Pajamas Media » PJM Exclusive: Congressional Report Blasts the Propaganda Presidency, Accuses Administration of Abuse of Office
- The most recent DHHS-related abuse is the cable television ad by retired actor Andy Griffith touting both Medicare and ObamaCare:
This year, as always, we’ll have our guaranteed [Medicare] benefits. And with the new healthcare law, more good things are coming. Free check-ups, lower prescription costs and better ways to protect us and Medicare from fraud. … I think you’re gonna like it.The DHHS paid for the ad, which cost $700,000. It was also featured on both the DHHS and White House websites. The commitee notes that the ad “was designed to affect general elections by convincing seniors to support one of the Democrats’ major legislative initiatives,” and is therefore unlawful.
Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have touted Recovery.gov, a site Biden was publicly charged with creating, as evidence that the administration’s stimulus efforts have been successful — in effect, asking the public to ask them how well they think they are doing their jobs. Interestingly enough, the economic figures touted on the site and referred to by the administration have been revealed to be fraudulent. Once called upon the suspect numbers, Recovery.gov merely changed their criteria so that they would not be responsible for disclosing the fraudulent data. The committee concludes: “[W]asting those dollars by promoting false or misleading information is an abuse of the resources at the disposal of the White House and a betrayal of public trust.”
The worst abuse of propaganda is directly connected to the White House. BarackObama.com, run by the Democratic National Committee, has been featured during the president’s speeches. It has been used by the administration and the DNC as a mechanism to lobby Congress, again apparently illegally, and to use the president’s high profile to solicit funds for the DNC as part of what has been mocked by some as the president’s “permanent campaign.” Additional efforts by First Lady Michelle Obama, detailed in the report’s reporting on the “iParticipate” initiative, find that the administration skirted the Hatch Act and and federal anti-lobbying laws by using Mrs. Obama to support the presidents social and health care agendas with $240 million worth of free advertising.
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