Friday, March 12, 2004
Of Truth and Lies (and Consequences?)
Add yet another example to the growing list of ways TeamBush misleads and distorts. In this case it has been revealed that the Chief Actuary for the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Systems was told not to provide accurate numbers to the Congress about the actual costs of the legislation as it was going to a vote. Richard Foster's analysis showed that the actual cost of the program would likely be $551 billion over ten years. The President and the bill's sponsors assured legislators, especially entitlement-skittish fiscal conservative Republicans, that the program would absolutely cost no more than $395 billion. That figure was crucial since the administration knew the measure would likely face bipartisan defeat if it cost over $400 billion.
Of course, two months after the bill narrowly passed, administration sources recalculated the cost at $534 billion, far more in line with Foster's suppressed analysis and vastly more than would have passed muster during the vote.
A recently revealed series of emails from last June between Foster and his colleagues indicates that he felt his job was threatened if he provided accurate figures--a threat that was traced back to his supervisor, then-Medicare Director (and Bush appointee) Thomas Scully.
Scully has since resigned and now works for a law firm handling big insurance and pharmaceutical companies (the biggest purported beneficiaries of TeamBush's poorly-crafted Medicare drug benefit plan). Prior to his government posting he was a lobbyist for (surprise!) the health-care industry.
Tony Pugh's article includes this exchange:
"I don't think he ever felt - I don't think anybody [in the actuary's office] ever felt - that I restricted access," Scully said. "... I think it's a very nice tradition that [the actuary] is perceived to be very nonpartisan and very accessible, and I continued that tradition."
Scully said Liz Fowler, chief health lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, could confirm the actuary's independence. Fowler didn't.
"He's a liar," she said of Scully."
Oh well. At least TeamBush got it's bill passed. And as I just noted, that's all that matters to this administration.
You'd think that those wildly misinformed and misled GOP legislators would be upset about this whole thing, but they appear to still be drinking the Kool-Aid being served by Tom Delay, et al. up on the Hill. Or at least that's their public face.
Last lie item: Kudos to John Kerry (still not my favorite pick) for not backing down from his comments that Republican attack-dogs were,"the most crooked... lying group I've ever seen."
For the record, the media team being assembled by TeamBush '04 is dominated by the same hired-gun hacks who orchestrated much of the smear jobs pasted on Clinton during his term (culminating in his charade impeachment). Quite literally, the Arkansas Project has been revived, but this time they're not working as far-right fringies being funded by lunatic Scaife and Coors money--in 2004 they form the core of the Committee to Re-elect the President.
Add yet another example to the growing list of ways TeamBush misleads and distorts. In this case it has been revealed that the Chief Actuary for the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Systems was told not to provide accurate numbers to the Congress about the actual costs of the legislation as it was going to a vote. Richard Foster's analysis showed that the actual cost of the program would likely be $551 billion over ten years. The President and the bill's sponsors assured legislators, especially entitlement-skittish fiscal conservative Republicans, that the program would absolutely cost no more than $395 billion. That figure was crucial since the administration knew the measure would likely face bipartisan defeat if it cost over $400 billion.
Of course, two months after the bill narrowly passed, administration sources recalculated the cost at $534 billion, far more in line with Foster's suppressed analysis and vastly more than would have passed muster during the vote.
A recently revealed series of emails from last June between Foster and his colleagues indicates that he felt his job was threatened if he provided accurate figures--a threat that was traced back to his supervisor, then-Medicare Director (and Bush appointee) Thomas Scully.
Scully has since resigned and now works for a law firm handling big insurance and pharmaceutical companies (the biggest purported beneficiaries of TeamBush's poorly-crafted Medicare drug benefit plan). Prior to his government posting he was a lobbyist for (surprise!) the health-care industry.
Tony Pugh's article includes this exchange:
"I don't think he ever felt - I don't think anybody [in the actuary's office] ever felt - that I restricted access," Scully said. "... I think it's a very nice tradition that [the actuary] is perceived to be very nonpartisan and very accessible, and I continued that tradition."
Scully said Liz Fowler, chief health lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, could confirm the actuary's independence. Fowler didn't.
"He's a liar," she said of Scully."
Oh well. At least TeamBush got it's bill passed. And as I just noted, that's all that matters to this administration.
You'd think that those wildly misinformed and misled GOP legislators would be upset about this whole thing, but they appear to still be drinking the Kool-Aid being served by Tom Delay, et al. up on the Hill. Or at least that's their public face.
Last lie item: Kudos to John Kerry (still not my favorite pick) for not backing down from his comments that Republican attack-dogs were,"the most crooked... lying group I've ever seen."
For the record, the media team being assembled by TeamBush '04 is dominated by the same hired-gun hacks who orchestrated much of the smear jobs pasted on Clinton during his term (culminating in his charade impeachment). Quite literally, the Arkansas Project has been revived, but this time they're not working as far-right fringies being funded by lunatic Scaife and Coors money--in 2004 they form the core of the Committee to Re-elect the President.
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