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A comedy that leaves them leaving
Date: Saturday, February 7, 2004
Location: Richmond, Virginia
The scene is Virginia's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner.
Plates cost $150. Tables cost $1,500. The state party will raise $200,000.
On hand are the usual suspects: big business, big labor, big money. A sign on each table indicates its sponsor.
As soon as I see the Pfizer table, a big smile crosses my face. The table is set (literally and figuratively) for the campaign's next installment of political hypocrisy, courtesy of the Democratic Party.
The comedy's first player is John Edwards. In every campaign speech, Edwards denounces drug companies for corrupting this year's Medicare Reform Bill.
The comedy's second player is the Democratic Party. Since 1990, pharmaceutical manufacturers have contributed $20 million to Democrats, including John Edwards, according to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics.
The comedy's final players are the 10 diners at tonight's Pfizer table. Pfizer is the pharmaceutical industry's top donor to both Democrats and Republicans.
After more than two hours of speakers, many of whom criticize "special interests," John Edwards delivers his "Two Americas" speech -- two economies, two school systems, two governments.
America has "two governments in Washington," says Edwards, "one for the insiders, the lobbyists, the people who run that place every single day. And then whatever's left is there for you."
As I listen, I wonder who in the audience Edwards means by "you?" Which $1,500 table needs more access to Congress?
Edwards then calls the Medicare Bill "a perfect example of what we're talking about." And then he lists "every provision that would have brought down the cost of prescription drugs," such as bulk purchasing, Canadian importation and curbed advertising.
"The drug companies were against them all," decries Edwards. "They all came out."
As I smile at the hypocrisy of a politician bemoaning special interests while attending a fund-raiser, I notice that the Pfizer table is not laughing.
In fact, the people at the table are leaving, en masse.
Exit Players … Stage Left.
Next stop: Nashville
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