WASHINGTON (CNN) – A liberal advocacy group is purchasing a week's worth of television advertising accusing Republicans and the insurance industry of trying to derail President Obama's efforts to reform health care.
Americans United for Change will air a 30-second TV commercial nationally on CNN and MSNBC and on local cable in the Washington, D.C. market beginning this week, spokesman Jeremy Funk tells CNN. Funk did not divulge the exact amount being spent on the commercial dubbed "Golden Parachute," but he did say it would be a "five-figure buy."
The TV ad specifically attacks retiring Cigna CEO Edward Hanway for his salary, as well as charging that the GOP prefers the status quo to reform.
The commercial comes a few days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, vowed to aggressively campaign for health care reform and noted that Democrats would pull no punches when it came to the health insurance industry. "Facts mean nothing" to insurance industry executives and others opposed to change, she said as the House adjourned for the congressional summer recess. "Misrepresentation is the currency of their realm," she said.
The Senate is scheduled to go into recess at the end of this week.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The House adjourned last week for the annual summer recess, but Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, left behind a video for President Obama.
Boehner’s office will release a Web video Monday morning splicing together Obama’s comments about health care reform with footage from a 1980’s television commercial of an actor declaring, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.”
The Ohio Republican is seeking to promote the idea that Obama’s plan to have the federal government offer a health insurance option is bad policy.
“Like the old joke goes, President Obama isn’t a doctor, but he plays one on TV - giving Americans a discomforting glimpse of life under ObamaCare, with government leaders and bureaucrats dispensing medical opinions that are better left to doctors, medical professionals, and patients,” Boehner said in an email statement to CNN. “This is a lighthearted video, but it underscores a serious point that Congressional Democrats are going to hear throughout August as they travel outside of Washington: Americans want lower health care costs – not a trillion-dollar government takeover of health care that increases costs and lets Washington bureaucrats make decisions that should be made by doctors and patients.”
Updated with DNC response after the jump:
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. John McCain may have lost the last presidential election but online the Arizona Republican has something the White House doesn’t have – more followers on the popular social networking site Twitter than the Obama administration’s official Twitter account.
Watch: McCain raves about Twitter
McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) has slightly more than 1.1 million Twitter followers while the White House account (@whitehouse) has approximately 844,000.
McCain, who was not known as a technophile during the 2008 presidential race, says he is fond of the popular service that allows users to broadcast 140-character messages.
“It is a phenomenal way of communicating,” McCain told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
McCain said he was “flooded with responses,” after he recently sent a tweet about use of steroids by a Major League baseball player. “It’s a great, great vehicle for communication.”
Overall though, the Arizona Republican has a ways to go to catch up with his former rival on Twitter.
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TOPICS: Obama, Congress, economy, race relations, unemployment, Afghanistan, health care, Michael Jackson, Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Sarah Palin, John McCain, George W. Bush, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Sonia Sotomayor, Henry Louis Gates
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The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.
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