Next Question Please

President Bush was discussing Medicare prescription drug benefits in Maryland when he was asked the following.

I do have a question. When this law was passed with your encouragement -- almost immediately after the bill was enacted by Congress, the chief auditor at Medicare came out and spoke on TV and said that he had compiled a projected cost significantly higher than what Congress had been told. And he was threatened with immediate dismissal if he allowed that information to come out. Is that -- did that man speak the truth? And if so, why would you not want facts like that to come out to the American people? [emphasis mine]

Bush's answer to that question was...well, uh, he didn't answer it. He claimed the actual costs are 20% lower than was estimated. But that isn't the point. The point is a government auditor was threatened with dismissal if he gave his estimate. I too would like to hear the answer to the question.