Friday, April 08, 2005

More Tom DeLay, and more head-shaking sleaziness.


I'm imagining this new joke:

Q: How can you find Tom DeLay when you need him?
A: Just follow your nose.

It's like this guy leaves the stench of corruption and unethical behaviour wherever he goes. Courtesy once again of John over at AmericaBlog, over here, we have the king of GOP sleaze handing out bogus awards in exchange for brown paper bags stuffed with bills:

The good news reached the Jamestown, N.Y., office of Dr. Rudolph Mueller in a fax from a congressman in Washington. Mueller had been named 2004 Physician of the Year...

But to receive the award in person at a special two-day workshop in Washington last month, Mueller found out that he would have to make a $1,250 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. It was a disturbing discovery, he said.

"To actually buy your award and it's not from your peers or from your patients or from the community that you serve, it's really deceptive," said Mueller, author of "As Sick As It Gets: The Shocking Reality of America's Healthcare, A Diagnosis and Treatment Plan." "It's not being honest, it's just not right." ...

Mueller soon found he was not the only winner. There were hundreds of Physicians of the Year present, many of whom found the criteria for being selected equally as opaque.

And I'm guessing that it's just a coincidence that every Physician of the Year just happened to be Republican. What are the odds of that? Read the whole piece -- it's three pages long so don't miss clicking through. And my favourite part?

Mueller said most of the talk at the sessions was about marketing, lawyers and taxes, and that he was met with silence when trying to raise the issue of the lack of affordable health insurance.

"This is the real crisis," Mueller said he told the congressmen on one panel at the events. "Please, I am begging you."

The congressmen said nothing and quickly called for a question from another Physician of the Year, Mueller said.

I guess these folks never got that "Culture of Life" memo.

No comments: