Musical Silences Lobbyists

At an insurance industry conference in D.C. last Friday, a group of pranksters interrupted the sleaze-fest with a new healthcare reform-inspired rendition of "Tommorow" from the musical Annie.

The singers, from "Billionaires for Wealthcare" and "Agit-Pop", infiltrated the meeting for members of the lobbying group America's Health Insurance Plans wearing suits and sitting in the back of the room. The groups' video of the guerilla musical has been shown on CNN's The Situation Room, The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, and, of course, The Daily Show with John Stewart. Apparently, singing can be just as effective as screaming (remember those scary gun-toting tea baggers at the town hall meetings?) when it comes to being heard in the healthcare debate.

The sometimes shaky video shows keynote speaker, republican pollster Bill McInturff, driveling on about how awesome health insurance companies are, when one of the pranksters yells out to him: "Thank you for all the good work you do!" He responds, somewhat confused, with thanks to his cheering section. Another prankster chimes in with, "No, thank you!" and then with perfect operatic pitch, (think "The sun will come out!"), "For killing the public option!"

The whole room errupts in laughter as the pranksters sing their opposing parts, some for the public option, some against. They are eventually escorted out of the room, but not before finishing their song.