ObamaCare: Actor Andy Griffith’s “misleading” Medicare advertisements exposed JIM KOURI

ObamaCare: Actor Andy Griffith’s “misleading” Medicare advertisements exposed JIM KOURI

A public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government
corruption obtained documents from the Obama Department of Health and
Human Services regarding a series of three Medicare television
advertisements featuring actor Andy Griffith, which were deemed
misleading by a number of press outlets, including the nonpartisan
FactCheck.org.

The ObamaCare support team obviously believed that Griffith, who starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor on the long-running TV series The Andy Griffith Show and
later played a criminal defense lawyer on the equally popular series
Matlock, was the perfect spokesperson for an unpopular program. With the
majority of Americans opposed to ObamaCare and its proponents, who
would be a better and more believable spokesman than an elderly and
homey Andy Griffith?

The Obama Administration spent $3,184,000 in taxpayer funds to
produce and air the Griffith "propaganda" spots on national television
in September and October of 2010 to educate “Medicare beneficiaries,
caregivers, and family members about forthcoming changes to Medicare as a
result of the Affordable Care Act.” The political advertisements were
intended to decrease the amount of damage suffered by the Democrat
Party at the polls on November 2.

According to the documents released to the top watchdog group Judicial Watch:

“Mr. Griffith is featured in three Medicare television ads and
provided his services to the government at no charge pursuant to a
gratuitous services agreement. These three spots, ‘1965,’ ‘Music to My
Ears,’ and ‘Cozy Chair,’ [were only aired] in September and October
2010. The production for the three advertisements cost $404,000; the
total amount budgeted for the national media placement is $2.78 million,
which breaks down per ad to $754,000 (‘1965’), $1,112,000 (‘Music to My
Ears’), and $1,390,000 (‘Cozy Chair’).”

In press statements touting the new Griffith advertising program
the Obama White House described its purpose: “The Affordable Care Act
[Obamacare] will strengthen the health care system for all Americans,
but senior citizens in particular stand to benefit from the new law.
And the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is getting a
little help delivering the good news from a well-known TV star: Andy
Griffith.”

However, according to FactCheck.org, a project of the University of
Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, the advertisements
intentionally misinform the American people: “Would the sheriff of
Mayberry mislead you about Medicare? Alas, yes. In a new TV spot from
the Obama administration, actor Andy Griffith, famous for his 1960s
portrayal of the top law enforcement official in the fictional town of
Mayberry, N.C., touts benefits of the new health care law. Griffith
tells his fellow senior citizens, ‘like always, we’ll have our
guaranteed [Medicare] benefits.’ But the truth is that the new
[Obamacare] law is guaranteed to result in benefit cuts for one class of
Medicare beneficiaries -- those in private Medicare Advantage plans.”

The new documents show the public relations firm Porter Novelli
produced the advertising campaign. One of these documents lists the
Porter Novelli staff involved in producing the advertisements and
details that former Obama campaign spokesperson Catherine “Kiki” McLean
contributed 21 hours of her time to the project.

Porter Novelli’s website notes McLean served as a “senior adviser
to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign and appeared as an on-air
surrogate for the Obama for America campaign.” She is currently the
Senior Partner, Global Head of Public Affairs, and Managing Director for
Porter Novelli.

“Taxpayers don’t want their money wasted on propaganda for
Obamacare. And it is a scandal that an Obama insider is involved in the
contract for these misleading ads,” said Judicial Watch President Tom
Fitton.

“Taxpayers and Congress should be upset the Obama administration
wastes millions of taxpayer dollars on this propaganda campaign at a
time when the government desperately needs to tighten its belt. Even
Barney Fife would see that these Obamacare ads are bogus," he added.

Thanks to Judicial Watch's Jill Farrell for her help with this report.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National
Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a columnist for Examiner.com
and New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's a blogger for
the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington
Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the
1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New
Jersey university and director of security for several major
organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and
trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri
writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police,
Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer and
columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and
he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. Kouri appears regularly as on-air
commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox
News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.