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Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Astroturf Is Always Greener

As quoted by Matthew Yglesias [his emphasis]:

A new coalition this morning is launching $12 million in TV ads to support President Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall. The new group, funded largely by PhRMA, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU. [...]

The group’s campaign is likely to mean that White House supporters keep the upper hand on the airwaves. PhRMA’s participation is key, because the group has promised to kick in as much as $150 million for advertising and grass-roots activity to help pass the president’s plan.

I'm pretty sure Democrats critical of recent health care town hall protesters put the price ceiling on "grass roots" considerably lower than $150 million.

1 comment:

Steve said...

Not understanding the health reform bill but basically believing that we do need reform or the health cost will break the bank(s)(individual banks and national banks), I find it soothing and satisfying to simply say "I think we have the smartest man in the white house we have had in over 45 years, so I am going to let him do his job and lead." If this sounds somewhat Machiavellian, it was meant to do so. The future lies not in that purile word "democracy" but in an aristocracy of intelligence; evolution assures this.