The AARP Bulletin was in my mailbox when I got home from a county Dems meeting today, and I was pretty pleased to see the story on the cover. AARP membership is somewhere in the range of 40 million people 50 and over, and they get the Bulletin every month for free.
Just look at that cover! HISTORIC! SWEEPING! DRUG PRICES TO FALL! Huge news for the older demographic—you know, the one that always votes. This has got to be good news for our side, right?
Not so fast. In the “Special Message from the CEO” about the cover story, there was this:
Together, we convinced Congress to listen to the voices...of millions of Americans who have been hurt by those high costs…. This victory would not have been possible without you. By raising your voices and sharing your stories, you kept the issue of high drug prices on the national agenda.
Wait—what now? Where is the mention of President Biden? Or the Congressional Democrats who made this happen without a single Republican vote???? The issue might have been on the national agenda, but before the Biden presidency, no one was paying attention.
No matter—credit will probably be given where credit is due in one of the articles that follow this “Special Message.” OK, here we go. Here’s the main article. And here is what it says:
The Inflation Reduction Act, as the measure is known, was approved by both chambers of Congress and signed into law in mid-August.
You’re waiting for more, aren’t you? OK. There’s more in a sidebar.
We made Congress listen to the voices and stories of millions of Americans who are impacted by the high cost of prescription drugs.
And that’s all she wrote, folks. Literally, that’s all she wrote. Less than two months before the midterms, not one freaking word about how approval by “both chambers of Congress” meant that the Democrats did this all on their own. That not one single Republican voted to lower drug prices. And the ridiculous contention that AARP “made Congress listen.” “Congress” didn’t listen to a damn thing--Democrats and President Biden did. Without them, this issue would never have even been brought to a vote, regardless of the support of AARP.
You can write to the editor at bulletin@aarp.org. Include your name, address, and phone number. I already did. Just before I threw this rag into the trash.
