Same Money Politics. Less Accountability.

"Same Medicare. More Benefits." is the theme of a publicly-funded $12.6 million advertising effort promoting the new Medicare law. Critics of the ad campaign include Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy and the conservative National Taxpayers Union, who called it "an election-year ploy." The Wall Street Journal reports that National Media, a firm already working for the Bush/Cheney campaign, is getting a piece of the new ad campaign pie. Firm partner Alex Castellanos "is well-known for creating sharp attack ads" including the one "in 2000 that subtly flashed the word 'RATS'" over Al Gore's picture. MoveOn.org is urging CBS, which plans to broadcast the Medicare ads, to "either pull the White House ads or run ours."