We here in the Evergreen State have been blessed with a delightful tutorial in a modified version of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS); let's call it BDS Light. The idea being that even aside from Iraq and other hot-button issues, Bush and like-minded Republicans just can't have a good faith argument for opposing Policy X. I mean, they're Republicans...how could they?

Over the weekend I took a look at local liberal blogger Daniel Kirkdorffer's excess placement of blame on the evils of President Bush for opposing the Democrats' current Medicare Prescription Drug gimmick. Today, the P-I goes down the same path as Kirkdorffer:

Patient advocacy groups, such as The Medicare Rights Center, have been mobilizing support for the new bill for some time and could tell the president exactly why they're not happy with Plan D, which also demands that senior citizens and those with disabilities enroll with private (no doubt benevolent) health insurance companies.

If only he'd listen. Last week, Bush said that "government interference impedes competition," between drug companies. If competing is so important, why can't we have drug companies compete for bids with the government?

Liberal backers of this idea seem delightfully confused with the fact competition and negotiations only work in a competitive environment (let alone the fact the drug program is actually working well). The only way the government as a sole-source provider can limit prices below what the market already provides in such a setting is to be willing to exclude drugs whose manufacturers aren't willing to go that low - as the VA currently does to its beneficiaries.

That last point was part of the Washington Post's recent opposition to the Democratic proposal. Their editorial position is not dissimilar from open skepticism of the "negotiations" idea as reported in articles I've linked to in the past from the news sections of the LA Times ("On drug prices, are Democrats in a fix?") and the Washington Post ("Success of Drug Plan Challenges Democrats").

More recently, there is additional, serious questioning from a notable Democratic pollster and former aide to President Clinton:

...an in depth look at public opinion shows that once the American people understand the possible implications of negotiating the cost of prescription drug prices, public opinion changes significantly and voters become very skeptical of the idea and the implications for public health.

Meanwhile, left-of-center columnist Sebastian Mallaby says,

[m]eanwhile in Congress, the Pelosicrats have voted to make the federal government negotiate Medicare drug prices, asserting that this will save money. This claim has been analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office and judged wrong. So on this issue, unusually, the Democrats are advocating a faith-based delusion while Republicans represent the reality-based community.

You see, it's just those crazy Bushies and evil Congressional Republicans who think the Democratic proposal isn't the best policy. The bastards.