Speaking of Astroturf

The New York Times reports on the pharmaceutical industry’s lavish support for Obamacare:

The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.

By way of comparison, John McCain’s entire Presidential campaign spent a total of $126 million on television advertising.

Few expect the opponents of the health care overhaul to muster as much advertising muscle as its backers, including sympathetic business groups, labor unions and ideological allies. The drug makers stand to gain millions of new customers from the expansion of health care coverage.

As always, the big money in this debate is on the left.

All of the commercials closely echo common Democratic themes about medical care for all, consumer protection and “health insurance reform.” Some supporters of the overhaul have hired public affairs and advertising firms with close ties to the White House and Senate Democrats, including GMMB, which worked on the Obama campaign, and AKPD, which previously included David Axelrod, who is now the president’s top political adviser.

There is a reason why lobbyists are thriving as never before during the Obama administration: everyone wants to get their hands on your tax dollars (or your children’s, since pretty much all the money in question will be borrowed). The Obama administration’s claim that Americans who oppose socialized medicine must be in the pay of “moneyed interests” is a sick joke to anyone who understands today’s actual political dynamics.

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