Sunday's New York Times carried a front page story on Genentech lobbyists perverting the health care debate, such as it's been. Seems that lobbyists provided copy to House staffs, which made its way into the record verbatim, thus leading to a bunch of Congressmen saying exactly the same things. Genentech had of course earlier poured dollars into these Congressmen's campaign coffers. This is mildly embarrassing, but what Genentech and related lobbyists said about the episode was not embarrassing--it was outrageous.

Note the quote from Even L. Morris, head of Genentech's Washington office: "There was no connection between the contributions and the statements." If you believe that, there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to talk with you about. Worse, another lobbyist said: "This happens all the time. There is nothing nefarious about it." The fact that, indeed, it does happen all the time is precisely what is nefarious about it. That someone can say such a thing with a straight face, and maybe even believe it, is the truest measure of what a state of decay this democracy is in.