No. Seriously.
For those who don’t remember, the White House traded an $80 billion cap in costs with PhRMA in exchange for $150 million in pro-health care rationing advertising buys, then claimed that they didn’t do any such thing. Except that now Senator Carper’s committed the classic Kinsley gaffe: inadvertently telling the truth in Washington by admitting matter-of-factly that such a deal apparently took place.
Oops? Continue reading So, Senator Tom Carper just admitted to the PhRMA/WH deal.
He doesn’t think that he has to care.
And he wants to make sure that the pharmaceutical companies understand that, too. The House Energy Chair intends to retroactively remove what Waxman calls a ‘windfall’ involving Medicare D drug charges, and never mind what either the President or PhRMA thinks:
Drug makers contend they have already worked out a 10-year, $80 billion cost-savings deal with the White House and crucial Senate gatekeepers on the trillion-dollar health care overhaul. The industry says that trying to add Mr. Waxman’s provision could scuttle that agreement.
Putting aside the actual merits of the argument for a moment – I (and Hot Air) may have excellent reasons to assume that a Democrat posturing about ‘windfall profits’ is simply posturing, but it’s still an assumption – it’s instructive to see how little a powerful House Democrat fears the wrath of the White House on this issue. Then again, this is what happens when you’re a President who hands off responsibility for a bill in the first place; the people who do the work naturally end up deciding that their opinions on its final form are more relevant than yours, and unless you have the ability to do something about it they’re going to show little reluctance in showing public defiance. Given that the President just hit 50% on Gallup, and lacks any real experience in leading people who don’t want to be led, I’m not surprised that Waxman is doing this.
And this is why people say “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Cliche, yes, but cliches exist for a reason.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Video via The Conservatives: it’s of Gibbs ducking and weaving away from a question about why Axelrod’s former company’s getting that sweet, sweet ad money from the White House’s new friend PhRMA, so I thought that I’d annotate it. Particularly note the snide comment about free markets at the end.
Yes, there’s a small problem with the bottom-half text. Windows Movie Maker, remember? I do what I can with the tools that I have – and I know that the tools that I have aren’t the best. Hence, the Wish List.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Just follow these easy steps!
See The Conservatives, Michelle Malkin, Protein Wisdom, Bloomberg, & Hugh Hewitt for more. Continue reading How to (legally*) personally profit from your position as a Presidential Senior Advisor.
I do have to wonder whether they have or not, given that the President is apparently changing the deal that the pharmaceutical companies made with the government (cap the pharma industry’s costs from health care rationing at 80 billion over ten years, get 150 million contributed to pro-rationing ad blitzes), presumably on the grounds that of course the administration knew nothing about this ahead of time. The relevant passage:
“In terms of savings for you as a Medicare recipient,” President Obama told a town hall attendee yesterday, “the biggest (change) is on prescription drugs, because the prescription drug companies have already said that they would be willing to put up $80 billion in rebates for prescription drugs as part of a health care reform package.”
Then the president said, “Now, we may be able to get even more than that.”
That sentence — seemingly an aside — could be significant. Because it may indicate that President Obama does not consider himself bound by an agreement upon which the pharmaceutical industry thinks the White House has signed off.
Continue reading I wonder whether PhRMA cut those ad checks yet?
