How bad has it become for Republicans trying to defend Bush’s Medicare scheme? They literally have to pay people to find seniors who like the president’s plan.
A Republican lobbying firm is offering healthcare consultants almost $4,000 each to find senior citizens who are willing to speak out in favor of the Medicare drug discount card and write letters to Congress thanking members for saving them money on pharmaceuticals.
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The DCI Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying shop that advertises to potential clients that it can treat “corporate issues like campaigns,” is offering healthcare consultants $3,750 plus expenses over six weeks to generate positive news stories about the drug card and offer support to Congress for voting for the Medicare drug law.
I’m not sure whether to feel outrage or pity.
Dems on the Hill yesterday suggested that that it may be unethical to pay lobbyists for such activities. While that may be true, it’s just as disturbing that these “bonuses” are necessary in the first place. Bush thought his Medicare scheme would be so wildly popular, it’d help him with the senior vote. As it is, the fiasco is borderline criminal and now GOP lobbyists have to bribe healthcare consultants to find people who like it. Unbelievable.
And just as an aside, Republicans on the Hill yesterday offered a particularly annoying response to the controversy.
[Republicans noted] that more than 4 million Medicare senior citizens have signed up for the initiative.
This is supposed to be proof that the program is popular. What it doesn’t mention is that about 3 million of the seniors who have “signed up” did so involuntarily — their HMOs enrolled them automatically, which makes the numbers look better than they really are.
I wonder why the Republicans left out that little detail?