Warning -- More Administration Scare Tactics

Once again, when faced with a serious political challenge, the White House has resorted to invoking the fear of terrorism to justify its behavior.Yesterday, Sen. John Kerry demanded the Bush administration approve a bipartisan plan allowing seniors to purchase lower priced medicines from Canada. Also,Vermont's Republican Governor announced he was suing the administration to allow his state to initiate its own reimportation plan. In response, the White House deployed the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Lester Crawford to claim that imported prescription drugs are now the top weapon that al Qaeda plans to use in an attack on America. The FDA announcement was so cynical, baseless and transparent that the Department of Homeland Security immediately issued a statement saying, "we have no specific information now about any al-Qaida threats to our food or drug supply." In fact, the move appears specifically designed to hide the Bush administration's adamant desire to protect the same pharmaceutical industry profits that fund its campaign.