It's already been established that Bush lied to his own caucus to withhold the true cost of his Medicare bill. Had the true cost of the proposal been known, several on-the-fence Republican votes would've bolted, dooming the plan to failure (and handing Bush a high-profile defeat less than a year from election day).
But now we are seeing just how far Bush went to lie to his own party:
The government's top expert on Medicare costs was warned that he would be fired if he told key lawmakers about a series of Bush administration cost estimates that could have torpedoed congressional passage of the White House-backed Medicare prescription-drug plan.
When the House of Representatives passed the controversial benefit by five votes last November, the White House was embracing an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office that it would cost $395 billion in the first 10 years. But for months the administration's own analysts in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had concluded repeatedly that the drug benefit could cost upward of $100 billion more than that.
Withholding the higher cost projections was important because the White House was facing a revolt from 13 conservative House Republicans who had vowed to vote against the bill if it cost more than $400 billion.
Remember when this Medicare Bill was a triumph of Bush triangulation, helping cement his reelection? Didn't work out as planned.
Update: David Sirota has of the Progress Report has more:
Foster is just the latest in a long list of people the Administration has bullied or fired for telling the truth about policies it was trying to hide. For example,
top White House adviser Larry Lindsey was fired when he revealed the war in Iraq could cost $200 billion, at a time the Administration was trying to lowball the price.
General Anthony Zinni, President Bush's Middle East mediator, was not reappointed after he angered the White House by acknowledging that there were bigger priorities than attacking Iraq. Even U.S. troops have been intimidated:
Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the troops in Iraq, said, "None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the Secretary of Defense, or the President of the United States. Whatever action may be taken, whether it's a verbal reprimand or something more stringent, is up to the commanders on the scene."
Truth isn't a friend to this administration.