AP Contrasts Myths of Health Care with "Facts;" Decides it Far Prefers Obama's Myths

Print the legend.

Here's one refutation:

Woodward continues:

THE POLL: 55 percent expect the overhaul will give coverage to illegal immigrants; 34 percent don't.

THE FACTS: The proposals being negotiated do not provide coverage for illegal immigrants.

Let us stipulate that this column does not care for the scapegoating of immigrants, including illegal ones. That, however, is separate from the question of whether the bill would in fact cover illegal immigrants. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus think it will, Roll Call reported last month:

A CHC member, who requested not to be identified, said the group is urging Pelosi to ensure that everyone--including illegal immigrants--will be able to receive services as part of comprehensive reform.

"We're pushing to include everyone in the health care bill. Everyone," said one CHC member.

Asked if CHC leaders will ask Pelosi to specifically spell something out in the bill to address illegal immigrants, the Member said no. Rather, the Member said the CHC simply wants to make sure the bill--as drafted--doesn't prohibit illegal immigrants from accessing care.

"Sometimes if you don't say something, something happens," said the Hispanic lawmaker.

Exactly, and this is the same dishonesty exhibited on the abortion question; Obama's minions say "the bill doesn't even mention abortion," which is the problem. If it's not specifically prohibited, it's covered.

And no, I don't believe the Hyde Amendment as anything to say about this, because the public option is going to be interpreted not as federal dollars but rather as citizen dollars, which just happen to often be provided by the government. The government can't forbid you from spending your tax refund, for example, on an abortion. Once it's yours, it's yours. And government option plans will be interpreted as belonging to the "policy holder," even though that's not really true, thus rendering Hyde inapplicable.

Case in point: Obama's frequent assertion that federal dollars are "subsidizing" the insurance companies. Well. most private insurers cover abortion, so obviously federal dollars can pay for abortions, so long as they're laundered a bit through a third party first.

Same with illegal aliens. If there's nothing in the bill saying they're not covered, or not eligible for the government option, or if the government does not specify strong citizenship-verification procedures, they're covered.

The courts tend to rule that "rights" such as education and emergency health care cannot be refused to illegal aliens. Once cradle-to-grave health insurance becomes a "right," as the left contends, the courts will rule the same way yet again, especially absent any Congressional indication whatsoever that the government option specifically excludes such persons.

Taranto goes on to deal with the AP's other alleged "FACTS," like, um, the government won't be involved in rationing care for the elderly, and the government option is not, as its creator says, a Trojan Horse for single payer.

In each case, the "analyst" dismisses all other evidence and simply takes Obama's self-serving claims as absolutely dispositive on every issue. The public thinks the government option will lead to single payer? Wrong, the AP scolds; Obama says it won't.

And that's the end of the discussion.

Here's what the AP's "fact check" would have looked like in the summer of 1974, if they were this in-the-bag for Richard Nixon:

POLLL: 70% of the public believes the President participated in, or was aware of, or even ordered the cover up of the Watergate burglary.

FACT: President Nixon says "I am not a crook." Next.

Uh, okay. Really jerked that one out of the park there, buddy.

It's crazy, but there is an unexpressed assumption (redundant, I know) lurking under the surface of the AP's "fact check."

That assumption: Obama, being our Savior, is of course incapable of lying. Like Superman.*

They really seem to believe this. Or seem to believe, at least, that you should believe it. I don't know how else to explain their apparent belief that Obama's unsupported, and often utterly contradicted, claims are to be taken as wholly authoritative on all issues of contention.

* Can't lie? Okay, he can lie, he just doesn't. Or at least not very often.

He sure the hell can deceive, however. Just ask Mr. Mxyzpltk. He just called to say he got an offer to get 10,000,000 dollars (US) from a Nigerian prince named "Prince Ktlpzyxm," and then poof, the line went dead.

posted by Ace at 10:59 AM

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