that people want to know what our president is doing on our behalf

:eyes:

[Bluebear]

35. It's "old news" so we can't be upset about it.

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[Mojambo]

10. I don't know how anyone could defend Obama on this.

Shocking fucking hypocrisy.

[ProSense]

14. He's the head of PharMa, and it's old news.

It's shocking that anyone is surprised by this. He visited 11 times earlier in the first part of last year.

[slipslidingaway]

18. The deal should be covered more - Obama said could save 300 billion ...

and made a deal for 80 billion.

[ProSense]

21. Have fun. n/t

[slipslidingaway]

34. Unpleasant topics = crickets as expected, same as September. n/t

[sandnsea]

31. That was $600 billion throughout the entire industry

$80 billion is the number PhRMA announced in June and it's still the number.

Here is the article and letter about cost savings from earlier this y ear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/health/policy/11drug.html

[slipslidingaway]

32. No, no, no...look at the Obama/Biden HC plan ...

Could we save another 220 billion in addition to the 80 billion using VA prices...
Posted by slipslidingaway in General Discussion: Presidential (Through Nov 2009)
Wed Sep 23rd 2009, 01:24 PM

Links here...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/slipslidingaway/110

Sorry to be repetitious in the subject, but I've posted this several times over several months.

And the link you posted just highlights the deals that were made behind closed doors, like this deal with Pharma, they were never televised like Obama promised. The big deals were done behind closed doors and the people did not win.

He gave the drug companies hundreds of billions in that deal.

[sandnsea]

36. When did PhRMA promise that?

There's no question that there are better deals for the people and prescription drug costs. No question.

But I understood you to say that there was a $300 billion dollar deal that ended up an $80 billion deal. That's not true.

No, every single negotiation did not happen on CSpan. But the substance of all the negotiations have been disclosed. Who went to the White House was disclosed. Much of the debate has been on television or at town forums all around the country. Do you have any idea how much stuff is taking place out in the real world that isn't being reported, let alone blogged about. I sure can't keep up. But nooooo, all anybody wants to do is pretend Obama=Bush. I can't remember a piece of legislation that had so much scrutiny from the public.

[slipslidingaway]

43. Obama said that in his HC plan, but that is not what was done ...

I posted my old thread link for you, but I'll post the individual link to his plan and the study cited in that plan. I never said there was 300 billion dollar deal with Pharma, I did say that Obama mentioned that number in his HC plan during the election. The 80 sounds good, if you do not know about the 300.

Then it was announced that the drug companies would kick in 80 billion over ten years, what happened to the 300 billion mentioned in the Obama/Biden plan.

I never saw those negotiations, this is big money for Medicare and big profits for Pharma, especially with the boomers beginning to enroll on Medicare.

:shrug:

BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN’S PLAN TO LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS
AND ENSURE AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HEALTH COVERAGE FOR ALL

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf

from the top of page 5 of 9

"...Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices. The 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug
Improvement and Modernization Act bans the government from negotiating down the prices of
prescription drugs, even though the Department of Veterans Affairs’ negotiation of prescription drug prices with drug companies has garnered significant savings for taxpayers.32 Barack Obama and Joe Biden will repeal the ban on direct negotiation with drug companies and use the resulting savings, which could be as high as $30 billion,33 to further invest in improving health care coverage and quality..."

----Footnote 33

33 Roger Hickey & Jeff Cruz (April 2007), Waste and Inefficiency in the Bush Medicare Prescription Drug Plan: Allowing Medicare
to Negotiate Lower Prices Could Save $30 Billion a Year, Institute for America’s Future


This is the study cited in the Obama/Biden HC plan.

page 2 of 7
http://www.ourfuture.org/files/z_historic/medicare/states/NorthCarolina.pdf

"...Legislation to allow negotiation overwhelmingly passed the House in January and will
soon be debated in the Senate. Groups like the AARP, Families USA, the Alliance for
Retired Americans, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare,
US Action and Campaign for America’s Future have mobilized to help pass this
legislation. However, the pharmaceutical industry – with its annual lobbying budget of
over $100 million – is also mobilizing to protect its excess profits by opposing any
changes to Part D.

In addition to the tremendous savings offered by allowing Medicare to negotiate for
lower prices, there is also an opportunity to save more than $5 billion a year nationally in
administrative costs by allowing seniors to get their benefits directly from Medicare.
Both of these ideas are very popular with the American people, being favored by 85%
and 76% of American adults, respectively. If both enacted, this could save American
seniors and taxpayers more than $35 billion annually..."

[sandnsea]

45. Uhm. It didn't have the votes.

I mean, you didn't want them to repeal the Constitution, right? I thought you were referring to the negotiations earlier this year, not the perfection someone hopes to get in a campaign vs. the reality of living in a country full of idiots.

However they did pass a number of benefits to reduce the donut hole in Medicare Part D, and I believe negotiating Medicare drug prices is still in discussion. Of course, if it's included, you'll just turn around and call it a cut in Medicare anyway. That's all that's been done around here all year.

[slipslidingaway]

46. You said they do not have the votes, did they even try? Some Senators...

were not too pleased with this deal made by the WH.

Your statement makes absolutely no sense...

"Of course, if it's included, you'll just turn around and call it a cut in Medicare anyway. That's all that's been done around here all year."

[sandnsea]

47. Now they led poor Nancy Pelosi out on a limb

and then let her fall from it.

I don't know. One week they led, the next week they didn't. Who can keep up.

One of the horrific cuts in Medicare is actually a cut to insurance, but that little detail is being ignored because it's more fun to jump on the Obamabash Bandwagon.

And that is really why we haven't had a coordinated effort to fight for things like Medicare negotiation. Too many people prefer the "righteous rant", like there was against the HELP Bill, to rational advocacy.

[slipslidingaway]

68. Did you see the part in the Obama plan where it says 30 billion per year...

not sure what else you are referring to in your post.

[sandnsea]

69. Rant away, rant away

Nothing else matters but your smug satisfaction with your rant.

Yes I saw the $30 billion, referred to it upthread.

[slipslidingaway]

71. Well you had trouble until I walked you through the links ...

appears as if Tauzin made a good deal.

[sandnsea]

73. We didn't get Medicare negotiations??

You think somebody needs to sort through a flurry of links and quotes to know we didn't get those negotiations in the final bill? We know. It's unfortunate. We got a cut in the donut hole and support for Medicaid expansion, Medicaid that does negotiate drug prices and puts pressure on pharmaceutical companies.

[slipslidingaway]

76. The people - us, watch this, which for most people is hard to defend...

video is at the top of the thread.

Sound familiar.

:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=420430&mesg_id=420457

Candidate Obama ...

"And we are tired of watching as year after year, candidates offer up detailed health care plans with great fanfare and promise only to see them crushed under the weight of Washington politics and drug and insurance lobbying once the campaign is over.

That is not who we are, that is not who we have to be, enough is enough, it time for us to change."

[Mojambo]

22. Okay, so it's old hypocrisy.

Good to know.

[ima_sinnic]

26. it's "old news" that nothing he does bothers you

is the fact that it's "old news" supposed to make it more acceptable or something?
you'd think you'd be thrilled that people are getting to hear about the "hard work" Obama's been doing for We The Voters--behind the scenes. I wonder why we hadn't heard more about it?

[Selatius]

30. Well, I, for one, didn't know about this until I clicked the thread. It is rather disheartening. nt

[saracat]

50. You said upthread he had visited twice. .The logs prove way more than that.

and thaisn't old news. Why do you find this defensible? Just curious.

[flyarm]

52. if i remember correctly ..it was the cheerleaders who were saying it was lies when it was exposed .

and is "old news" as you now say..

I would be interested to see if you were one of those people calling it lies and false info when it was first exposed ..and people who were reporting it here were called liars by the cheerleading group..

If i had the time i would go back and look..out of curiosity of course!..but i don't have the time!

If anyone else has the time..it would be quite interesting ........

[slipslidingaway]

13. knr n/t

[EmeraldCityGrl]

24. Obama is getting harder and harder to defend.

I'm really trying to hang in there but this is inexcusable.

[TornadoTN]

29. Yep. Lots and lots of "inexcusable" lately

I'm pretty tired of it myself, even though I somehow find myself hanging onto the last glimmer of "hope" that we can gather enough strength to actually reach someone to have our voice heard.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

49. Sometimes I wonder if he ever goes online

and visits some of the sites like this one to actually hear our voices.
It isn't as if he lived in a bubble most of his life. But then again he
has made the leap from the real world to one the rest of us will never
enter and it's possible to him we're just the faceless minions.

[mmonk]

28. Anyone remember him talking about how Republicans love their

grandmas in SiCKo?

[Catshrink]

33. I thought this said Bernie Taupin was welcome at the WH

and wondered why Obama would want Elton John's lyricist to visit. I guess he could do worse and in Billy Tauzin he has.

[Ignis]

37. WTF?

:banghead:

[Canuckistanian]

39. So, the sponsor of Medicare Part D and now HC lobbyist is a WH insider now?

No wonder the system is FUCKED UP. And guaranteed to REMAIN fucked up.

[janx]

44. You're amazed that Tauzin has been visiting the White House?

Are you kidding? He was probably beating down the door as soon as the president moved in. And I'd share your anger if the White House tried to hide the fact, but it didn't. :shrug:

[saracat]

51. Why is he welcomed? That is the reason for the uproar.The doctors for

single payer couldn't even speak to anyone but the Pharma lobbyist has access every 15 days? The WH didn't hide the fact they refused to meet with them either.

[Tailormyst]

54. Always comes down to money

Our government is fueled by greed.

[librechik]

59. saracat

as painful as it is to admit, the fact that Tauzin was in the WH from early Feb on says everything we need to know about Obama and his administration.

I haven't finished drying my tears yet. But when I do, there will be hell to pay.

[Gravel Democrat]

62. not only could they not speak to anyone they were *arrested*

It's like hardly anyone remembers. Unbelievable.

Baucus’s Raucous Caucus: Doctors, Nurses and Activists Arrested Again for Protesting Exclusion of Single-Payer Advocates at Senate Hearing on Healthcare
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/13/baucus_raucus_caucus_doctors_nurses_and

Make it the Baucus 13.
Five more people were arrested at the Senate Finance Committee this morning.
They are advocates of a single payer health care system.
And they were protesting the fact that Committee chairman Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) continues to exclude single payer advocates from a series of hearings on health care reform.
http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=690

I'm not ever going to forget it. And I'm going to help everyone and anyone I can remember that a Democrat had single payer advocates *ARRESTED* all the while that liar Obama was talking about listening to other viewpoints.

O is a liar. It's as simple as that. I'll never believe anything that spouts from his mouth again.
Why would anyone believe a liar? How many lies does one have to tell before they become a liar?

[madokie]

55. As far as that goes

Did he have the Presidents ear or was he just trying to worm his way in? On the face of it I go with the latter

[golddigger]

57. Unfreakinbelievable!

[DisgustedInMN]

58. Am I supposed to be surprised by this?

Sorry, I'm not. Barack Obama lied to us and played us for fools. It worked. The corporations own us. Get used to it.

[Dr.Phool]

60. Kick and rec!

[grahamhgreen]

61. Obama - the one term wonder.

[bvar22]

65. "I did not campaign on a Public Option."

THAT Obama?
Cutting deals with lobbyists in the White House?

Shocked!

And there are those who insist that the White House has NO control over bills in Congress!
:rofl:

[slipslidingaway]

70. Almost forgot about that, link for others ...

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/22/obama-repeatedly-touted-public/

“I didn’t campaign on the public option,” President Obama told the Washington Post. But he touted the public option on his campaign website and spoke frequently in support of it during the first year of his presidency, citing its essential value in holding the private insurance industry accountable and providing competition:

– In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that “any American will have the opportunity to enroll in new public plan.”

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf

[fascisthunter]

67. boldly stupid

[Blue Owl]

72. Didn't you get the memo?

"Big Pharma" has replaced "We The People."

"Billy Tauzin" has replaced "Democracy."

[Missy Vixen]

74. Oh, yeah

And "lies" have replaced "truth".

I can't believe I'm even surprised by this.

[Vidar]

75. K&R.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

77. SEIU's Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor with 22 visits in six months.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/politics/31visitor.html

The most frequent visitor included in the narrow sample was Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union and Mr. Obama’s top ally in the labor movement. Mr. Stern visited the White House 22 times, sometimes for health care or other public events in the East Room, other times for meetings with the president or aides like Rahm Emanuel, Peter R. Orszag or Ronald A. Klain.

The visit tally underscores the clout that S.E.I.U. and Mr. Stern enjoy in this White House, something that has generated consternation at times among business groups and envy among rival unions. By contrast, Richard L. Trumka, the new president of the AFL-CIO, visited seven times in the same period.

[slipslidingaway]

78. One has to wonder who walked away with the better deal, Stern ...

was one of the first to endorse the Hacker public option plan which was watered down and now most likely dropped.

:shrug: