Kurtz doesn't understand why people believe health care lies, even as he promotes health care liars
August 25, 2009 11:13 am ET by Jamison Foser
Yesterday, Howard Kurtz was bewildered that the public believes lies about health care. Today, he (accidentally) shows why they do.
Here's Kurtz today, again expressing exasperation that the media's debunking of lies hasn't worked:
When something is clearly and factually inaccurate, journalists should say so. And the supposed euthanasia panels under the Obama plan was a rare instance in which news organizations did just that. And yet it didn't matter, with 45 percent of Americans saying in an NBC poll that they believe the plan includes government panels that would make end-of-life decisions.
What Kurtz fails to consider is that news organizations have done an sporadic and ineffectual job of declaring falsehoods to be false, as I pointed out yesterday. And they have done an even worse job of holding the liars accountable. If you're a health care critic, you can make up whatever damn fool thing you want, secure in the knowledge that even if a few news organizations debunk your lies, they'll still quote you the next time you say something.
Here's an example: Later in today's column, Kurtz quotes Fred Barnes' latest Wall Street Journal column. In that column, Barnes promotes the death panel nonsense that Howard Kurtz knows and says is false. Yet not only does Kurtz quote the Barnes column, he doesn't write a single word of criticism of Barnes. (He does quote Time's Joe Klein blasting Barnes, but doing it this way sets up a he-said/she-said in which some readers will dismiss Klein's views.)
This, Mr. Kurtz, is why people like Barnes feel free to spread lies: They know people like you will keep quoting them as though they are serious thinkers who deserve a place at the center of the public dialogue.
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
For The General Welfare:
1. International and interstate commerce (trade)
2. Naturalization
3. Bankruptcy
4. Coin Money, establish its value
5. Weights and Measures
6. Punish counterfeiting
7. Postal Service
8. Issue patents and copyrights
9. Establish Federal Courts
10. Govern District of Columbia
11. Purchase real estate for necessary buildings
See Illegal Health Reform by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A Casey: Illegal Health Reform: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082103033.html
Bring John Shadegg's 'Enumerated Powers Act' to a Vote
It's time for Congress to, "Cite it, chapter and verse." Where do they derive their authority? When they pass new laws or spend taxpayer money, they should be required to point to specific language in the Constitution. The Enumerated Powers Act would require them to do precisely that. Help us bring this bill to a vote.
Your able to separate the general welfare from the health of a countries citizens. Neat trick, what with the number of citizens losing their homes and those entering bankriptcy because of health costs. Not to mention the constraints to both businesses and workers due to the availiblity and costs of health care today.
On this issue, the $6000 average cost per person, at least twice any other countrie's citizen pays, is expected to double in the next ten years.
If this works for you, are you one of the 50,000 employee/lobbist's hired on to protect this cash cow?
Is it reasonable to believe that of those 20 to 25 percent, 100 percent either claim that they certainly believe that there are "death panels" in the "unfinished" healthcare bill drafts or they are active in either polling or they attend townhall meetings and even get in their own fair share of protesting.
And of the 45 percent who are polling as loyal advocates of myths such as "death panels", "tea-partiers", "birthers", etc., etc., what percentage do you think consist of that original 20 to 25 percent of Americans.
`````````````````````
My point?
There is a considerable percentage of those who say they still believe in myths such as "death panels" are biased and loyal political partisans.