Progressives cozy up to Big Pharma lobbyists at DNC, betraying promise to tackle drug price hikes

Monday, August 01, 2016 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: Democrats, drug companies, collusion

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(NaturalNews) As if all the hypocrisy and corruption involving Hillary Clinton's treasonous email scandal and Bernie Sanders' selling out to the very system he preached against wasn't bad enough, the Democratic Party reportedly welcomed with open arms lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry at its recent convention in Philadelphia – the same convention at which sellout Bernie Sanders vocally condemned high drug pricing scams that bilk consumers out of billions of dollars.

On the way out of the Wells Fargo Arena, just minutes after The Bern announced, "The greed of the drug companies must end!" delegates attending the DNC were awash in drug lobbyists wining and dining senior Democratic officials, presumably negotiating special interest deals that would likely make even the most fair-weather Democrat cringe in bleeding heart dismay.

Except when push actually comes to shove, of course. Big Pharma was a namesake at the DNC, despite the party's puppets giving lip service to pricing reform all along the campaign trail. Drug giant Astellas was one of the DNC's cosponsors, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a lobbying group based out of Washington, D.C., that represents the biotech industry, handed out free water bottles to DNC attendees bearing up through the 90-plus degree weather.

When all was said and done, nothing changed as far as the Democratic Party's position on fighting against drug industry corruption, at least in any sort of practical sense. Heck, the drug reps themselves told STAT after the convention that they weren't even aware of any resistance to their continued lobbying efforts, and that the Democratic Party is basically a longtime friend and ally.

"I've not really gotten any blowback about the industry at receptions," one lobbyist from a major drug company told STAT, smugly adding, "but hopefully, people would realize that's rude at a party."

Another lobbyist, when asked about the Democrats putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to challenging drug industry collusion, added, "I really haven't noticed it."

Trump is right: Establishment politicians are all talk, no action

It's actually quite humorous that the "party of the people" doesn't actually have people within its ranks who possess enough character or integrity to fight the tide of Big Pharma corruption. And not only are the Democrats not fighting this corruption, but they're joining right in on it over wine and cheese!

The Republican establishment is no better, of course, as the GOP has a long and sordid history of striking backroom deals with the drug industry at the expense of the people. But at least the Republicans haven't been coy about it in the way the Democrats have – or in this case, literally walking out of a convention where such practices were condemned only to dive right in with the enemy.

If progressives hoping for real change are still siding with the Democrats at this point, they're beyond the level of fools: they're downright lunatics. The Democrats are quite literally laughing in the faces of their supporters at this point by talking the talk, only to saunter right off the stage and walk a completely different walk, right in front of everybody – and with no consequences.

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is right: These people are all talk and no action. Except that they now pander to their true masters, multinational corporations pushing a globalist agenda, in full view of everyone, and with absolutely no shame or conscience. These are dark and evil days, folks.

Sources for this article include:

StatNews.com

Reuters.com

Fortune.com