CBS pulls Medicare ad pending congressional review

[peterh]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/13/national1344EST0617.DTL

CBS has stopped running the Bush administration's publicly funded ad for the new Medicare prescription drug law, pending a review of its content by congressional investigators.
The 30-second ad, titled "Same Medicare. More Benefits," has prompted strong criticism from Democratic lawmakers and a range of interest groups who say it is a barely disguised commercial for President Bush's re-election campaign.
Democrats asked the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, to examine whether the administration should be using taxpayer money to air the commercial. And several lawmakers have been lobbying network executives to get them to yank the ad, pending the GAO review.
"As soon as we became aware of the investigation, we pulled it," CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said Friday. He said the network stopped airing the ad several days ago.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Thursday he will withdraw the ad only if GAO determines it's political.




Not only is it political….it’s inherently false…it’s not the same Medicare and the “more benefits” applies to the pharmaceutical industry and not to the recipients….

[Benhurst]

1. Where's the outrage? If the ad was illegal

little Tommy and the Republican Party ought to reimburse the public for all costs.