The Best Media the Health Insurance Industry Can Pay For

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/15/castellanos-ahip-gop/

CNN’s Castellanos Problem: On-Air Contributor Revealed To Be Paid By GOP, Insurance Industry

The Plum Line’s Greg Sargent has confirmed that CNN contributor Alex Castellanos’ political consulting firm, National Media, is the ad buyer for the insurance industry group America’s Health Insurance Plan’s (AHIP) new ad blitz attacking Democratic health reform plans.

Not only does he fashion himself as the “father of the modern attack ad,” but Castellanos is also the father of the Republican approach to health reform. In July, Castellanos wrote a memo for the GOP leadership on how to kill health reform. The memo emphasized the use of buzzwords to characterize Democratic plans — like “risky” and “experiment” — but most importantly defined the ultimate goal: “If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it.” Additionally, according to the FEC website, the Republican Party has been paying Castellanos’ firm for media work. Starting on July 23rd, Castellanos received four payments totaling $434,336 from the Republican National Committee.

Since Castellanos is being paid by both the private health insurance industry and the Republican Party, why has the network given him a platform to attack President Obama’s plans to overhaul the healthcare system?