Prescription Drug Fiasco: The Story So Far

It was a bad bill, pushed by industry lobbyists...

The Bush administration went to great lengths to hide the real cost before the vote...

In a stunning abuse of the rules, the Republican leadership kept the vote open for three hours in order to twist enough arms to pass it...

They also tried to bribe/threaten at least one opponent, an action for which DeLay was later reprimanded by the ethics committee...

The administration ran taxpayer-funded ads for the benefit that a GAO investigation found inaccurate and partisan...

When it kicks in, it's a fiasco, leaving a lot of people with no coverage. It arbitrarily excludes certain classes of drug. The problems, it turns out were all predicted in a GAO report issued last December...

As a result of the gaps in coverage, some states are forced to take up the slack...

The problems with the program add up to a nightmare for the GOP...

So to fix these problems, the administration is taking bold, decisive action: another (taxpayer-funded) PR blitz.

This is the story of Republican 'government' in its purest form.

[That's all, folks]