Trial Lawyers Target Republicans

[DoYouEverWonder]

August 29, 2006, 6:39 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Association of Trial Lawyers of America on Tuesday launched a $500,000 television and radio ad campaign in five congressional districts blaming GOP lawmakers for not seeking lower prices for the Medicare prescription drug program.

The ad campaign targets Republican House members from Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio and North Carolina. The ads accuse the lawmakers of blocking provisions that would have required Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for the best prescription cost.

In a series of radio ads, the association also criticizes the lawmakers for accepting contributions from the oil and gas industry, suggesting that their inaction contributed to high gas prices.

"Be it at the gas pump, the pharmacy or in our courts, these politicians in Washington are putting corporate profits ahead of the health and well-being of their constituents," association spokeswoman Chris Mather said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-trial-lawyers-ads,0,1861973.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines


Nice to see these trial lawyers spending some of those big bucks they make attacking Repugs. It's about time.

[Sherman A1]

1. Great!

[Tellurian]

4. Well, Yes. We're being run by a Federalist government that disrespects

the Constitution! The Bush administration represents a Federalist (Corporate) government, not a Constitutional(Peoples) government.
It would be nice if this gang of lawyers pointed out to Americans that our government does not serve for our best interests. Because under their interpretation of our Constitution, they are not compelled to do so.

Our Founding Fathers feared this day would come, when the Federalists would unite and take this country's people down via a Federalists representation of the Constitution. They have succeeded. It is up to the Democrats to drive this point home in their election campaigns. The TRUTH cannot be called partisan. Republicans can't go there with their battle cry because it is the Truth.

Bush is the CEO of the largest corporation in the world. The US government. In his mind's eye, he owes the people NOTHING!

[Sherman A1]

7. That is why I responded Great!

I think it is a GOOD idea.

[Tellurian]

9. come a little closer

so I can "hit" you with my shoe!

:rofl:

[rodeodance]

2. WHOW--this is the best news i have seen in a long time.

[rodeodance]

3. '$10 million U.S. Chamber of Commerce campaign that thanked Republican .."

.....The trial lawyers' ads, which will run through Sept. 7, coincide with a broader, $10 million U.S. Chamber of Commerce campaign that thanked Republican lawmakers who backed the drug program when it passed in November 2003. The chamber is launching a second wave in that campaign also addressing issues such as energy and health care costs for small business. Those ads are also set to end Sept. 7.

The Associated Press reported last week that the drug industry and its main advocacy group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, quietly financed at least part of the chamber's ad campaign. Chamber political director Bill Miller would not discuss details of who in the chamber's membership helped foot the bill for the ads.

"Many of the pharmaceutical companies are strong members of the chamber," he said Tuesday. He said the chamber approached drug companies and PhRMA for help "just like we continue to solicit our members at all times for activities we are undertaking."

With their focus on seniors, the chamber and the trial lawyers' ads recognize the significance of older people as a powerful voting bloc. Seniors tend to vote more frequently than other age groups and are considered especially important in this midterm election when control of Congress hangs in the balance.

[liberal N proud]

8. With the pharmaceutical companies member of the Chamber

it is no surprise as they are the benefactors of the bu$h Medicare debacle.

[formercia]

10. Chamber of Commerce=SMOM=Knights of Malta

the usual suspects.

[rodeodance]

5. looky who they are targeting. Heather Wilson, etc

Trial lawyers are considered one of the Democrats main base of financial support and especially oppose Republican efforts to place caps on lawsuit awards and to place limits on class action lawsuits.

Republicans singled out by the ads are Reps. Heather Wilson of New Mexico, Deborah Pryce of Ohio, Chris Chocola of Indiana, Charles Taylor of North Carolina and Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania, all of whom have been targeted by Democrats for defeat. Mather said the five have "voted repeatedly to restrict access to justice."

[Vidar]

6. Good for them.

[WhiteTara]

11. yes it is. I am sure they see up close and personal

all the abuses against the citizens of this country. If we all fight back, together it creates a tidal wave and there is no way to stop one of those.

[Straight Shooter]

12. $500,000 is not enough.

It's a nice start, though, and I commend them. I'd like to see them wage full-blown ad warfare on the Repubs. Lawyers against Corporatists, almost like the clash of the Titans.

:thumbsup:

[northernsoul]

13. Proud to be a card-carrying ATLA member!

Glad to see that some of my dues are being put to good use!

[AnneD]

14. The trial lawyers I know

were so disheartened that Bush won. Some make money but many do not. What about the female lawyer that was imprisoned for defending an 'alleged terrorist'(it was such a shocking sham). Any trial lawyer could go to jail for 'aiding terrorist' in a court case. The SCOTUS better wake up to that fact too. If the justices ok all those little notes Dubya writes on those bill congress passes-they have made themselves irrelevant. And who will back the SCOTUS up-the people from whom they striped away the Bill of Rights, or the Congress whom they neutered.
THAT will be the day democracy died in the US.

[No Exit]

15. Republicans target Trial Lawyers AND OTHER LAWYERS

I am a slow learner. It took a while for it to get through my head that repukes are against ALL lawyers. I could recount the examples that drove this point home to me, but I'd have to sit here for days to list them.

Lawyers, however despicable the average citizen may think them, are the only voice little people can get when little people have been royally screwed by the extremely rich classes. So little people are taught to hate them. But that's not enough to satisfy the greedy, extremely powerful/rich entities (I'm talking BIG, things like The Carlysle Group, etc.) They must also, through their own repuke servants in every state government, find more ways to screw lawyers (in all specialties, not just personal injury) at every turn. It's happening. And some of us are sick of it.

So I applaud ATLA for this campaign.

[MysteryToMyself]

16. Evil is mundane

Many times, lawsuits are a form of fairness and justice. If a doctor cuts off your good leg and leaves the leg with gangrene or cancer, he should pay for that and so should those who administer him like hospitals. He had to be ignorant, drunk, doped or too tired. All of which should have been nipped in the bud before he reached the patient.

Babies and children that took their required shots with mercury in them that caused them to have autism, need to be compensated and so do their parents. Those children will need help the rest of their lives in some form or another.

If the Bushites get their way, a team of doctors will decide if there should be a lawsuit, then decide what the reward should be. Whoopie doo.

The Bushites want to shorten the length of time you have to sue to two years. If a doctor leaves something in you during an operation and you don’t find out about it for 3 years, then it is too late to sue, even if you knew there is something wrong and have tried to find out what it is since after the operation.

The Bushites have one goal and that is to enrich themselves and their friends. They want to keep the status quo plus enrich it at the expense of everyone else.

Just watch the arrogance of them. There is no sentence long enough for anyone in the middle class that does something wrong, but we are supposed to let the friends of Bush off almost Scott free.

Their motto should be "If we can't take your money when you are young, we will get it when you are old or sick.

I have paid for every mistake I have ever made. I think physicians, drug companies and hospitals should too.

[MasonJar]

17. In the 2004 election Bush had a real big hate out against lawyers.

Payback time. But they have to greatly enlarge the money. $500,000 buys nada these days.