More On Tauzin's Ouster -- From The Sunlight Foundation

Sincere Hat Tip to Empty Wheel, at Firedoglake, for surfacing this video.

The Sunlight Foundation has a very well-sourced video out -- its only shortcoming is that it fails to mention that Tauzin's PhRMA deal appears to be tattered, as of this morning's news. Thus, reimportation may turn out to be the very thing that caused Tauzin's ouster. Take a look -- it is only 2:15 long -- with fabulous graphics, I might add:

Here is a little of the rest of the story (in text), post that video, above -- also from the Sunlight Foundation:

. . . .In the end, the pharmaceutical industry’s support for health care reform would be left up in the air . After spending $100 million in advertising in support of legislation that Tauzin and key executives hoped would be a windfall for the pharmaceutical industry, the legislative process had flat-lined. In February, the board of PhRMA, split over the deal cut by Tauzin, pushed Tauzin to resign his post. . . .

I personally think Tauzin felt — as a master Kabuki theatre director — he could promise one thing (the $80 billion, in return for support of reform), then deliver much less, when inevitably it became clear that $80 billion was too low, from the go.

Tauzin would then claim (he conjectured, anyway) the President “broke the deal” — and PhRMA would next spend perhaps $200 million opposing reform.

I think Tauzin bet nothing would actually get done. [He did not foresee reimportation being split off as a separate measure, in the wake of the Republicans' continuing obstruction of the omnibus package.]

So, now it seems possible that reimportation may pass outside of the omnibus bill, and the pharma CEOs are feeling (quite accurately) that Tauzin had miscalcuated — on a grand scale.

Did Tauzin promise the pharma CEOs that $80 billion would be all they’d ever pay? I don’t know, but it seems decidedly like his brand of hubris — to make such a sweeping promise, before the game even got underway, in earnest.