republicans acknowledge drug plan is a bust

I wrote earlier in the week about the potential political fallout from the Medicare drug debacle. Well. The LA Times has a story on the Republican “response” to the problem that is so juicy I might have more than this quick hit, but this one bit is too good to keep bottled up while I try to wrap an extra thousand words around it:

Republicans have a huge stake in the program's success because they have called it one of the biggest domestic accomplishments of Bush's presidency — one that they hoped would make it harder for Democrats to mount their traditional attack on Republicans for being hostile to the concerns of the elderly.

That is why Republican congressional leaders have been urging their rank and file to talk up the benefit to constituents. House leaders are offering rewards — a bust of Ronald Reagan — to lawmakers who make extra efforts to reach out to their constituents and explain the program in town hall meetings, mailings and more.

No way! A whole bust!?! Damn if it don't make me wish I were a Republican lawmaker, just so I could break the system, fuck-over the vulnerable, and then come to their rescue by explaining that I am actually acting in their interests, no matter what they mistakenly think they are really going through.

You just can’t make this shit up. . . .