Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1508: The Dilemma of the Health Care Bill

"Ask him to sign? My client won't sign. If she wants to use it, she can use it. Why go through any legal procedures? Can we sue the first couple for such a small matter? This is just a reasonable loan in good faith. There is no need for all this red tape..."

The White House seemed to be very concerned about this short film. The team responsible for First Lady Rodham's promotion of health care reform even called to request Ronald's official authorization for Forrest Gump.

Ronald asked his lawyer Lindsay to turn down all authorizations that he needed to leave records. This kind of thing that would become a stain on his career should not leave any traceable written records. Similarly, the White House also wanted Ronald to recommend a special effects company to remake some special effects. Ronald also asked someone to use the excuse that TV shorts do not require the huge investment of movie productions and asked them to find a TV production company at random...

In short, the principle is that if you want to "pirate" something, just do it yourself, and I will pretend not to see it. But if there is any problem, it is your own problem and has nothing to do with me.

Soon, a TV short film about "Female Forrest Gump" promoting health insurance legislation was quickly made and released on ABC's evening show without anyone notifying them.

……

However, two days later, the video was immediately removed. Although it was only shown for two nights on ABC, the left-wing TV station that is most pro-Donald Trump, hundreds of Donald Trump's long-time supporters called the TV station to protest...

Not only that, Democratic congressmen who are busy with the midterm elections have also started calling the White House, "requesting" the White House to quickly remove the video. Because all voters who have seen it are confused and don't know what she is talking about.

There were only two parts that made those at the campaign headquarters smile knowingly: one was when Rodham called himself "Deep Throat", and the other was when he secretly ate chocolate with President William, and when he asked for McDonald's fries to go with it.

President William is very charming, and the last part is very humorous, which makes ordinary people feel comfortable. Because the president likes fast food, he ordered McDonald's many times in the White House, which became news, making ordinary people feel that the person inside is no different from themselves.

But the jokes about "Deep Throat" are very vulgar. Those people in the campaign headquarters of the congressmen wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. It was really hard.

But in the Elephant Party's campaign headquarters across the street, it's not the same. Many people have a good impression of the current president, and some Elephant Party voters even think that he is actually a traditional southern Donkey Party member. Before President Richard went deep into the South, people there actually voted for the Donkey Party.

But everyone really dislikes the First Lady. This woman chose to stand with her husband in the face of a sex scandal during the election, which made Southerners very fond of her.

But once she entered the White House, all the images of Southern housewives dressed up for TV shows disappeared. It seemed that overnight she became a professional woman in the big city, one of the most hated types by Southerners... a female lawyer.

Although the election of the House of Representatives is not the same as the election of the President, any big news from the White House, whether positive or negative, will have some impact on the election of the House of Representatives.

This is the impact of federal elections on state and local elections. You can scoff at such things, but some voters just buy into it.

This caused problems in the House of Representatives elections in many districts that the Democratic Party had occupied for more than 40 years. The Democratic Party urgently requested the White House to withdraw the film, and the First Lady had no choice but to withdraw the short film that she was very proud of.

……

"What does this Jimmy the Great mean by mayonnaise?"

A heavyweight election expert, Roger Ailes, who is now a TV host and chief planner, came to Ronald's house.

He was currently being hired as a consultant by several Democratic congressmen in key districts, and he happened to be in California, and he was going to meet with Sonny Bono, who was also running for Congress, in Palm Springs.

During this period, for the sake of confidentiality, I lived here in Ronald. The so-called key constituencies are those where the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party are competing fiercely. As long as one constituency can be flipped, it will represent a change of two seats in Congress.

Ronald heard Roger Ailes say that the Donkeys were devastated by the short film, but he hadn't seen it yet, so he took out the tape and watched it with him.

Because it was only broadcast a few times on ABC's evening program, many professional election organizations did not have the videotape of the clip, except for some viewers who happened to record it on videotape. Because the White House soon discovered the problem, it withdrew the clip from ABC and the TV station did not play it in the rerun.

Soon, the short film became an urban legend. Many people had heard of the short film in which the first lady imitated Forrest Gump, but no one had seen it. Only the vulgar "Deep Throat" joke spread more and more.

Ronald didn't quite understand the jokes in this short film. Fortunately, Roger Ailes was the encyclopedia of American elections. With his help, Ronald understood some of the boring puns.

For example, Forrest Gump once "suggested" President Jimmy to mention mayonnaise in his TV speech. As a result, President Jimmy misunderstood the meaning and did not say "Mayonnaise" (mayonnaise), but instead said "Malaise" (restless, listless), which sounds similar.

Because President Jimmy mentioned the lack of morality in America and the "crisis of confidence" before the 1979 election, many of Ronald's supporters said that Jimmy's speech was negative and "Malaise".

Since President Jimmy never used the word "Malaise" in his speeches, the title only circulated in political circles.

This kind of complex joke that only people in the circle can understand, even someone like Ronald needs others to explain it to him before he can understand it. No wonder the most popular one is the famous ambiguous joke, "Deep Throat".

"So, Sonny Bono's election is OK, right? I donated some money to him." Ronald gave a copy of the videotape to Roger Ailes, who wanted to "collect" it, and asked about the election prospects of his old friend whom he had funded. Although Sonny Bono himself was very confident, he still had to ask an expert for a safe answer on such matters.

"He has absolutely no problem. There is already a considerable base of the Elephant Party there, especially the ground troops (marketers who go door to door to solicit votes) who can play a role as long as there is money. In fact, the Elephant Party will win this time. I estimate that constituencies with this number will be flipped."

Roger Ailes stretched out a hand and gestured in front of Ronald.

"Five?" Ronald asked.

"Hahahaha, that's fifty. Fifty districts that the Donald Trump party has occupied since the New Deal, districts known as the blue bastions. This time, thanks to the First Lady Deep Throat, they're going to turn red.

Hahaha, Forrest Gump with a bow tie, this movie is really a blessing for us conservatives!"

"Well, your understanding is also an interesting interpretation." Ronald was a little embarrassed. He didn't expect that this movie would become an important topic in the midterm elections. But he was not worried. Even if the Democratic Party was defeated, the first lady would be held accountable. It had nothing to do with me, the original film director, right?
"Hey, you probably don't understand what this number represents?" Roger Ailes, also Ronald's long-term consulting expert, reminded Ronald.

"This represents the first time since 1954, years ago, that the Elephant Party has flipped the majority in the House of Representatives. It also represents the complete completion of the Elephant Party's southern strategy started by President Richard."

"Oh……"

Ronald still had no intuitive understanding of this change in the situation, which was tantamount to a major earthquake in American politics. The Elephant Party had long been suppressed by the Donald Party in the House of Representatives, the source of legislation, making it difficult for them to fully promote political reforms even if they won the presidential election.

If the election can be overturned, it means that President William will have to taste what the Democratic presidents have tasted in the past 40 years - how painful it is to be a lame duck president and to fight in Congress for every piece of legislation.

Sure enough, without waiting for the election, the President immediately tasted the taste of a major defeat in Congress.

Because Mrs. Rodham is so closely tied to the health care bill, the bill has become a heavy burden for those Democratic congressmen. They can't get rid of it, whether they agree or oppose it.

This is because, as the election situation becomes increasingly worse, many members of the House of Representatives are unable to vote in favor of Rodham's health care in the House of Representatives, as this would be tantamount to suicide in the upcoming midterm elections.

However, if they do not vote for their party's most important legislative bill, which may be the most important for this president, they will face punishment from the party whip and will not receive campaign funds from the Democratic National Convention in the next mid-term elections.

You know, since Roosevelt, many southern constituencies have been die-hard supporters of the Donald Trump Party and have been voting for them for nearly fifty years.

This means that it is basically not difficult to win in these constituencies. As long as you can defeat other Democratic Party competitors in the party primaries, you are almost certain to win the general election.

But the situation is tight this year, and they need more money to fight the election. Since the congressmen in these constituencies have won easily for 40 or 50 years, they are generally not good at fundraising. If the Democratic National Convention does not fund them, they will face the situation of stepping down.

These lawmakers face a difficult choice. No matter how they vote, they will face a tough fight in their home constituencies once the results of their votes are announced.

Gradually, the Democratic Party members' reluctance to express their views on the health care bill reached a peak. In the new congressional legislative agenda, the health care bill, which was once a hot topic and was placed at the top of the discussion list, gradually fell down the list of importance.

In the congressional debate, the number of Democratic Party lawmakers willing to talk about the health care bill is gradually decreasing.

Finally, in the House of Representatives, the members of the Donor Party and the Elephant Party seemed to have reached a tacit agreement and "forgot" about this bill. In the last session of this Congress, there was only a general debate and it did not enter the process of a full vote in the House of Representatives.

As for another legislative loophole, in the Senate, although the Democratic Party has the advantage in numbers, the conservative Democratic Party members in the Senate do not want to make such reforms. They have reached a consensus with the members of the Democratic Party. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, the two committees that decide whether the Senate version of the health care bill will be put to a vote, have not passed the discussion.

Just like that, the first lady, who was appointed as the promoter of health care reform upon taking office, failed miserably after two years of vigorous efforts.

There was no chance to put the bill to a vote, which was a major defeat, much worse than a vote loss. The only thing to be thankful for was that when the president learned that the bill did not have enough supporters, he decisively stopped House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt from forcing a vote, thus preventing the "Rodham Affordable Care Act" from becoming a formal vote record and preventing Rodham's political career from ending prematurely.

……

Ronald provided a lot of financial support for the congressman from his hometown of Staten Island and Sonny Bono from Palm Springs. In the 30th District of California, where his mansion in Los Angeles is located, he supported Henry Weinman Waxman, a senior congressman of the Donkey Party.

In local elections, it is less about party interests and more about which candidate has a greater chance of winning. By placing a bet and showing active favor, one can then protect one's local interests.

That day, Ronald received good news from across the Pacific Ocean. After the Minister's reaction and report on the situation of Hollywood's split-account movies, the first imported split-account movie "The Fugitive" finally received the attention of the leadership and made important instructions.

Leaders have pointed out that to integrate into the international community, we must learn international rules and keep pace with the international community. Foreigners are not all good people. The purpose of learning international rules is to use them for our own benefit and gain a more advantageous position in international trade.

In China, an ancient country, with the approval of the leaders, one can often gain the moral justification and make some reforms involving interests.

The head office also issued a notice to the leaders on studying international trade rules, emphasizing that the focus of this study is especially on intellectual property rights, which China's original trade ports rarely encountered and failed to deal with reasonably.

There were few branch leaders in various places who could resist such operations, so they changed their ways one after another, supporting the theaters below in distributing "The Fugitive" and learning the spirit of the instructions from the top leaders.

"The leader said that he remembered that you were a member of the Foreign Experts Advisory Committee and an old friend of China. Could you please provide some information and personnel to train some people in the cultural field in China?"

The Minister visited Ronald again and mentioned the leader's earnest hopes.

Ronald was delighted. Being able to provide training on this kind of thing was a great opportunity to make more contacts and promote the American system in the future distribution system.

In particular, the cinema’s revenue-sharing system, supervision system, and the satellite-networked box office statistics system which is also emerging in America.

Ronald patted his chest and said that he would definitely contribute money and manpower and play a greater role in the friendship between China and the United States.

"By the way, the boss also asked you if there are any new movies recently, preferably ones that can win an Oscar? He also watched Hollywood's Oscar-winning movies in Xujiahui before."

"Hahaha, I'll send the copy right away and find the best voice actor..." Ronald heard that it was another great event, so he simply asked Michel Cannold, the group vice president in charge of distribution, to go there...