Straight from the Stars and Stripes Web site comes a story that reaffirms the Bush Administration's dedication to our armed forces. This time it's Tricare, the military health system, that is the beneficiary of Bush's tender mercies:
Pressured by the White House and drug industry lobbyists, Congress has killed a Senate-passed provision that would have forced pharmaceutical manufacturers to grant the Department of Defense deep discounts on drugs dispensed through the Tricare retail pharmacy network.
What was Bush thinking? Read on.
As Bush might put it, "It's hard work commandering and sometimes the folks at the Department of Defense and even the Senate don't know what's best for the boys and girls doing the fightin' and dyin'."
House Republicans were under enormous pressure last month to sideline a provision inserted in the 2007 defense authorization bill that would cut 40 percent or more off the cost of many drugs available to Tricare beneficiaries through retail network pharmacies and stores.
"It's part of my job to step in and set things straight at times like this ... to be more Commander-in-Chief-ish, if you get my drift."
After the Senate passed its bill, White House politicos began to pressure House Republicans to fight the Senate provision in final negotiations over the defense bill, in effect, undercutting their own Defense Department as it strives to curb soaring drug costs.
"See, now here's the problem. I got friends over at Eli Lilly, those are good old boys over there. And in Texas, we got a saying, "Ya dance with the brung that one ya"...er..."Ya bring the one that you dance with" ... ah ... well, the point is, is that the drug companies have a right to make a profit so they can do things with that money like support people like me; that's why we're fighting over there in the first place: to preseve our rights and our way of life. The last thing I'm going to do is go all weak in the knees and let somebody cut those profits down; that's like giving the terrorists exactly what they want. And I'm tellin' you they're not going to get it."
Anyway, that's enough of trying to channel George Bush - it makes my brain feel like a ball of wet cotton candy. Read the whole dismal
story here, if you've got a strong stomach, because it gets worse, much worse. I sincerely wonder how much more our military can take.