Fake GOP Panel Recruits Docs in Health Reform Battle

Republican members of Congress have been touting a "Physicians' Council for Responsible Reform," which supposedly consists of 100-odd doctors working with the GOP leadership in the fight against Obamacare. In fact, writes Timothy Noah for Slate, the council doesn't exist; it's a PR exercise, not to mention a hustle to get rich doctors to donate to the party. Many of the physicians listed on a draft press release hadn't even been contacted.

A friend of Noah's received the proposed press release, with his name included as a "concerned doctor," even though he had no political inclination to join. The phone number on the release led not to the Georgia congressman headlining the effort, but a call center pretending to be the Physician's Council. And several of the contacts listed on the press material seem not to exist at all.
(More NRCC stories.)