From
Ad Age (subscription)
The Bush administration has spent $1.62 billion over two and a half years on advertising and public relations contracts, the Government Accountability Office said today.
Well, here's a good use of our taxpayer dollars by those fiscally responsible Republicans:
The GAO surveyed seven departments and reported that of the $1.62 billion, $1.4 billion was the result of 137 contracts with ad agencies, $197 million for 54 contracts with PR firms, $15 million for 131 contracts with media organizations and eight contracts totaling $100,000 for individual members of the media.
Democratic response in the extended
"The extent of the Bush administration's propaganda effort is unprecedented and disturbing," said U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. "The fact is that after all the spin, the American people are stuck with high prescription-drug prices, high gas prices and high college costs. This report raises serious questions about this administration's priorities for the country and I would hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would agree that changes need to be made to rein in the president's propaganda machine."
U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif, said the extent of the spending makes oversight critical. "Careful oversight of this spending is essential given the track record of the Bush administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda within the United States."
The White House did not immediately return a call for comment.
...the report didn't survey the whole government and, in fact, left off two major government advertising programs, that of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for its youth anti-drug media campaign and the U.S. Postal Service....
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the advertising wouldn't affect Americans view of the administration.
"No amount of money will successfully sell the Bush Administration's failed policies, from the war in Iraq to its disastrous energy policy to its confusing Medicare prescription drug benefits," she said. "The American people know the Bush administration is on the wrong track and the White House PR machine won't change that fact."
Apologies if this was posted earlier in a more substantive earlier, I did a search but couldn't find anything. I'm at the office, and have to run off now - hopefully someone can dig a little deeper to find out the names of those eight "journalists" and other specifics about this travesty!