Uncategorized
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Grassley & McCain shamed on “death panels”
The media backlash against the “death panel”/euthanasia myth continued on Sunday as CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer and ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos pressed prominent Republicans on the issue. First, watch Grassley squirm as he tries to defend his false claim that the government could decide to “pull the plug on grandma”
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The bipartisan sustainability meme
In an interview with the Helena Independent Record, Senate Finance chair Max Baucus defended his emphasis on trying to solicit widespread GOP support for the health care bill by claiming that bipartisan legislation is “more sustainable… more durable and long-lasting”: In a 50-minute interview with the Independent Record’s editorial board, Baucus defended his huddling with
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“Death panel” shaming works, but too late?
[Update (6/30/10): Serious questions have been raised about the validity of Research 2000’s polls. The results below should thus be viewed as potentially suspect until the matter is resolved.] Good news — widespread denunciation of the euthanasia/”death panel” myth as false by the press is prompting conservative elites to distance themselves from the claim. National
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Marshall calls out “treason,” gets backlash
I’ve been critical of Josh Marshall for pandering to his liberal audience, so I have to give him and TPM DC blogger Brian Beutler credit for calling out the vile “treason” rhetoric of New York Democrat Eric Massa. (Massa said Chuck Grassley’s false claim that health care reform would create “a government program that determines
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Max Baucus unclear on YouTube concept
Does Max Baucus really call handheld video cameras “YouTubes”? As he traverses the state he has represented in the Senate for 31 years, Mr. Baucus, the Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, never seems far from being buried under some rhetorical avalanche. After speaking at a preventive-care conference here last week, he
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NBC’s flawed health care misperception poll
NBC released a health care poll (PDF) last night that deputy political director Mark Murray summarized in an article with the subhed “Misperceptions abound on president’s health overhaul initiative”: Majorities in the poll believe the plans would give health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants; would lead to a government takeover of the health system; and
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Birther myth strong among Colorado GOP
An update on state polling on the Obama birth certificate myth — Public Policy Polling has released a preview of a new poll showing that 43% of Colorado Republicans think President Obama was not born in this country and an additional 24% were unsure. Those numbers are comparable to the numbers that PPP found in
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Manjoo: Obama should ignore “death panels”
Slate’s Farhad Manjoo has written a provocative new article arguing that the Obama administration won’t be able to knock down the “death panel” myth and should stop talking about it entirely: [H]e’s going after folks in the middle—people who’ve heard about the death panels but aren’t sure what to believe. Will his defense work on
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Backsliding on “death panel” fact-checks
In a post on fact-checking of the “death panel” myth last week, I noted the tendency of media outlets to revert to “he said,” “she said” reporting on false or misleading claims that they have previously debunked. Since then, Media Matters has flagged two more leading news outlets that have reverted to treating the claim
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Mickey Edwards: Wrong on parties
In a LA Times op-ed a couple of weeks ago, former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards joined the long list of current and former legislators who bemoan the end of bipartisanship. Like almost all of these members, Edwards fails to understand that the mid-century peak in bipartisanship was a historical aberration. Once the parties realigned on