The Smell of a Real Scandal (Medicare- Jonathan Alter)

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The Smell of a Real Scandal


The run-up to the Iraq war was more hype than lie. Medicare is a clearer example of dishonesty and corruption at high levels

By Jonathan Alter



Newsweek March 29 issue - The democrats are over the top. Last week the democratic National Committee was once again trying to close the propaganda gap with the GOP, which has a much surer instinct for the jugular. The DNC risked a lawsuit from Burger King with what the party calls its daily "Home of the Whopper" blast e-mail. This time the supposed Republican "lie" was that certain items for sale on the Bush for President Web site were partly manufactured in Burma, despite an import ban against that despotic country. Now, it's fine to point this out, but the Democrats are in danger of losing perspective on mendacity in the Bush administration, crying wolf so often that voters stop noticing the real abuses. That's what was wrong with John Kerry's off-mike comments about the Republicans' being a bunch of liars and crooks. To be believable, he has to go to real cases with real culprits, like the Big Medicare Con now coming to light.



The whole world knows we "got taken for a ride," as the president of Poland says, on Iraq. But because Bush & Co. were as shocked as anyone at the absence of WMD, that's more in the category of grotesque hype than outright lie. The Medicare story is a clearer example of dishonesty and, yes, corruption at high levels. As former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill's statements make clear, the lying about budget numbers began early in the administration, when the White House falsely claimed that the government could not use the surplus to further draw down the debt. It continued after 9/11, when an assistant Treasury secretary complained that the administration was squandering the national consensus by insisting on tax-cut projections that weren't real. But the most shocking deception took place in the run-up to the signing of the Medicare prescription-drug benefit on Christmas Eve.

Recall how that bill squeaked through Congress only after some heads were cracked. A retiring Republican from Michigan, Rep. Nick Smith, even charges that supporters of the bill offered him a bribe in the form of financial support for the political campaign of his son. The bill was priced at the time at $400 billion over 10 years. After the deed was done (the specifics of which amounted to a huge giveaway to the pharmaceutical and health-care industries), it came out that the real cost will be at least $551.5 billion—a difference of $150-plus billion that will translate into trillions over time. Now we learn that the Bush administration knew the truth beforehand and squelched it. Rick Foster, the chief actuary for Medicare, says he was told he would be fired if he passed along the higher estimates to Congress. "I'll fire him so fast his head will spin," Thomas Scully, then head of Medicare, said last June, according to an aide who has now gone public.


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The Bush administration now has an old-fashioned credibility gap. If numbers are released saying that the economy is perking up, why should anyone believe them? After all, it counts hamburger flippers as manufacturing jobs. The context of the election only magnifies the issue. New Bush ads charge that Kerry wants to raise taxes by $900 billion. This is a made-up number; Kerry has no such proposal. But even if he did, voters would not be able to take the Bush campaign's word on it, because its word is no longer good. The challenge for the Democrats is to resist the temptation to make their own phony claims, or to hype the usual petty distortions of politics into "lies." The truth is damaging enough.




more.....

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4571136/

[Manix]

1. Alter really nailed this one. This stinks to high heaven.

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3. I just hope it's oft repeated: That * and the GOP Congress are co-owners

of this fraud.


We focus on Bush* (rightfully so) but this GOP Congress needs kicked to the curb, too. They're every bit the domestic wrecking-ball that Bush* is.

Bush* has no vetos (but a dozen or so, veto threats) in 3 1/2 years. You'd have to go a fair piece back to find a similar lack of leadership.

[Birthmark]

2. Credibility is the Achilles' Heel of this Administration

I were Kerry this is the *only* thing that I would talk about...EVER. Or at least until Bush*'s unfavorables rose into the mid-50s. Bush* has no direct defense against this line of attack.

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4. I agree.

I doubt there is much for him to gain from continuous hammering on Iraq. There is more than enough coming from other sources and I don't think there's much he can say that'll change peoples mind.

He needs to pound away with this. Rove will have a much harder time spinning this, as well as memogate.

[kori]

5. Alter makes two good points

One this is a scandal of deep proportions.

Two this truth is what Kerry and the rest of us must keep hammering on. Not speculation of some unprovable conspiracy. For example we really do not know if the administration had the time to shoot down the first or second plane. What we do know is their refusal to cooperate with the commission looking into 9/11. I can not believe Rice still refuses to testify. She will talk to Russert and most other gab shows but not the commission?

These are the things we need to focus on. The REAL known truth as Alter says is damaging enough.

[newyawker99]

6. Hi kori!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[dennis4868]

7. Alter is WRONG....

when he says, "But because Bush & Co. were as shocked as anyone at the absence of WMD, that's more in the category of grotesque hype than outright lie."

They certianly lied when the WH said they HAD NUCLEAR WEAPONS, that we could be attacked in 45 minutes, mushroom cloud, and the statements about a Saddam/911/al Qaeda connection. THERE WAS NO INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OR NIE THAT SAID ANY OF THIS BUT YET THE WH TOLD ALL OF THIS WAS TRUE.....MR. ALTER THAT IS A LIE!