Bush and Importing DrugsFollow

No this post is not about President Bush's past love for the Peruvian flake, its about importing prescription drugs from Canada.

Okay so I was reading the Canadian paper today and the US ambassador to Canada was in Winnipeg making a speech to the chamber of commerce and he claimed that the Bush administration "supports and is looking for ways to import cheaper drugs from canada".

Which is more than a little different when Bush back in June told a group in Missouri that his miracle drug plan made it completely unnecessary to import drugs and he was against importing.

Or back in August when Lester Crawford the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claimed that allowing import of canadian drugs would allow al-qaeda to attack america. Of course when questioned if there was any evidence or how they would do it good ole Lester had to admit it was a crazy claim.

So why is Bush flip flopping?

Also to quote from the debates

In second debate, Bush said:

"When a drug comes in from Canada, I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you.
. .And what my worry is is that, you know, it looks like it's from Canada, and it might be from a third world."

(and remember, Bush has blocked plan to reimport USA made drugs from Canada)



And Kerry replied:

KERRY: John, you heard the president just say that he thought he might try to be for it.

Four years ago, right here in this forum, he was asked the same question: Can't people be able to import drugs from Canada? You know what he said? "I think that makes sense. I think that's a good idea" -- four years ago.

Now, the president said, "I'm not blocking that." Ladies and gentlemen, the president just didn't level with you right now again.

KERRY: He did block it, because we passed it in the United States Senate. We sent it over to the House, that you could import drugs. We took care of the safety issues.

We're not talking about third-world drugs. We're talking about drugs made right here in the United States of America that have American brand names on them and American bottles. And we're asking to be able to allow you to get them.

The president blocked it. The president also took Medicare, which belongs to you. And he could have lowered the cost of Medicare and lowered your taxes and lowered the costs to seniors.

You know what he did? He made it illegal, illegal for Medicare to do what the V.A. does, which is bulk purchase drugs so that you can lower the price and get them out to you lower.

He put $139 billion of windfall profit into the pockets of the drug companies right out of your pockets. That's the difference between us. The president sides with the power companies, the oil companies, the drug companies. And I'm fighting to let you get those drugs from Canada, and I'm fighting to let Medicare survive.


Maybe Bush doesnt consider it a flip flop if he has position A the goes to position B then 4 years later goes back to Position A?

Edited, Fri Oct 22 15:30:20 2004 by bhodisattva

Edited, Fri Oct 22 15:38:46 2004 by bhodisattva

Jesus Christ, another idiot bringing up the "Kerry flip-flop" issue. Do we have to beat it dead again? We've been over this a thousand times. We're not talking about John Kerry trying to find funding for the war; we're talking about Bush reaming seniors by making prescription drugs too expensive.

Again, it's a case of keeping the rich in good care and leaving the middle-class out in the rain.

We are talking about flip-flopping on issues so therefore it falls into the "relevant" category.

These are not the quotes I was referring to anyways...let me see if I can find them in the next 5 minutes.

Gah...time to go home. I'll come back and play later maybe.

For some reason I have a craving for transexual pumpkins....thanks Pickle



Good theory...Bush hates all seniors and is secretly making commission off of inflated prescription prices...

Kerry hates seniors and dodges taxes... Theyre about even when it comes to hating old people.

Silly stoner...my post was referencing the quotes listed in the Fact Check article given by our pretty prince.

Follow your own advice


God I hate pot-heads...always trying to think

OOOH....changing my words to make it seem like I am really trying to say something else....

You are so teh sneaky

Cokehead b/c he tried it? That's kinda harsh.

That would make me a "If you can smash it, I'll snort it" head

Indeed I am....don't tell anyone though.



He has an established pattern of use. Look it up. (Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that)



If the straw fits.... :P

Ok, so I made a bit of a mistake; I didn't think you were going to dispute the quotes that are debunked in the article.

Try looking at it this way:
Kerry was for dealing with Saddam, but not by major military invasion while we were still ransacking Afghanistan.
He was pleased with the way the military handled the situation...after Bush decided to throw them in there.
I don't think it's too hard to see that something should be done, but not necessarily by laying about with a sledgehammer.

Totem, I know you're joking, but in all sincerity, John Kerry will do more for the American Entreprenuer than Bush has in 4 years and will in 4 more. One of the biggest obstacles in front of people actually taking the plunge and going out to make their own businesses is health care. What 45 or 50 year old with 2-3 kids is going to want to go on their own to make a product only to see their health care costs and those of their familiy unsustainable?

We need to make out investment in health care work for the middle and lower classes to allow them to start a businesss without fear of losing or not being able to afford adequate health care. If it's innovation you want, George Bush isn't your answer. His idea to pool small business owners isn't bad, however, it's not addressing the real issue but its completely unlikely to happen under a republican house much less his administration.

Grady