The Chatty Cathy Principle seems like a good name for an idea that has taken root in Washington: If you are willing to spend enough money, you can get pretty much anybody to say pretty much whatever you want them to. Yesterday, we learned how the drug industry, which has been spending $609,000 a day to lobby Congress to get its way on health care reform, has been scripting members of Congress. And in today’s Washington Post, Michael Shear tells us that the Chamber of Commerce is attempting to carry the Chatty Cathy Principle forward into the academic world. Here’s how:
$609,000 a day. That’s how much the drug and biotech companies have been spending to influence Congress in the health reform debate, more than any other industry. So it’s no surprise that they have been extraordinarily successful. In the upcoming issue of dead-tree TIME, Michael Scherer and I look behind the scenes at the fight [...]
